Doug’s Theological Thoughts

  • Two Parishes

    I know two parishes well. The city parish is near several top tier universities. Catechumen classes are on Wednesday nights, but only during the school year. The cradle priest says he’ll meet with you privately but frequently cancels meetings because Catechumens are at the bottom of his priority list. During finals week the Catechumens number…

  • Jews in Palestine/Israel

    Historically, very few Jews have lived in Palestine/Israel… Summary Throughout all of Jewish history (from roughly 1200 BCE to November 2025), approximately 3–8% of the total Jewish population (measured in person-years) has lived in the Land of Israel/Palestine, while 92–97% has lived outside it in the Diaspora. Grok Determining the exact percentage of Jews throughout…

  • Hannah / Mary Parallels

    Yes, the Eastern (Greek-speaking) Church Fathers explicitly draw the Hannah–Mary / Samuel–Jesus parallel more frequently and earlier than is sometimes realized in Western scholarship. The connection is especially prominent in homiletic, liturgical, and exegetical texts from the 4th century onward. Key Eastern Fathers and Sources Summary The Eastern Fathers not only see the parallel —…

  • The Stone the Builders Rejected

  • Noahide Law and Orthodoxy

    The first of the Noahide Laws is: Prohibition of Idolatry Do not worship idols or any entity as a deity besides the one God. This includes denying God’s unity or bowing to false gods. Relation of Orthodoxy Orthodox theology, as defined by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787 CE), holds that venerating (proskynesis) icons…

  • Palestine Historic Timeline

    Here’s a concise, fact-based historical timeline of the region known as Palestine (historic/geographic name for the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) from ancient times to November 2025. It focuses on major turning points, rulers, and demographic/political changes. Ancient and Classical Period ~1200 BCE – Biblical Exodus (traditional date; historicity debated) and…

  • Josephus | The Jewish Roman War

    Video Playlist

  • Orthodox vs Reformed

    Theosis vs Union with God Summary: Both traditions teach an intimate, life-giving union/communion with God through Christ, but the Reformed tradition is extremely cautious about any language that sounds like we become divine in our being, whereas Orthodoxy embraces that language (with careful Palamite qualifications) as the very heart of the gospel. Here’s a clear…

  • Orthodox Zionism?

    Zion as a Historic Location 2 Samuel 5:7Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). 1 Kings 8:1Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant…

  • Lord’s Prayer in the Quran?

    Muslims claim the Lord’s Prayer is in the start of the Quran. This is false. No, the Lord’s Prayer (as found in the Bible, primarily Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4) is not in the Quran. The Quran does not contain the exact text, structure, or sequence of the Lord’s Prayer, which is a Christian prayer…

  • Luke 21:20 and Partial Preterism

    The Destruction of Jerusalem – 70 AD Luke 21: 20 And when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know that its desolation is near. Eusebius of Caesarea AD 339 By the desolation of Jerusalem, He means that it was never again to be set up, or its legal rites to be reestablished, so that…

  • Abomination that Caused Desolation?

    Pompey the Great entered the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Historical Context During the Roman intervention in the Hasmonean civil war (between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II), Pompey besieged Jerusalem after Aristobulus II barricaded himself in the Temple complex. After a three-month siege, Roman forces breached the fortifications…

  • Church as Hospital

    Today’s Gospel reading is the teaching of the Church as Hospital, Jesus as the Great Physician and sin as sickness. Matthew 9:9-13 King James Version 9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose,…

  • Ultimately Victorious

    Text for today 1 Corinthians 4:9-16 King James Version 9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in…

  • Fragrance of Relics

  • Manifesting

  • The Letter of Aristeas

    Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates is a Hellenistic work of the 3rd or early 2nd century BC. The letter describes the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible by seventy-two interpreters sent into Egypt from Jerusalem at the request of the librarian of Alexandria, resulting in the Septuagint translation. The work relates how the king of Egypt, presumably Ptolemy II Philadelphus, is urged by…

  • Praise God for those Who Misuse us

    Before I moved to Chicago (to attend NorthPark Seminary) I was an assoc pastor to an abusive Senior Pastor in So Cal. It was a difficult situation, but I was obedient. After I left, I reached out to one of the previous assoc pastors and learned his story was like my story. I had a…

  • Evangelical “Re-” Baptism

    When I was an associate Evangelical pastor, I taught the Baptism class. I talked a woman in the class out of being rebaptized. She was originally baptized Catholic. Our Sr Pastor wasn’t happy. I was more of a sacramentalist than most. Eph 4:5-6 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all,…

  • St Justinian and Symphōnia

    Saint Justinian I (c. 482–565 CE), Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565, is one of history’s most influential figures in harmonizing ecclesiastical and imperial authority—a relationship often termed the “symphony” between church and state (from the Greek symphōnia, meaning “agreement” or “concord”). Though the term itself was formalized later (notably in the 6th-century Epanagoge under…

  • Low Carb Orthodox Fasting Recipes

    Orthodox Nativity Fast (Nov 15–Dec 24 on the New Calendar) is strict: no meat, dairy, eggs, fish (except with oil on certain days), wine, or oil on Mon/Wed/Fri. Oil & wine allowed Tue/Thu/Sat/Sun. All recipes below are oil-free on strict days (marked ✦) but use oil minimally on permitted days (marked ✓). Every dish is…

  • Messianic Judaism

    I went to a Messianic Jewish synagogue for 1.5 yrs back in the mid 1990’s. I mistakenly thought if I went to a Messianic synagogue, I’d get to learn the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. What I got was the form of rabbinic Judaism that was practiced after the temple was destroyed. I learned…

  • The Chosen People

    New Testament fulfillment of Old Testament passages.

  • The Mercy of God

    The Jews still exist. God did not destroy them when they rejected His Only Son. He could have and would have been within His rights to do so. After all, He destroyed Sodom for a much less serious crime. The mercy of God is to give them time to repent.