According to statistics, the majority of people in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus identify themselves as Orthodox Christians. But is this really so? How is this determined? What a person was secretly christened by his grandmother as a child?
To be Orthodox, not only did your grandmother secretly baptize you as a child, but your parents were generally far from the faith and came to church for only one purpose - to dedicate Easter cakes. Questions of faith do not tolerate a formal approach.
Who are “Christians”? These are followers of Christ. That is, to be called an Orthodox Christian, you need to believe in God, accept the commandments, read and study the Gospel.
Why is Orthodoxy so important? Because it brought to our time the experience of the early church, what Jesus himself created on earth, and then his disciples.
Of course, the first steps towards faith may seem too difficult; a person still doesn’t really know anything and doesn’t have the relevant experience. But God responds to the sincere desire of the heart.
Faith of Abraham
When Abraham was a hundred years old, God promised to give him a son, Isaac. But when Isaac grew up, God ordered Abraham to offer him as a burnt offering. There are many people who may think that God acting in this way is too far from human understanding, and they may even think that if this kind of trial befell us, we would certainly try to argue with God. However, when Abraham was confronted with this, his reaction was completely opposite to what we might expect. Not only did he not argue with God, but he was able to truly submit to Him, truly and truly returning Isaac to God. As the Bible says: “Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and Isaac his son; He chopped wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place that God had told him about... And they came to the place that God had told him about; And Abraham built an altar there, laid out the wood, and, having bound his son Isaac, he laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took a knife to kill his son” (Gen. 22:3, 9-10). All people are made of flesh, we are all too sensitive, and when we encounter something like this, we probably suffer, experience pain. But the reason Abraham was able to refrain from trying to bargain with God and was able to obey God's command was because he knew that Isaac was originally given to him by God, and now God is taking him away. He obeyed God justifiably, such was Abraham's faith in God. He truly believed in God and submitted completely to Him - even if it meant giving up what he valued above all else, he still offered to return Isaac to God. Ultimately, Abraham's true faith and obedience to God received His approval and blessings. God allowed him to become the forefather of many nations; his descendants prospered and multiplied, and became great nations.
I want to change my religion and convert to Christianity. But I don't know how to do it correctly?
Priest's answer:
Firstly, Zhanar, you should decide on your confessional affiliation in Christianity, because there are quite a few different directions here. I, as an Orthodox priest, invite you to become more familiar with the Orthodox tradition. Looking ahead, I will say: Orthodoxy is authentic Christianity, the Church founded by Jesus Christ, which has preserved His teaching unchanged and intact. For a closer acquaintance with Orthodoxy, read and watch the lectures of the famous theologian, Alexei Ilyich Osipov: “ Why is Orthodoxy the true faith?
" https://azbyka.ru/pochemu-pravoslavie-est-istinnaya "
What does Orthodoxy give to a person?
» https://alexey-osipov.ru/video/chto-takoe-pravoslavie/chto-pravoslavie-dayet-cheloveku-mpda-2015-05-12/
Secondly, if you still decide in favor of Orthodoxy, continue your intellectual preparation, combining it with spiritual preparation. To deepen your knowledge of Orthodoxy, be sure to visit a church and meet a priest or a theologically educated layman so that they can advise you on further steps. Now, every temple has a library of spiritual literature. Visit her and ask her to choose the Gospel and other necessary books for you to read. At home, you can use the Orthodox portal: “ The ABC of Faith
» https://azbyka.ru There you will find in electronic form all the books you need.
Since you are an ethnic Muslim, and therefore, if you convert to Christianity, former fellow believers will inevitably ask you questions, it would not be a bad idea to get acquainted with the Orthodox-Muslim polemics on the website: “ Orthodoxy and Islam
” https://mission -center.com/islams/index.html, or read the book by priest Georgy Maksimov: “
Orthodoxy and Islam
” https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Georgij_Maksimov/ to understand: what are our differences, and why you can prefer the Orthodox to Islam Christianity.
Spiritual preparation for accepting Orthodoxy for you will consist of regular prayer (you can use your own words) to Jesus Christ with a request to open up to you and strengthen your determination to become His disciple. Since an important element of a correct spiritual life is visiting church, you will need to accustom yourself to attend divine services every Sunday and master the skills of prayer here, learn to love and appreciate the liturgy.
When you, Zhanar, have practiced this way for a sufficient time and feel love for Christ, for His Church, as well as a firm determination to become an Orthodox Christian, go to the priest and he will perform the Sacrament of Baptism on you. God help you.
Faith Job
The Bible tells us that Job had a very prosperous family, as well as ten children and many servants; he was greatly respected and highly valued by his friends. However, due to the temptations and attacks of Satan, Job lost all his property and his children within one day, and after that he was completely stricken with leprosy. This test turned Job from the greatest man in the East to the most destitute man in the East. Family and friends also judged and condemned him. Even when faced with such a great trial, Job did not utter a single word of complaint to God, and even fell to the ground and worshiped God, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked shall I return. Jehovah gave, Jehovah also took away; Blessed be the name of Jehovah!” (Job 1:21), and “shall we really accept good from God, but not evil?” (Job 2:10). Thanks to the test, Job was able not to sin with his lips, and also to appear before God in prayer. This shows that he had a place in his heart for God, he had true faith in God, he believed that all events and all things are in the hands of God, and all those circumstances that he encountered had God's approval and were not created person. Also, over the decades of his life, Job deeply realized that everything he had was the result of God's rule and arrangement; all his wealth was given by God and was not the result of his own labor. Therefore, if God wanted to take away what He had previously given, it was natural and right, and as a created being, he had to submit to God taking it all away. He should not argue with God, and he, in particular, should not complain to God - even if his life itself was taken away from him, he knew that he still should not express a single complaint. Job's testimony completely put Satan to shame, and after that God appeared to Job out of the storm and bestowed even more blessings on him.
From the experiences of Abraham and Job, we can see that in order to achieve true faith in God, we must first have a true understanding of God's government and the belief that all things and all events are completely in God's hands. We must also truly know our places as created beings and have the intelligence that created beings should have. No matter how great our trials and difficulties may be, we cannot blame or abandon God, but we must continue to be able to seek God's will, stand by His side, and follow Him relentlessly. No matter how much suffering we endure, we must still stand strong in our testimony for God. Only those who are able to do this have true faith in God. Just think of those brothers and sisters who were persecuted and arrested by the atheistic Chinese Communist Party, brutally tortured and sentenced to several years in prison. However, they never denied or abandoned God - this is true faith in God. There are brothers and sisters who are rejected by their families and friends after they become believers, or unexpected misfortunes befall their families, but they never complain to God and are able to continue to follow God and give themselves completely to Him - this is also a manifestation of true faith into God. If we compare ourselves to these testimonies, can we really say that we are actually the ones who have true faith in God? For most of us, faith is based on the unequivocal recognition that God exists and the opportunity to suffer a little and pay a little price while working to spread the gospel for the Lord. However, this cannot be considered true faith.
