Unwittingly
“ From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:21-23). Peter unwittingly speaks for Satan, as the devil did not want Christ to fulfill His mission and save mankind through suffering and death.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Matthew 16:21-23)
“The Self, with all of its actions and tendencies, is conceived as the product of choice. We are what we choose to be. It denies that there is such a thing as human nature, and therefore, unwittingly consigns us to an identity of our own making. In the modern world – you are your sin. It is little wonder that we have undergone persistent efforts to redefine various things as something other than sin. How else could we escape the burden of shame created by such a false consciousness?” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“… we are told by the world: in all things, especially in our spiritual lives, we make the journey utterly, completely on our own. It is the message of “rugged individualism” that we often hear. Much of what we are told in church unwittingly can reinforce this as well…To be sure, Christ’s admonition is personal: He tells the group that each person must deny himself, take up his cross, and individually follow Him. But our Church also clearly states that this task is not done entirely alone. We even have an example of this in the story of Christ’s own crucifixion. As Christ is carrying His cross to Golgotha, the Roman soldiers compel Simon the Cyrene to help Christ carry His cross.” (Fr. Matthew Thurman)
“In an odd way, when we imagine the world to be “secular,” and fear its progressive banishment of all things religious, we unwittingly agree to be secularists ourselves. The fundamental concept of secularism is that the world, or certain aspects of it, exists apart from God and is entirely self-referential. This tree is just a tree. That sky is just a sky. This imaginary construct is reinforced by labeling certain things as “religious” and placing them in their own zone of influence, as though their removal somehow protects the neutrality of the otherwise secular world.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“…we need to reject the reductionistic picture we’ve unwittingly absorbed in the modern era, one that treats us as if we’re only and fundamentally thinking things. Instead we need to embrace a more holistic, biblical model of human persons that situates our thinking and knowing in relation to other, more fundamental aspects of the human person.” (James Smith)
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