The Classic Orthodox Bible Review

"The Classic Orthodox Bible" is a Bible containing the entire Eastern Orthodox Canon of Scripture - in King James Version English. It contains two different texts which were complied by C.J.S. Hayward. The Old Testament is Sir Lancelot Brenton's translation of the Greek Septuagint - one of the earliest Septuagint translations - and the New Testament is a modified version of the King James Bible.

Many of the modifications are evident. They mean the same thing as the original Scriptures, but are expressed quite differently.

"In the beginning was the Mystic Word, and the Mystic Word was with God, and the Mystic Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was Life; and the Life was the light of men. And the Light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness could not grasp it." - John 1:1-5

There's not that much else to say about the book as far as the content. It uses older renditions of names for the books - Jesus instead of Joshua, Jeremias instead of Jeremiah, Jezekiel instead of Ezekiel, etc.  It's doesn't have any commentary or footnotes - it's a plan Bible in older English. However, I do have a lot to say about the book itself.

Before buying The Classic Orthodox Bible, I noticed that many of the reviews were negative about the same things and that there were no photographs of the physical book anywhere on the internet. That seems to happen with used cars - a dealer or seller posts a bad quality car online for a cheap price and uses stock photos. They use stock photos of that car because they specifically don't want a potential buyer to see any damage to the car or issues it may have. Sadly, this is how The Classic Orthodox Bible appears to be. Below, I have some actual photographs of the book with commentary next to each photo. In addition, I've added a quarter for size comparison.

The book is huge and heavy - it's several inches thick. It's not good for use outside of the home. Given that it's paperback, and the cover is thin, it's not very durable. Not a Bible that's convenient to take with you to read on a trip. It's also difficult to hold open you're smack-dab in the middle of the book. 

The chapter labels are odd. Instead of having the book name and verse references in the top corners like most Bibles, it has the book name along with the chapter number. It says, "Matthew 10, Matthew 11, Matthew 12," etc at the beginning of each chapter. It makes it difficult to find a particular verse or chapter quickly because you don't know exactly where the book title and chapter labels are going to be on the next page. 

The text size is virtually microscopic. Granted, my close-up vision is 20/20, so I have no problem reading it, but many other people couldn't read this text, even with glasses. Another odd thing to point out is that the font size of the New Testament is larger than that of the Old Testament - what on earth is up with that?




Come on, this is the 21st Century. Is good formatting that much to ask for when you have Microsoft Word and so many other programs at your disposal? It looks like it was printed on standard printer paper - it's not your average Bible. Even though that appears to be the case, proper formatting and less confusing organization would've made this Bible much better. The fact it was printed like a regular book instead of your average Bible isn't really that big of deal, but, the compiler still should've used standard Bible formatting. This Bible was formatted lazily - there's no excuse for the issues in The Classic Orthodox Bible.

I'd give this a 5/10. It was a great idea - the KJV has a lot of cool quirks and such. However, the formatting completely destroyed it. It was a good idea, but it was executed poorly. If it had been formatted like a regular Bible and printed like a regular Bible, it would be fantastic. However, that's not the case.

If you're okay with the massive build, the confusing formatting, and the ridiculously thin cover, then I would recommend buying it here if you want to read the Septuagint and full Eastern Orthodox Canon in KJV English. It can be read online, so you don't have to purchase a physical copy unless you really want a hard-copy Bible.

With love,
-Isaac
<3

The Other Bible by Willis Barnstone Review

"The Other Bible" by Willis Barnstone is a pretty unique gem among religious books. Of course, you can get books that compile the same kinds of writings as Barnstone's book, however, The Other Bible has far more content than most books of its type. Right off the bat, the cover lists some of the content that it has: the Gnostic Gospels, many documents from the Dead Sea Scrolls, visionary wisdom texts, Christian (New Testament) Apocrypha, Jewish Pseudepigraphia, and Kabbalist writings.

The amount of content within this book is huge - not only that, but the range of texts within The Other Bible is very diverse. It's the size of dictionary; most books like it don't have that much content.

Obviously, not all of the documents contained within the book are true, and some of them are outright ridiculous. However, many of the writings can help someone understand some historical backround. With this book, someone can study the ancient Jews and the early Christians. The book contains articles that were written both during the Old Testament covenant, and after the New Testament covenant was established. For example,a reader who might want to understand the early Church could read the Gnostic gospels since those documents were circulated around in addition to the Synoptic Gospels. The Other Bible also has writings from the Manichaean Gnostics; they were a well known group in the Early Church. St. Augustine was a Manichaean Gnostic before he became a Christian.

Barnstone wrote highly informative introductions explaining the history of these writings and how certain books relate to real Bible - the actual Canon of Scripture. Barnstone also explains how some books relate to each other and Judaeo-Christian history as a whole.
 The book has all of its writings sorted into 10 different genres:

Creation Myths (mainly Gnostic and Kabbalist writings), Histories/Narratives (Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament Christian Apocrypha), Wisdom Literature and Poetry (falsely attributed songs/psalms/odes, Gnostic), Gospels (Gnostic Gospels and New Testament Apocrypha), Infancy Gospels ("Infancy" being literal -primarily focused on the early Life of Mary and Jesus), Acts (books reminiscent of the book of Acts of the Apostles, such as the Acts of John, Acts of Peter, Acts of Paul, etc.), Apocalypses (books like Revelation, also including parts from 1st and 2nd Enoch, 2nd Baruch, and others), Diverse Gnostic Texts (all kinds of Gnostic writings), Manichaean and Mandaean Gnostic Texts (self explanatory), and Mystical Documents (Judaeo-Christian mythology). It also has a Pagan writing by Plotinus in in the first Appendix.

Some of the writings in The Other Bible can't be described as anything other than psychedelic - "Creation of the World and the Alien Man," "The Sibylline Oracles," "On God's Bisexuality," etc. That last one would definitely be bordering on (if not directly crossing into) heresy.

Though the book is useful for study, it also serves a unique purpose for a minority group Christians - those who accept more books in their Bible than most Christians. I'm an Eastern Orthodox believer attending a Greek parish. The Orthodox Study Bible follows the official Eastern Orthodox Canon of Scripture which as 74 books. Some Christians accept more books as Canonical than whatever their particular church or denomination officially accepts, whether it be the 66 books of the Protestant Canon, the 73 books of the Catholic Canon, or the 74 books of the Orthodox Canon. I'm definitely one of those Christians - to my knowledge, the Church doesn't claim that there are no Canonized books outside of our official Canon, it just states that those books are definitely Canonical and no less than those may be considered Scripture.

This minority accepts books such as the books of Enoch and Jubilees (which are already considered Canonical by the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, two Oriental Orthodox Churches) for specific reasons, even though those books are not accepted in mainstream Christianity. For those of us who like having a hard copy of a book, it's good to have some of those writings in an actual book as opposed to an electronic file.

Though the book is, for the most part, is expansive, informative, and useful, it does have some issues.

Some of the writings are broken up into multiple parts that are placed around the book, and some writings are just missing certain parts. 1st Enoch only has some chapters and is totally missing certain sections. 2nd Enoch (The Book of the Secrets of Enoch) is split into two sections, and still doesn't contain all of the chapters. It only has a few chapters from Book of Jubilees despite the fact that Jubilees has 50 chapters. Random books are just missing chapters. What on earth is up with that? Could Mr. Barnstone not get the rights to use all the chapters from a particular translation or something?

Verse and chapter labels are absent in most of the books except for some of the Gnostic writings. It'd be helpful to know exactly what chapter and verse I'm reading instead of there just being a footnote saying, "this includes chapter x, y, a, b, z, c, o, and p," with the verses completely absent. Yes, I know the original manuscripts did not have verses. However, it's the 21st century, and we've gone way past the printing press. It's not very much to ask for in a modern society where all Bibles have them. The lyrical writings have chapter labels, but not verse labels.

If you want full, comprehensive copies of Enoch and Jubilees, this book doesn't have it. It still does, however, have numerous amounts of historical, musical, mythological, and other various texts that are most definitely handy for study.

Many books like it tend to be more expensive - $30 to $40 - but, you can get The Other Bible for around $8 to $20. You can buy it here for pretty cheap from Amazon.

All things considered, weighing the pros and cons, I'd rate it about a 7/10. It's a very good addition to any theologian, scholar, or religious enthusiast's bookshelf.

With love,
~Isaac <3

Why a Protestant Christian Teenager Became Eastern Orthodox (Video About My Conversion Process)

Since I made a new YouTube channel for Orthodoxy and religion videos, I thought I'd go ahead and make this video for my new channel.

Theosis From a Newcomer's Perspective

Right now, I am an Eastern Orthodox Catechumen of about eight months. Prior to starting the conversion process in December of 2014, I hadn't experienced Holy Orthodoxy, much less heard anything about it beyond the notion that its beliefs and practices were very similar to Roman Catholicism. A strong level of theosis wasn't something that I had observed before coming to Orthoodxy. I was never exposed to theosis - I was homeschooled through high school, raised with Reformed Presbyterian beliefs, and taught Calvinist principles of theology. In researching Orthodox monastic life and Orthodox Saints - especially modern Saints, for example, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos - the beauty and authenticity of theosis became astounding to me.

Most Protestants believe in a process that they call, "sanctification," which occurs after being "saved," when their sin is supposedly purged once and for all.. I know many pious and devout Protestants who hold to this view of salvation and sanctification. However, I've never seen any union with God like theosis outside of Orthodoxy. I've met, read, watched, and observed many ministers, pastors, and priests within the many branches of Protestantism, Anglicanism, Episcopalianism, Roman Catholocism, and so on and so forth. Nothing I've ever seen outside of Orthodoxy even begins to scratch the surface of the holiness and connection to God I've observed within the Orthodox Church. The holiness found within theosis makes the most devout Protestants I know (and I know some VERY devout Protestants) look like the Christians that only go to church on Easter and don't think about religion otherwise. The contrast between Protestant sanctification and Orthodox theosis is like a camp fire compared to a massive fire consuming the Amazon rainforest. In my view, "sanctification" doesn't hold a candle to theosis.

I had read Saints and Church Fathers that were very close to God, but, I never got to witness pure, convicting, unadulterated theosis firsthand until I met Fr. Christodoulos Papadeas. Fr.

Myself with Fr. Christodoulos.

Christodoulous is a traveling monk priest hailing from Denver, Colorado. I met him when he visited my parish earlier this year during Lent. He led the Salutations to the Most Holy Theotokos service and then celebrated the liturgy the following Sunday.

His connection with God was astounding - it was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I introduced myself to him after the Sunday liturgy. I explained my situation and asked him some questions. His answers, his attitude, and the entirety of his demeanor were all mind-blowing to someone who had never seen such a degree of theosis before. He doesn't own a house and has very little in the regards of possessions - he said that he stays with Orthodox people and sometimes lives in the monastery on Mount Athos.

His enthusiasm was child-like. He reminded me of a child who loved his father - a child who completely trusted and was inseparable from his daddy. His very presence reminded me of Jesus's words in Matthew 18:2-3, "Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.'" (NKJV) He was giddy and filled with joy unlike anyone I've ever met or known of before.

He asked questions about my parents. "Send them my blessings, they must be wonderful for letting you come here," he said, while making the sign of the cross. After I told him my background and why I came to the Orthodox Church, he got up, and yelled (yes, yelled), "I love to see young people seeking the truth!"

Others I've spoken to told me that he says the Jesus Prayer constantly and sometimes zones out and starts singing praises to God. One person I spoke to said that he prostrates and worships behind the iconostasis during liturgies when he is not actively doing anything in the altar.

While I can explain some of Fr. Christodoulos's awe-inspiring character, I can't explain everything - words fail to explain the man's connection with God. Bliss and cheer radiate off of him like heat and light from the sun. I was talking to my girlfriend's grandmother last week about Orthodoxy - We're friends on Facebook and she's intrigued by the way I'm approaching religion on my page. While talking to her, I actually broke into tears while saying, "I've never met anyone so in love with Jesus as Fr. Christodoulos."

As I former Protestant, I was skeptical because of what I had been taught about the beliefs of some liturgical churches. The traditions of the Orthodox Church are often downplayed and dismissed as heresies by Protestants. When I first came to Orthodoxy, many of the traditions were confusing and didn't make sense to me. I was enthralled by and in love with the Church upon stepping into my parish for the first time, but some of the traditions still took time to sink in.

Prayer to Saints? Venerating the Virgin Mary? Venerating Icons? Holy oil? Holy water? Ritual prayer? Guardian angels??? None of those things made much sense to me and they took time for me to accept and fully understand. Reversing the Protestant state of mind I had been taught was difficult, given that I had been Protestant my entire life up to that point. However, I decided trust God where he was leading me and give those traditions a try to see if they really did work. They did. Over time, after accepting and participating in these traditions, I realized that they were there for the very purpose of strengthening our relationship with Jesus Christ. You can participate in traditions, but forgetting what those traditions are about and failing to maintain an actual relationship with Christ is a big deal.

Following the traditions of the Church in their fullness has revolutionized my life in ways that I never thought possible. I'm finding myself in the first steps of theosis and seeing astonishing change. My mother has seen some of the issues that I've struggled with for my entire life slowly dissipate as I experience God through theosis and Holy Orthoodxy. I don't mean teenage ignorance, I mean issues I've struggled with since I was a toddler that became much worse in my teens. My mother has seen such drastic progress in my spiritual life that she is considering becoming Orthodox after being raised Pentecostal and then becoming Presbyterian around thirty years ago.

I am fully convinced that the Holy Spirit resides within the Orthodox Church in all of its beauty and fullness.

May the peace of God be with you.

With love,
-Isaac
<3

My Journey From Protestantism to Orthodoxy

You've probably noticed the change of my blog's name, updated religious affiliation, and new page background. There's a big reason for these changes.

It was a Sunny fall day when I decided to pop in and visit a local Catholic church. I was just out for a walk and decided to go in. I was curious - I had never been to a Roman Catholic parish before despite knowing a fair amount about Catholic theology. I checked their schedule on my phone to see if they were doing anything interesting I could watch. "The Sacrament of Penance" was on their calendar and was starting in five minutes. "Oooo," I thought, "That sounds fancy." I walked up to the church's front door and a lady came by walking on the sidewalk next to the church. I asked if she was Catholic, and she said she was. I asked about what the Sacrament of Penance was - of course, to my disappointment, this fancy sounding thing was just plain ole' confession.

I walked into the sanctuary with her and what I saw astounded me. The inside of church was beautiful. The altar, the icons, and everything else just astounded me. I had no idea what the people coming in were doing with the holy water, nor did I have any idea what genuflecting was. I thought, "Wow, Catholicism is a beautiful religion, even if it's wrong." I've always been a fan of spiritual rituals and such. I had a very unhealthy obsession with Wicca and Pagan spirituality when I was a child. That obsession stemmed from my obsession with spiritual rituals. The feeling I got in this church satisfied both my desire for mystical spiritual rituals, and my desire to be fulfilled by Christ. I'd never been to a church that wasn't a Protestant church before, and I was astonished by how fascinating even these minute rituals were.

The lady I had talked to earlier came back out after her confession and we struck up a conversation outside. I found out she had a child struggling with moderate to severe autism, and being diagnosed with autism when I was 9-ish, I could empathize with her. I told her about my diagnosis and she was astounded - I gave her a hug while she said, "God bless you Isaac, God bless you."

We continued talking and got on to the topic of metal. She mentioned that her nephew was the bass player in a local metal band... a band that I've seen play multiple times in the past couple of years. A few months before meeting her, I had taken my dad somewhere to get a haircut, and there was a guy in there with a shirt for that band. I said, "Hey man, nice shirt... I've seen them play before." He responded, "Thanks, my brother is the bassist." I told her about seeing him, and she pretty much flipped out. She said that he had ecstatically told her about me commenting on his shirt, saying, "There was this man in the haircut place who liked my brother's band and commented on my shirt! This is so cool!"

Needless to say, she and I both knew God was doing something amazing. This collision of two very different people taking two remarkably separate paths was far too big of a coincidence to actually be a coincidence.

I started checking out Catholic theology while I went to mass with the lady and her family every other week or so. I investigated resources such as Catholic Answers, Scott Hahn, etc. The family gave me a book for Catholics based on defending their Catholic faith. I started to see some merits in the claims of the Catholic faith, but some of their doctrines which I still don't agree with deterred me from joining the church.

A family member had recently moved to Texas for work, and they left behind a huge library in their house with theological books. I noticed a book on one of the shelves by David B. Currie, entitled, "Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic." I read through the book and began to agree with a lot of Catholic theology. I didn't agree with everything, but I saw some merit in a lot of the evidence that Currie presented in his book.

One day, I decided to visit a local Catholic church for confession. I had read the section in John 20 where Christ gave the apostles the ability to forgive sins, and I had seen quotes from the Early Church Fathers on these abilities being passed down through apostolic succession. I just wasn't sure - I didn't know what to think.

I walked into the confessional room, closed the door, and knelt in front of the screen. I briefly told the priest who I was, about my struggles with theology, and asked if he would be willing to give me absolution. He said that he was willing to absolve me since I had a valid baptism and since I believed in the sacrament.

When the priest said, "I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," I felt an immediate spiritual change. This feeling was neither good nor bad. I was confused because whatever was going on inside me was massive, but I couldn't identify what it actually was. This feeling only increased as I completed the penance that was assigned to me. I was a little bit distressed at that point, not because the feeling was bad, but because I had no idea what the feeling was. It was so strong, yet, I couldn't figure out what it meant.

When I woke up in the morning, I just felt clean. That's the only way I know how to describe the feeling - clean, plain and simple. I felt more at peace with myself and my flaws than I had in years. I continued to go to confession at different churches, and this feeling of cleanliness only increased.

At that point, I had totally lost faith in the Protestant reformation. I had concluded that Christ had founded only one Church, the "holy, catholic, and apostolic church" mentioned in the Nicene Creed, and that this Church was not to be strayed away from. I rejected the idea that the Church was composed of all believers. According to the works of the Early Church Fathers, Christ established one Church which was supposed to be led by the successors of the apostles. The apostles seemingly hand-picked their successors. Apostolic succession is the credential that gives a spiritual leader the keys and valid authority to lead the Church.

I continued visiting different churches, and I thought a lot about the papacy during this time. I concluded by reading a bunch of different things by the Early Church Fathers that Peter had a primacy, but not supreme authority over the whole church. I visited different kinds of churches in the area such as: Anglican-Catholic, Mormon, Episcopalian, Maronite, and finally... Orthodox.

I had ridden by the local Greek Orthodox cathedral downtown many times, but I had never been to a liturgy there. I looked up the times for Divine Liturgy on their website and decided to visit the following Sunday. On December 7th, 2014, I walked into my current parish for the very first time. As soon as I walked in, and I heard the Orthros chanting coming through the speaker in the narthex, I knew that the Orthodox Church was the Church I belonged in. The lady giving out programs in the narthex introduced me to the wife of one of the deacons who helped me use the liturgy book. As the liturgy began, all doubt, confusion, fear, and longing to be satisfied by Christ faded away. There had always been something missing from my faith; there was a gap in my relationship with Christ, and in a matter of five minutes, I had just discovered what it was: the beauty and awe of Holy Orthodoxy.

I wasn't judged by anyone in the parish. I walked in there with my metal attire and my two-foot "mane" of hair freely flowing without a hair tie - and I still wasn't judged by anyone. I met the "old ladies" of the church, and they were as sweet as they could be. I'm still making friends and enjoying my time at the parish.

I immediately began the conversion process and joined the parish's catechism class the following weekend. Everything about Orthodoxy was amazing to me. Autistic people feel everything in extremes - we are either obsessed with something, or we are completely uninterested in it. Orthodoxy gave me a lot to obsess about and is continually satisfying my desire for Christ. Any time I have confusion, questions, or concerns, my priest continues to amaze me with his articulate answers and point me back to God and away from my doubts.

This wasn't easy for many of my Protestant friends. I live in South Carolina - I'm in the hyper-Baptist Bible Belt. Pretty much all of the churches that have apostolic succession or even believe in a priesthood are demonized by local Protestants. Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox Christians, and Anglican/Episcopalians are equally criticized as "not true Christians" for having a priesthood since Conservative Protestants make up the majority of the Bible Belt. I explained my position to them on theological issues the best I could and tried to relate to them the amazing substance of our religious practices. Even now, I continue to be amazed by the diverse ideas, practices, and absolutely fascinating theological principles that govern our faith.

I've had about six appointments with my priest discussing different issues. I continue to go to Bible studies and church events on a regular basis, and the substance of Christ within Orthodoxy is still feeding my soul. Experiencing God through Holy Orthodoxy has helped me resolve many issues with sin that I haven't ever had any progress with prior to adapting a worldview based (at least somewhat) on Orthodoxy.

For my brothers and sisters within Orthodoxy, pray for me - I hope to be chrismated (confirmed) in December of 2015 if all goes well.

With love,

Isaac. the metalhead wolfman. <3