What is it with some people? (On the ultra-religious/pharisaic)

[88Devin12]

I've just been wondering over the past several days... What is it with some people? On the internet, i've encountered many people espousing themselves to be Orthodox Christians, and yet their behavior and attitudes seem to reflect something vastly different.

As an example, I have a Youtube account, and some guy recently commented (i've since deleted it) that the church in one of my videos was committing heresy by having pews, not forcing women to cover their heads and for not separating men & women. Not to mention he commented that it was not "true holy Orthodoxy"...

There are also those like some out there who believe if you don't ascribe to old world traditions that you are committing heresy.

What are we to do with such people? Simply ignore them? I am kind of getting sick of hearing people like this spout their filth. Is it just me, am I wrong in thinking this way?

It seems that some people feel that they are God himself and can pronounce judgement on what & who they see fit just because they are "Orthodox Christians"... I certainly believe this is a very small minority, but it's a very annoying minority.

It seems to me that these people are our equivalent of Al Qaida and violent Muslims... They believe they are the true believers and everyone else is condemned to hell if they don't agree with them.

How are we to act when these people start promoting their views and pronouncing judgement on us because we aren't as Pharisaic as they are? Should we just ignore them? What should we do?

[Papist]

^ I would ignore them and continue working on your own spiritual life. Usually people like those you are describing cannot be reasoned with.

[EofK]

For some people, it seems they feel the need to pick at the minor details in life and if they get those things right it'll add up to a greater righteousness, sort of a gestalt religion.  Once those people feel they have those minor things perfected in themselves, regardless of their own failings, they see fit to correct those same things in other people.  I guess it gives them a sense of control over their surroundings and boosts themselves up to be able to manage others.

Whatever the reasoning is with it, if it's addressed to me personally I usually just shrug and tell them I have lots of imperfections so it comes as no surprise that they've found one.  If it's directed at someone or something beyond my control... well, that's beyond my control.  In other words, mind your own beeswax, eh?

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