Author: The Late Thrice Blessed Pope Shenouda III

Why shouldn’t we ask the Lord to give us supernatural gifts, such as speaking in tongues and healing the sick and performing miracles? Doesn’t the apostle Paul say: “desire spiritual gifts”? (1 Cor. 14: 1) and “earnestly desire the best gifts ” (1 Cor. 12

The fruits of the Spirit, are more important for you and more beneficial than the gifts of the Spirit. St. Paul also said about the fruits of the Spirit: ” the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23). These fruits …

Sometimes when I stand to pray I don’t know what to say, or I say a few words and come to a halt. How should I pray, and what should I say?

There are many elements to prayer which, if you are aware of them, can help you to lengthen your time in God’s presence. Many people just content themselves with the element of asking, so that they confuse prayer with requesting, with the result that if they have nothing to ask for they do not pray! …

Is it permissible that an organ of one human being’s body (whether it is from a live or dead body) be transplanted into that of another? And would organ transplant constitute meddling around with bodies, and not showing due respect for them? Is it also pe

Christianity does not prohibit organ transplantion, either from a living or a dead body. The Holy Bible does not expressly instruct on, or forbid, organ transplant, either in the New or in the Old Testament, because that subject was not around at that time. But the spirit of the Bible calls for giving and self-sacrifice, …

Are sins equal or do they differ in degree? Will the people in Hell all suffer the same punishment? Or are there different degrees of punishment? And which verses of the Bible support this?

The Lord said that He would come and ” give to every one according to his work. ” (Rev. 22:12) Obviously people’s actions differ, and so therefore will their punishment. Even on earth, the Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount: ” And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’# shall be in danger of …

What do the words of the Sovereign Lord to Abimelech, when the latter took Abraham’s wife, Sarah, mean: ” I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her.” (Gen. 20:6) Was this something against the human being’s free wi

God has given man freedom, but it is not absolute freedom. If this freedom is diverted towards something evil, which endangers the eternal life of that person, or someone else, then God can intervene to put a limit to this evil, or to punish the wrongdoer or stop him, and that is because God is …