#23 - Preparation for Confession

Christians! How do you prepare for confession? Do you take ample time before confession to meditate upon your everyday acts, or do you just go to your confessor without giving any thought to what it is you should confess? Well, below is a guideline to confession; excerpted from THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF TRUTH, by Saint Nicolas Varzhansky.

‘DURING GREAT LENT, and the other fasts of the Church Year, it is customary for all Orthodox Christians to go to confession to their priest. Properly this should be done several times a year, the exact frequency depending upon how often one is blessed to receive the Holy Mysteries and on the counsel and blessing of one’s spiritual father. As a preparation for this sacramental confession and to help one examine one’s conscience before coming to confession, the following questions are sometimes distributed in parishes and, although of course the list is not exhaustive, it may be a help to those of our readers who are Orthodox Christians.

Sins Against God

1. Do you pray to God in the morning and evening, before and after meals?

2. During prayer have you allowed your thoughts to wander?

3. Have you rushed or gabbled your prayers? Or when reading in church?

4. Do you read the Scriptures daily? Do you read other spiritual writings regularly?

5. Have you read books whose content is not Orthodox or even anti-Orthodox, or is spiritually dangerous?

6. Have you pronounced the name of God without reverence, joking?

7. Have you asked God’s help before starting every activity?

8. Have you made the sign of the Cross carelessly, thoughtlessly?

9. Have you sworn? Have you murmured against God?

10. Have you sinned by forgetting God?

11. Have you been slack in attending church?

12. Have you consecrated even part of the feast days, particularly Sundays and the Twelve Great Feasts, to God?

13. Have you tried your best to attend church on these days? Or have you spent them more sinfully than ordinary days?

14. If unable to attend church for some reason, have you nonetheless tried to devote some part of these days to prayer and spiritual reading?

15. Have you joined with people not of the Faith in prayer, or attended their worship services?

16. Have you kept the fasts?

17. Have you behaved irreverently in church, or before the clergy and monastics?

18. Have you laughed or talked in church, or moved about unnecessarily, thus distracting other people from prayer?

19. Have [you] dressed modestly and in a becoming manner when in church?

20. Have you tried to pay reverent attention to the readings, hymns, and prayers in church?

21. Have you striven to pray with the service, crossing yourself, etc., or have you rather simply stood and daydreamed?

22. Have you prepared for the services beforehand, looking up the Scriptural readings, making sure you have the texts to follow the service, etc., especially if the service will be in a language you do not really understand?

23. Have you ever left the church after the Divine Services, and particularly after receiving the Holy Mysteries and immediately engaged in light talk and thus forgotten the blessings and graces you have received?

24. Have you been ashamed of your Faith or the sign of the Cross in the presence of others?

25. Have you made a show of your piety?

26. Have you used your Orthodox Faith or its teachings merely to browbeat others or belittle them?

27. Have you used it as a shield or excuse for your own inadequacies rather than humbling yourself?

28. Have you ever believed in dreams, fortune telling, astrology, signs, and other superstitions?

29. Do you give thanks to the Lord for all things?

30. Have you ever doubted God’s providence concerning yourself?

31. Do you at least try to perceive His purpose in all things that come upon you?

Sins Against Your Neighbours

1. Do you respect and obey your parents?

2. Have you offended them by rudeness or contradiction?

3. These two apply to priests, superiors, teachers and elders.

4. Have you insulted anyone?

5. Have you quarreled or fought with anyone? Have you hit anyone?

6. Are you always respectful to old people?

7. Are you ever angry, bad tempered or irritable?

8. Have you called anyone names? Do you use foul language?

9. Have you derided any that are disabled, poor, old or in some way disadvantaged?

10. Have you entertained bad feelings, ill will or hatred against anyone?

11. Have you forgiven those who have offended you?

12. Have you asked forgiveness from those whom you have offended?

13. Are you at peace with everyone?

14. Have you left the needy without help when you could have helped?

15. Have you attended the sick or elderly when they have asked you to do so?

16. Have you shown kindness and attention to all, remembering that God is expecting just such an attitude from you?

17. Have you hit animals without a cause or been cruel to them, or neglectful of those in your care?

18. Have you stolen anything?

19. Have you taken or used other people’s things without asking?

20. Have you kept money or things that were lent to you without returning them?

21. Have you wasted your employer’s time or resources? Have you taken things from work for your own use, used the firm’s phone or other facilities for your own purposes without permission or repayment?

22. Are you obstinate, and do you always try to have your own way?

23. Have you been inconsiderate of other people’s feelings?

24. Have you tried to have your revenge against those who have offended you?

25. Have you harboured resentment?

26. Have you deceived people?

27. Have you gossiped?

28. Have you told untruths?

29. Have you judged and condemned others?

30. Have you taken pains before approaching for confession to be reconciled with all?

Sins Against Yourself

1. Have you been proud? Do you boast of your abilities, achievements, family, connections or riches?

2. Do you consider yourself worthy before God?

3. Are you vain, ambitious? Do you try to win praise and glory?

4. Do you bear it easily when you are blamed, scolded or treated unjustly?

5. Do you think too much about your looks, outward appearance and the impression you make?

6. Have you sinned in thought, word or deed, by a look or glance, or in any other way against the seventh commandment? (Adultery, fornication, all extra-marital sexual relationships with others, masturbation, engaging in unnatural sexual acts, fantasizing, pornography, etc.)

7. Have you envied anyone anything?

8. Have you been over-sensitive?

9. Have you been lazy? Have you done your duties heartily?

10. Have you wasted your time, energy or abilities in things that do not profit the soul?

11. Have you become obsessive about anything?

12. Have you become despondent or listless?

13. Have you had thoughts of committing suicide?

14. Have you brought a curse on yourself or others or ill-wished them, being impatient?

15. Have you a weakness for alcohol? Have you drunk too much, or become dependent on drink?

16. Have you taken drugs, other than necessary medicines? Have you smoked?

17. Have you watched television too much or indiscriminately? Have you given yourself up to any other similar pastimes, which waste your time and energy and might have harmed you?

18. Have you been greedy, either with regard to food or to possessions?

19. Have you indulged in comfort eating? Have you become accustomed to eating between meals?

20. Have you been picky about your food, or wasteful of foods, forgetting that so many people are without proper nourishment?

21. Have you been extravagant? Have you been wasteful?

22. Do you care for and seek first the salvation of your soul, the spiritual life and the kingdom of God, or have you put earthly considerations in the first place?

Is there any other sin, which burdens your conscience, or which you are ashamed of?

Anyone preparing for confession must ask God to help him resolve to tell his sins. A penitent should prepare for confession and collect his thoughts regarding his sins at least a day before confession. The most valuable thing in the eyes of God is the confession of the sin which weighs most on the conscience.

The questions listed are intended to help the Orthodox Christian examine himself and identify the symptoms of his spiritual ills; they should not be taken as some kind of test to ascertain how well we are doing as if there was a certain “pass-mark.” Before God’s perfections, we shall always fail. It is for that reason that, as believing Christians, we throw ourselves on the mercy of the Lord and do not trust in our own righteousness.

Remember that our sins can never outweigh God’s love towards us. Even if we should seem to have failed with regard to all the points mentioned above and more, we should not lose heart but confess our sins unshamefacedly, we should regret the wrongs we have done, be resolved to make amends, and receive whatever remedy our confessor should be guided to lay upon us. Most of all, one should be assured of the blessing of God which these endeavours will bring upon you.’[1]

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[1] THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF TRUTH, by Saint Nicolas Varzhansky, pp. 12-17

#22 - He Who Made All Things Is God

To make is to build, and to build is to make. It makes one wonder how such a simple expression can be so incomprehensible to some individuals. I make the bricks to build a house; I build the houses to make a town. These two verbs, make and build, are not only identical but interchangeable as well. Those who do not grasp this simple concept end up like Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose own distorted Bible screams to them that Jesus Christ is the Creator, but they are deaf to these screams and blind to the truth.

How identical and interchangeable are these two verbs? Let’s define them and see:

build – vt.

1 to make by putting together materials, parts, etc.; construct

2 to establish…

3 to create or develop

make – vt.

1 to bring into being; build, create, produce

2 to cause to be or become

create – vt.

1 to cause to come into existence; make; originate

2 to bring about

(Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1990, pp. 79, 356, 143)

Note, from the above definitions, the underlined words that link them and show their interchangeability; that build includes make, that make includes build, that both make and build include create, and that also create includes make. Also note that to make is to create, in that to bring into being is the same as to bring about, or to cause to come into existence. The definitions clearly show that a builder is a maker is a creator. Isn’t this clear to see?

A long time ago, when the whole earth spoke one language, men came from the east to a plain in the land of Shinar. There, they made bricks, and they attempted to build a tower high enough to reach heaven – Genesis 11:1-4. They made bricks to build a tower.

To make it is to build it, and to build it is to make it. This is clearly evidenced by Scripture. In Exodus 20:25, God instructs Moses on how to properly build an altar: “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone” (underlines added for emphasis).

He who makes is he who builds, and he who builds is he who makes. According to the above definitions, making includes building, and building includes making. Scripture shows this with full clarity. How does one build a city? 2 Chronicles 14:6-7 informs us that building a fenced city includes making around it walls, and towers, gates and bars.

In Hebrews 3:3, Jesus Christ is compared to Moses, “For this man [Jesus] was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.” An analogy is made here; the house is Moses, and the builder of the house is Jesus Christ. What Scripture is plainly telling us is that Jesus Christ is the builder of the fleshly house called Moses.

We are told that “All things were made by him [the Word, Jesus]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3) Also, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him” (v. 10) All things that were made, were made by Jesus, and nothing was made without Jesus.

Here is the conclusion of logic: Jesus Christ, as the Maker of all things, is the Builder of all things, and as we are told in Hebrews 3:4, “he that built all things is God.”

How unfortunate, that such simple yet clear logic is not understood by Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is truly sad to see how feebly the Watchtower organization has tried to hide this truth from its followers through distortion of the Holy Scriptures.

In its distorted Bible, The New World Translation, the Watchtower has added the word “other” to the verses at Colossians 1:16-20. It now reads as follows: “because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth…. All [other] things have been created through him, and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things, and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist…. And through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things…” (NWT)

All this distortion is to make people believe that God the Father created the Son, and the Son created all other things. But how can we be sure that this is truly a distortion, and not what the original Greek Scriptures say? One way to know this is to remember the rule for adding words to a quoted text. Any word in brackets within a quoted text is an addition.

The other way to know for sure is to examine the original Greek. Here is Colossians 1:16-20, “oti en autw ektisqh ta panta, ta en tois ouranois kai ta epi ths ghs.... ta panta di’ autou kai eis auton ektistai. Kai autos esti pro pantwn, kai ta panta en autw sunesthke.... kai di’ autou apokatallaxai ta panta eis auton...” (title translated as The New Testament, 1986, P. N. Trembela). Anyone who can read and understand Greek will immediately notice that the word “other” (alla) is not there in the original language, and will understand that it was never meant to be there in the first place!

Note, that words are added to a quoted text only to smooth the translation and the readability of the text. The added word(s) must not change the meaning of the text. Obviously, the Watchtower has done just that.

Here is a word for word transliteration into English of the above Scriptural passage: “THAT BY/THROUGH HIM, WAS CREATED THE ALL, THE OF THE SKIES/HEAVENS AND THE OF THE EARTH…. THE ALL BY/THROUGH HIM AND FOR HIM WERE CREATED: AND HE IS BEFORE ALL, AND THE ALL BY/THROUGH/BECAUSE OF HIM HOLD TOGETHER…. AND BY/THROUGH HIM IS RECONCILED THE ALL TO HIM…” The underlines are added to emphasize that five, count them, five times the world ALL is written and not once in connection with the “other” word.

Jehovah’s Witnesses readily admit that all of creation came into existence through the Son, that by his hands were all these things made. Yet, by denying the Son the title of Creator, they take all rightful honor away from Christ. Actually, when speaking of creation, they only mention God the Father as the Creator of all things, and they leave the Son out of the picture completely. It is equivalent to praising the architect for the development of a building, and ignoring completely the one whose hands have built the structure. On the human level, that would be considered disrespectful. On the divine level it is truly blasphemy!

The Word therefore made ALL things. By this Logic, he cannot be included among creation, and was therefore not created by His Father. The Word, Who is the Son of God, worked together with His Father and the Holy Spirit to create all things. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”, commanded the Father, and the Son created all things. The Father is God the Creator because He commanded that these things be done. The Son is God the Creator because by His Godly hands all things were made. The Creator of all things is the maker and builder of all things, and the builder of all things is God.

#21 - Is It Wrong To Celebrate Birthdays?

According to the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses, celebrating a birthday in any manner is strictly forbidden. Even sending a birthday card can bring down swift action against the offender by an official “judicial committee.” The punishment is “disfellowshiping”—being kicked out of the Watchtower organization. They believe that this doctrine is based on the Bible, and they cite the following three verses as evidence to back up their claim:

“And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants…. But he hanged the chief baker….” (Genesis 40:20-22, KJV)

“…Herod on his birthday gave a banquet…. And she came in immediately with haste to the king, as asked, saying, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’” (Mark 6:21-25, RSV)

“But when Herod’s birthday came…he sent and had John the Baptist beheaded in the prison.” (Matthew 14:6-10, RSV)

The Watchtower organization has prohibited birthday celebrations among its adherents, using Genesis 40:20-22 as a key part of the “scriptural basis” for this ruling. Their thought is that the word birthday appears in the Bible only in reference to Pharaoh of Egypt (as above) and King Herod of Galilee (Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:21). Both of them were pagans, and both men had someone put to death in connection with the celebration. Since no men of faith are recorded in the Bible as having celebrated their birthdays, but only wicked men—so the Watchtower reasoning goes—Jehovah’s Witnesses of today must not be allowed to celebrate birthdays either.

It is worth noting that, as with other teachings, it is not left up to the individual Witness to read the Bible and come up with this conclusion. Rather, the sect’s secretive governing body has promulgated this official interpretation and uses its disciplinary procedures to enforce the policy on all Witnesses. For example, former Jehovah’s Witness Elder, David A. Reed, states in his book, Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse:

“…one elderly JW of our acquaintance in Massachusetts decided he would send a birthday card to his non-Witness son, but his wife reported it to the local elders. They summoned him before a closed-door judicial committee meeting and put him on trial for this offense. The seventy-year old gentleman challenged them to show him one Scripture verse prohibiting sending a birthday card, but the committee went ahead and disfellowshiped him on the basis of the Watchtower Society’s ruling. His Witness relatives now refuse him admittance to their home, and Witnesses who encounter him on the street turn away without ever saying hello.” (pg. 25)

In refuting the Watchtower’s so-called scriptural basis for banning birthday celebrations, it must be pointed out that Pharaoh and King Herod were arbitrary rulers and violent men; such monarchs were accustomed to executing people on all sorts of occasions, not just on their birthdays. Moreover, a person sending a birthday card, or a parent providing a cake with candles at a children’s party, can hardly be accused of following the pattern of those murderous men.

Although the actual word birthday appears only in connection with Pharaoh and Herod in most translations, the Bible does contain reference to such celebrations in godly families:

In Job 1:4, it says of the patriarch Job’s family, “And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them” (NWT, italics added). That “his own day” refers to each one’s birthdays becomes clear when we read further: “It was after this that Job opened his mouth and began to call down evil upon his own day. Job now answered and said: Let the day perish on which I came to be born….’” (Job 3:1-3, NWT, italics added). The Living Bible’s paraphrase of Job 1:4-5 expresses this thought: “Every year when each of Job’s sons had a birthday, he invited his brothers and sisters to his home for a celebration. On these occasions they would eat and drink with great merriment. When these birthday parties ended….”

Even the Watchtower Society’s own translation reveals that the birth of John the Baptist was celebrated, when it records this angelic announcement: “And you will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth” (Luke 1:14, NWT).

If the birth of John the Baptist was an occasion for rejoicing and if faithful Job’s children celebrated their birthdays, the fact that Pharaoh and Herod also celebrated theirs cannot logically be used as a basis for banning birthday parties among Bible believers today.

The Watchtower organization has also taught Jehovah’s Witnesses that the celebration of birthdays has its origins in pagan cultures. It is a pagan custom, they say, and therefore should not be celebrated. In other words, just because pagans did it in pre-Christian times, it is wrong for Christians to also do it. This would certainly be true if the custom in question was a form of religious practice—such as worship, but it is not. It is simply a venerable celebration of a happy moment, the anniversary of the birth of a loved one—a father, a mother, a child, a relative, a friend, etc.

Would it be wrong to engage in a certain action simply because that same action was also done by a pagan? Although pagans were, and still are, idol worshippers, was their every action wrong? Didn’t pagans, despite their false beliefs, also do good things? It would be safe to assume that some, if not many pagans gave alms to the poor and downtrodden. Are Christians wrong for also giving charity to the poor and unfortunate? Pagan religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism stress a high respect for parents and elders of the family. Is it wrong then for Christians to respect their mother and father, and their elderly grandparents? Obviously, not all things done by pagans were wrong. Therefore, the claim that doing something is wrong just because pagans did it just isn’t true all the time.

If celebrating a birthday was a sin, wouldn’t God have made this clear to mankind? Did God rebuke Job for celebrating his children’s birthdays? No, he certainly did not. One may ask, though, didn’t God allow Job to suffer terrible torments? Of course the answer would have to be yes. But the reason for Job’s torment must be made perfectly clear: The Bible informs us that God allowed Job to suffer such terrible torments to show Satan that, in all mankind, “that there is non like [Job] in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil,” not because he celebrated birthdays. (Job 1:8, KJV) Would any Jehovah’s Witness DARE to accuse righteous Job of engaging in a practice that was against God?

Does the Bible speak out against the celebration of birthdays? Is there a law in it forbidding this? No. There is no such law. Therefore, it is not wrong to celebrate birthdays. The Bible itself clearly states this: “for where no law is, there is no transgression.” (Romans 4:15, KJV)

We may rightfully conclude, from the above evidence, that the Watchtower’s ban on birthday celebrations is not a biblical decree, but merely a human dictum based not on the perfect word of God, but on the false assumption of the organization’s frail human reasoning. So, to all the readers of this newsletter, who were born on this very day—have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!