Sunday, December 18, 2011
Nihilism - The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age
In the book: ”Nihilism - The Root of The Revolution of the Modern Age” Fr. Seraphim Rose analyzes the spiritual causes behind the modern revolution. He looks on the revolt of nihilism as a spiritual revolt against God and every form of authority.
In the religious order Nihilism seeks, not a mere reform of the Church and not even the foundation of a new ”church” or ”religion”, but a complete refashioning of the idea of religion and of spiritual experience. In art and literature the Nihilist is not concerned with the modification of old aesthetic canons regarding subject-matter style, nor with the development of new genres or traditions, but with a whole new approach to the question of artistic ”creation” and a new definition of ”art”...
The disorder so apparent in contemporary politics, religion, art, and other realms as well, is a result of the deliberate and systematic annihilation of the foundation of the authority in them...Of this age the Nihilist regimes of this century have given a foretaste, and the widespread rebelliousness of the present day is further portent; where there is no truth, the rebellious will reigns. But ”the will”, said Dostoyevsky, with his customary insight into the Nihilist mentality, ”is closest to nothing; the most assertive are closest to the most nihilistic” He who has abandoned truth and every authority founded upon that truth has only blind will between himself and the Abyss; and this will, whatever its spectacular achievements in its brief moment of power (those of Hitler and of Bolshevism have so far been the most spectacular), is irresistibly drawn to that Abyss as to some immense magnet that has searched out the answering abyss within itself.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
THE SECULARIZATION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
THE SECULARIZATION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANTIY
The Body of Christ is no longer recognized as such but is just a group of like minded people who have formed an organization to their liking.
The building where the Body of Christ meets is no longer a holy temple but just a building.
Its design no longer reflects the holiness of the kingdom of heaven but the ordinary ugliness of a meeting hall.
The sanctuary has been replaced by a stage.
The holy altar has been replaced by a lectern or pulpit.
The service of Holy Communion has been replaced by a preacher, lecture or sermon
The icons of the saint, martyrs and angels have been replaced by plain bare walls, mood lighting, theatre screens and folding padded seats just like in a theatre.
The services are no longer built around the Gospel for the day but all manner of secular themes and celebrations in step with the world.
America and the flag is more celebrated, honored and venerated than the Church and the heroes of the Church.
The “holy” days of the church year are really the secular days of the world.
The holy chanting that conveys spiritual compunction has been replaced by Hollywood and Grand ole Opry style entertainment that appeals to the flesh.
The modest and chaste dress that identifies the worshipers as being in a holy place has been replaced by all manner of immodest and suggestive attire and behavior more fitting for a night club or a house of ill repute.
The fasting to prepare to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood has been replaced by snack bars and even coffee drinking during the service.
The atmosphere of prayerful preparation that approaches God in holy awe has been replaced by loud, boisterous, passionate laughter, jesting and all manner of secular conversations.
Everything resembles a concert in a concert hall for the entertainment of the people.
There is no accountability to anyone for what the people belief or how they live.
There is no such thing as heresy and no such thing a discipline.
American Christianity, by and large, is thoroughly secularized in appearance, understanding and message and bears little or no resemblance to the historic Church of Christ.
The Body of Christ is no longer recognized as such but is just a group of like minded people who have formed an organization to their liking.
The building where the Body of Christ meets is no longer a holy temple but just a building.
Its design no longer reflects the holiness of the kingdom of heaven but the ordinary ugliness of a meeting hall.
The sanctuary has been replaced by a stage.
The holy altar has been replaced by a lectern or pulpit.
The service of Holy Communion has been replaced by a preacher, lecture or sermon
The icons of the saint, martyrs and angels have been replaced by plain bare walls, mood lighting, theatre screens and folding padded seats just like in a theatre.
The services are no longer built around the Gospel for the day but all manner of secular themes and celebrations in step with the world.
America and the flag is more celebrated, honored and venerated than the Church and the heroes of the Church.
The “holy” days of the church year are really the secular days of the world.
The holy chanting that conveys spiritual compunction has been replaced by Hollywood and Grand ole Opry style entertainment that appeals to the flesh.
The modest and chaste dress that identifies the worshipers as being in a holy place has been replaced by all manner of immodest and suggestive attire and behavior more fitting for a night club or a house of ill repute.
The fasting to prepare to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood has been replaced by snack bars and even coffee drinking during the service.
The atmosphere of prayerful preparation that approaches God in holy awe has been replaced by loud, boisterous, passionate laughter, jesting and all manner of secular conversations.
Everything resembles a concert in a concert hall for the entertainment of the people.
There is no accountability to anyone for what the people belief or how they live.
There is no such thing as heresy and no such thing a discipline.
American Christianity, by and large, is thoroughly secularized in appearance, understanding and message and bears little or no resemblance to the historic Church of Christ.
Friday, November 11, 2011
HOW OLD IS YOUR CHURCH AND WHO STARTED IT?
HOW OLD IS YOUR CHURCH AND WHO STARTED IT?
By Rev. Dr. Miltiades Efthimiou
If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Roman Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to re-marry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.
If you are Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century. If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1606.
If you are of the Dutch Reformed Church, you recognize Michelis Jones as founder because he originated your religion in New York in 1628. If you are Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865. If you are Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.
If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal Gospel, Holiness Church or Jehovah's Witnesses, your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past hundred years.
If you are a Roman Catholic, your church shared the same rich apostolic and doctrinal heritage as the Orthodox Church for the first thousand years of its history, since during the first millennium they were one and the same Church. Lamentably, in 1054, the Pope of Rome broke away from the other four Apostolic Patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem), by tampering with the Original Creed of the Church, and considering himself to be infallible. Thus your church is 1,000 years old.
If you are an Orthodox Christian, your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It has not changed since that time. Our Church is now almost 2,000 years old. And it is for this reason, that Orthodoxy, the Church of the Apostles and the. Fathers, is considered the true "one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."
By Rev. Dr. Miltiades Efthimiou
If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Roman Catholic Church, in the year 1517.
If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to re-marry.
If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582.
If you are Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century. If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1606.
If you are of the Dutch Reformed Church, you recognize Michelis Jones as founder because he originated your religion in New York in 1628. If you are Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1744.
If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865. If you are Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.
If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as Church of the Nazarene, Pentecostal Gospel, Holiness Church or Jehovah's Witnesses, your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past hundred years.
If you are a Roman Catholic, your church shared the same rich apostolic and doctrinal heritage as the Orthodox Church for the first thousand years of its history, since during the first millennium they were one and the same Church. Lamentably, in 1054, the Pope of Rome broke away from the other four Apostolic Patriarchates (Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem), by tampering with the Original Creed of the Church, and considering himself to be infallible. Thus your church is 1,000 years old.
If you are an Orthodox Christian, your religion was founded in the year 33 by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It has not changed since that time. Our Church is now almost 2,000 years old. And it is for this reason, that Orthodoxy, the Church of the Apostles and the. Fathers, is considered the true "one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church."
IN SEARCH OF TRUTH
IN SEARCH OF TRUTH
If you came to American and knew nothing about our country but wanted to learn all about it so you could maybe become a citizen what would be the best course of action. You could go to a bookstore and buy all kinds of books written about America. Then you could read all those books and think about all that you have read. You might imagine that you now understand America and are ready for citizenship. But out of all those books you read some of the authors didn’t know their subject very well. Some of the books, for whatever reason, included false or misleading information. Some of the books were written by people who understand our history and some by people who don’t. Some of the authors love America and some dislike it. Some are written to give a clear picture of America, some to express the author’s bias or personal agenda. So you could read all those books and still not know what you should know or need to know. And even if you then think you understand America, you might not understand it at all.
The other option would be to read the books that relate the history of America, clear certain facts that are known by all. You could read the writings of the founding fathers, their very words, ideas and intentions – not some one’s interpretation of their words, two hundred years later. You could read the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Jefferson Papers, the Bill of Rights and other similar documents. Then you would know the truth about America and what it means to be a citizen. This truth would be drawn from objective, established and known truths, not from what you feel or think or from a thousand different modern voices.
Then if you wanted to become a citizen you would not, could not start your own America. Your only option would be to embrace the America that has existed for two hundred plus years. You would have to submit yourself to the America that is and abide by its laws. The way you would be able to identify this America is by its Constitution, its unbroken history and it line of succession of the same beliefs, values and government from one generation to another. If you did not want to do all of this you would be rejecting America and saying you do not want to be a citizen.
All of this can be applied to the Church that Christ established. The Church is His Body of which He is the Head. There are not many Churches, just as there are not many Christs or many Americas. There are not many different Christian Faiths. There is only one God, one Christ, one Faith and one Church. The Church is an historical entity and reality. You can trace its history and read its “constitution” and read the writings of its founders and trace its unbroken succession of truth, life and government from the time of Christ to the present. To learn about the Church we must learn about the Church as it has been from the beginning. To enter the Church we have to embrace what is and not try to create our own or what others have created two thousand years later. We can’t recreate the Church on our own anymore than we can recreate America as though it has no history or historical existence. We can only submit to what is. Christ established His Church with its truth, its life and its way as the means for our salvation. The Church is like a ship sailing across the ocean of time inviting us to enter her safety.
Unfortunately, mankind in his pride tries to create his own “church” according to private interpretations of the Bible and according to personal likes and dislikes. And then, knowing that the Bible clearly teaches there is only one Church, man invents something called the invisible church to allow for all kinds of contradictory beliefs to be included in this “invisible church”. This idea of the invisible church is a new invention of Protestantism that has no history in the historical Church and no basis in the Bible. The only invisible Church is the Church in heaven, i.e., the Church triumphant vs. the Church on earth.
If you came to American and knew nothing about our country but wanted to learn all about it so you could maybe become a citizen what would be the best course of action. You could go to a bookstore and buy all kinds of books written about America. Then you could read all those books and think about all that you have read. You might imagine that you now understand America and are ready for citizenship. But out of all those books you read some of the authors didn’t know their subject very well. Some of the books, for whatever reason, included false or misleading information. Some of the books were written by people who understand our history and some by people who don’t. Some of the authors love America and some dislike it. Some are written to give a clear picture of America, some to express the author’s bias or personal agenda. So you could read all those books and still not know what you should know or need to know. And even if you then think you understand America, you might not understand it at all.
The other option would be to read the books that relate the history of America, clear certain facts that are known by all. You could read the writings of the founding fathers, their very words, ideas and intentions – not some one’s interpretation of their words, two hundred years later. You could read the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, the Jefferson Papers, the Bill of Rights and other similar documents. Then you would know the truth about America and what it means to be a citizen. This truth would be drawn from objective, established and known truths, not from what you feel or think or from a thousand different modern voices.
Then if you wanted to become a citizen you would not, could not start your own America. Your only option would be to embrace the America that has existed for two hundred plus years. You would have to submit yourself to the America that is and abide by its laws. The way you would be able to identify this America is by its Constitution, its unbroken history and it line of succession of the same beliefs, values and government from one generation to another. If you did not want to do all of this you would be rejecting America and saying you do not want to be a citizen.
All of this can be applied to the Church that Christ established. The Church is His Body of which He is the Head. There are not many Churches, just as there are not many Christs or many Americas. There are not many different Christian Faiths. There is only one God, one Christ, one Faith and one Church. The Church is an historical entity and reality. You can trace its history and read its “constitution” and read the writings of its founders and trace its unbroken succession of truth, life and government from the time of Christ to the present. To learn about the Church we must learn about the Church as it has been from the beginning. To enter the Church we have to embrace what is and not try to create our own or what others have created two thousand years later. We can’t recreate the Church on our own anymore than we can recreate America as though it has no history or historical existence. We can only submit to what is. Christ established His Church with its truth, its life and its way as the means for our salvation. The Church is like a ship sailing across the ocean of time inviting us to enter her safety.
Unfortunately, mankind in his pride tries to create his own “church” according to private interpretations of the Bible and according to personal likes and dislikes. And then, knowing that the Bible clearly teaches there is only one Church, man invents something called the invisible church to allow for all kinds of contradictory beliefs to be included in this “invisible church”. This idea of the invisible church is a new invention of Protestantism that has no history in the historical Church and no basis in the Bible. The only invisible Church is the Church in heaven, i.e., the Church triumphant vs. the Church on earth.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD
THE TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD
When God called Abraham and entered into a covenant with him, the Jewish nation did not exist. Thus, the covenant God gave to Abraham was not based on a worldly nation or a people of a certain ethnic descent or nationality but the promise was to Abraham and his seed – not seeds as in many but seed as in one. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, ‘And to seeds, as of many; but as of one,’ and to thy seed, which is Christ.” Gal. 3:16. This is the same seed, i.e. Christ, that God had promised in the Garden of Eden, the seed that would ultimately crush the head of Satan.
The promise to Abraham was the promise of the coming Messiah. In Him, i.e. Christ, all nations of the earth would be blessed. God called Abraham and his descendents to be the depository, so to speak, of this promise. If they would believe this promise and live in God’s covenant, they would be joined to the Messiah and His covenant blessings and they in turn, by bearing witness to this faith and covenant, would be a source of blessing to other nations who did not know of this Messiah and covenant. The promise was the promise of Christ the Messiah. The descendents of Abraham would participate in the promise if they would believe God’s promise and live in His covenant. The promise was not based on the people or their nationality but on their relationship to God in this covenant through faith. The promise was not based on the people or their nationality but on their relationship to God in this covenant through faith. The Promise, Covenant, Seed was Christ. Abraham and his descendants were the package God chose to market the Covenant, so to speak. The world would not be blessed by a particular nationality but by Christ who would descend through them. When they, as a whole, rejected the Messiah, God chose the Church as His package.
This same covenant of grace found it’s ultimate fulfillment in the coming of Christ of which the Church partakes today as the New Israel. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:27-29.
In the Old Testament the Church was composed of those who embraced and lived in the covenant by faith. It is the same for the Church of the New Testament. Just as our participation today in the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with our nationality or ethnic heritage, so it was in the Old Testament. The descendents of Abraham participated in the covenant, not because of their nationality but because they embraced the covenant God revealed to Abraham.
Later, after the covenant had been established, Jacob a descendent of Abraham who embraced the covenant, after wrestling all night with an angel, was given the name Israel which means struggler with God or upright with God. Thus Israel denotes those who are in a covenant relationship with God, not people of a certain nationality. It had nothing to do with them being Jews, it had everything to do with the fact that God chose these descendents of Abraham to be the depository of his covenant, which was based on faith in his promises.
Eventually Israel came to think of their relationship to God as being based in their nationality as Jews and their keeping of the law that God had revealed to Moses. This was their downfall.
Those today who see the Jewish people as the chosen people of God simply because they are Jews are making the same mistake. This wrong understanding resulted in the Jews thinking of their relationship to God as being based on their physical descent rather than their faith in God’s promises and being in covenant relationship with God through faith in the Messiah.
We see this mentioned in a number of passages in the Scriptures.
In the 8th chapter of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus had a long conversation with some of the Jews. They were looking for a physical kingdom and a physical king and basing their relationship to God on their nationality and the law just as many today still do when they refer to the Jews as God’s chosen people. Thus, when Christ came in humility and spoke of his death, the Jewish people as a whole rejected him as the Messiah.
In John 8 beginning at verse 23 when the Jews rejected His talk about His death, Jesus said to them:
“Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24) I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 30) As he spake these words, many believed on him. 31) Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32) And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
[Notice that they were not already his disciples by virtue of simply being Jews. There is nothing here to suggest they are his chosen people. They have already abandoned God’s covenant and are therefore lost in their sins. Only those who embraced the covenant by believing in him were true descendents of Abraham. Their physical descent contributed nothing.]
33) “Then they [the Jews who did not believe in him] answered him, We are Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” [They think they are God’s chosen people by virtue of physical, national descent.]
34) “Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 36) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 37) I know that you are descendents of Abraham; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38) I speak that which I have seen with my Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39) They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40) But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God; this Abraham did not do. 41) Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42) Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God: neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43) Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him…47) He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God…56) Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57) Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.”
So we see how being Jews by nationality was of no benefit because they saw the kingdom of God as a worldly and physical thing and thus rejected the Messiah. They could no longer be called God’s chosen people even as the Jews today who reject him cannot be called God’s chosen people. The promises of God given to Abraham ceased to have any fulfillment in them when they rejected him as we see in the words of Jesus as he wept over Jerusalem as he set his face to go to the cross and said, “O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you under my wings as a chicken gathers her chicks but ye would not. Behold your house is left unto you desolate.” The promises of Abraham no longer pertained to them. They were forsaken as God’s chosen people because they rejected God’s Son as the Messiah. Not long after this, in 70 AD, Jerusalem was invaded and destroyed. The Jews were slaughtered and the temple was destroyed. These were all signs that the promises given to Abraham would no longer pertain to them but only to those who embraced the covenant in Christ through faith.
St. Paul spoke of this in his letter to the Romans, chapter 4:
11) “And he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also…13) For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14) For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.”
St. Paul uses the term law to express an understanding of the Jews which based their relationship to God on their nationality and their keeping of the Jewish laws. He says clearly that their relationship to God has nothing to do with their nationality or physical descent or being possessors of the law but rather on faith in the promises of God in Christ. This, he said, is what Abraham believed and only those who believe this are true descendents of Abraham.
In Romans 2: 28-29 St. Paul states it again, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly: neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
Later, St. Paul answers those who in effect say, “But if the Jews are no longer the chosen people then God has changed and is not faithful to his promises given in the Old Testament.” But this contention is based on seeing the promise in the Old Testament as based on nationality, which it wasn’t. Thus St. Paul said, “ It is not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all of Israel, which are of Israel: Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Rom. 6-8
Here we see again that the chosen people of God are those who embraced God’s covenant through faith in the Messiah and not those who are merely physical descendents called Jews.
The fact that the Jews do not continue to be reckoned as the chosen people of God merely by virtue of their nationality is emphasized again in Romans 11:21 “For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee” Here St. Paul is talking about how the Jewish people had been cut off from God’s grace by their rejection of God’s covenant in Christ.
The promise to Abraham and his descendents was conditional. God told them that He would be their God and He would bless them but only if they embraced His covenant and lived as His covenant people according to all that He would lay out for them. God was clear in His warnings. If they turned away from His covenant and in unbelief of His promises turned to the false gods of the other nations, God would inflict severe punishment on them. We see this happening repeatedly in the Old Testament as God allows the surrounding pagan nations to take them into captivity and slaughter them and enslave them, depicting that apart from their embrace of God’s covenant they are not heirs to God’s promises.
In the New Testament all the promises of God that had been given to Abraham and his seed are fulfilled in Christ and now belong to the Church, the new covenant people, the new chosen people as St. Paul said in Galatians 3: 9 “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” And again in verse 14: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” St. Peter taught the same thing in I Peter 2:9 when he spoke of the church as “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, a holy nation; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. “ These are Old Testament covenant words, once applied to those who embraced the covenant and now applied to the Church.
Thus all the promises given to Israel of old will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. Just as the animal sacrifices and all the temple rituals found their fulfillment in Christ, so the promises to Israel in the Old Testament now find their fulfillment, not in physical land in the nation of Israel, but in the New Jerusalem, the city not made by hands whose builder and maker is God; the one St. John the Revelator saw coming down from God out of heaven. The promised land is possessed by the Church, now and in eternity. It is the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who still look for an earthly kingdom, fall into the same mistake as the Jews. which caused them to reject Christ as the Messiah and which will lead many to embrace the Anti-Christ because they are looking for a millennial kingdom on earth..
The title “chosen people of God” has always pertained to those who believed in and embraced God’s promises in Christ. It never was based on some physical or ethnic descent. There is no basis at all for applying the promises of God to a physical nation. In fact, such a concept contradicts the Scriptures that tell us that God is no respecter of persons, that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile since all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that no one can come to the Father but by Christ.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Is Gambling a Sin?
IS GAMBLING WRONG?
I recently heard a prominent and popular preacher on TV doing a question and answer session – giving answers to questions from members of his congregation. The question at hand was, “What’s wrong with gambling?”
The preacher’s answer was short and predictable. “It’s trying to get something for nothing,” he said. This, of course, isn't true since most gambling I am familiar with requires an investment of money. In anticipation of the next logical question he tried to explain why playing the stock market is not the same as gambling. Then, as if realizing his answer was ringing a little hollow, he added, “Besides, if you’re playing the stock market you won’t have a cocktail waitress trying to serve you drinks.” (This is a good ploy when you sense that your arguments are weak. Use humor to distract and deflect attention away from your answer.)
As I thought about his answer I couldn’t help but raise a few questions. If the “sin” of gambling is trying to get something for nothing wouldn’t that make it wrong for homeless people to go to the rescue mission for a free meal and place to sleep? Wouldn’t that make it wrong for needy people to accept Thanksgiving food baskets or Christmas toys from his church? And what about Christmas gifts or any gift? Isn’t that getting something for nothing? If a rich man is handing out hundred dollar bills on a street corner, would it be a sin for me to try to get one? And would I be sinning if I signed a slip of paper and dropped it in a box for a drawing for a TV at a new store opening? And wonder of wonders, isn’t the Grace of God about getting something for nothing? Oh, no! What will we do now?
Social Media - A Barometer of Society
Social Media - A Barometer of Society
The Social Media of a society are pretty good reflections of the heart and soul of that society. Which comes first is hard to say. Does the media create the way society lives and thinks or does the media simply reflect what is? Perhaps there’s some of both. It’s debatable. It is still true that the media gives us a good insight into our culture.
Take Facebook, for instance. It is a good barometer of contemporary society – how people think, feel, react and what’s important to them. Some people seldom post anything except something about sports. Others post mostly about animals. Some post what they are eating or other such mundane activities. Others seem to post things that make them appear to be wealthy, important or special. No doubt all of these things are important to those who post them and they apparently are important to a lot of people who like to read them.
As Andy Rooney would say, “it seems to me” that Facebook mostly reflects a society that is bored and living and thinking mostly on the surface of life without much thought for the deeper or greater questions and issues of life. It appears that life is pretty much lived and understood on a trivial level. Many in our society rarely think beyond sports, trivia games, videos, the latest fad or movement, some Hollywood event or celebrity, or the latest movie. The meaning of life, as seen on Facebook, is reduced to entertainment, having fun, egoisms and cute little slogans and warm fussy quotes.
And as usual, contemporary Christianity in America always becomes a reflection of society at large (which should tell you that it is sick and confused). I see a lot of this reflected on the religious posts of Facebook.
On Facebook, as in society at large, we see a Contemporary Christianity that is really into reductionism – reducing the Christian Faith to its least common denominator so there are few doctrines or requirements of belief or practice. This reflects the multi-culturalism and inclusive campaigns of society.
You see this in how all the churches these days want to drop defining names and be called something cool like New Life, or New Wine, or Celebration Ministries, or World Outreach or The Rock, etc. - anything that reflects being hip and cool and all-inclusive. The name of the game is entertainment and fun. Churches are reduced to smorgasbords with the biggest ones offering the best dishes and people choosing churches based on their appetites (passions). Content, beyond how to live a happy, prosperous and fulfilled life (i.e. how to sanctify the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life), is absent. Whatever resemblance to content remains is reduced to cute little quotes and slogans that fill the pages of Facebook. They sound cute but in the end they mean nothing and serve no purpose except to entertain for a brief moment. They are, to borrow words from Shakespeare, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing - a good reflection of society and contemporary Christianity.
The Orthodox Septuagint or the Protestant Masoretic?
The Orthodox Septuagint or the Protestant Masoretic?
The Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, the one used by Christ and the apostles (as quoted in the New Testament). The Protestant world uses the Masoretic text which came some 1000 years after the time of Christ and was altered by Jewish Rabbis who tried to erase prophecies that seemed to point to Jesus as the Christ of the Old Testament.
The Septuagint was translated in Alexandra circa A.D. 250 during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphius as a publication of the Library of Alexandria. This Library was the Media Center of the Roman world. Ptolemy wanted a copy of every book in the known world to be available through the Library. Accordingly, he found a way to include a translation of the hitherto untranslated Scriptures of the Jews which could be made available through the Library. Scholars who were fluent in both Hebrew and Greek traveled from Jerusalem to Alexandria to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.
Their translation, known as the Septuagint from the seventy-two who completed this work, was praised as grasping the true meaning of the Hebrew and setting it forth in Greek by the most erudite of the Jews who were contemporaries of Our Lord Jesus Christ, including Philo and Josephus. The Septuagint found such favor with the Jewish community in Alexandria that they established a celebration on an island in the Nile to mark each anniversary of its completion. The Septuagint immediately found a widespread reception in the pre-Christian literary world, notably in Rome itself. Both the authors of the New Testament and also the Fathers of the Church used the Septuagint as an authoritative source in teaching Christian doctrine. The Septuagint, abbreviated as ‘LXX’, is the scriptural standard for the Orthodox Church as Old Testament scripture whether in Greek or in Church Slavonic.
The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled every one of the prophecies concerning the Messiah found anywhere in the text of the Septuagint. This is the consistent witness of the Fathers from Saint Dionysius the Areopagite to Saint Irenaeus of Lyons. Indeed, the recent discovery of St. Irenaeus’ The Proof of the Apostolic Preaching in an Armenian Monastery was first published in a translation from Armenian into French in Paris, August 23, 1913 (Cf. § 30, p. 683). St. Irenaeus’ Proof comes down to this: “What the Scriptures prophesied, Christ fulfilled” and this is the keystone of the Apostolic preaching. Thus, His Resurrection on the third day, is, in the Nicene Creed, confessed to be “according to the Scriptures,” that is, in fulfillment of the prophecies of Christ recorded in the Canonical Scriptures.
The destruction and leveling of Jerusalem, which was prophesied by Christ, (Mt. 24:2; Mr.13:2; Lk. 21:6) was accomplished under the Roman General Titus in 70 A.D. Around A. D. 90 the Jews initiated a program of eliminating, wherever possible, or altering all of the prophesies of Christ in the Hebrew texts available to them, and of a further program of reconstructing their version of the text of the Old Testament by using inferior texts. As it happens, the Psalter in the Septuagint stands as that book which, more than any other in holy Scripture, is replete with prophecies of Christ. Given the widespread popularity of the Septuagint Psalter, even in the first century A. D., the Jews were limited in how far they could take their deliberate eradication or alteration of the prophesies of Christ. They chose not to alter or delete the prophesies in the Psalter quite possibly out of fear of tipping their hand as regards their extensive tampering with other texts in the Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament.
The text produced by the Jews is called the Masoretic text. The final edition of the Masoretic text appeared around 1000 A.D. This text, stripped as far as possible of the prophesies of Christ by the Masoretes, i.e. Jewish scholarship, is the text preferred and used by the protestant world. This corrupted text stands behind the Old Testament translation into German by Martin Luther and into the English of the 1611 King James Version.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls written in Hebrew found in the Judean wilderness circa the 1950’s calls the Jewish endeavor outlined above into serious question. These scrolls dating from the first century A.D. confirm basis for the Septuagint in the Hebrew of the Qumran texts. The texts found in Qumran are in consonance with those used in the translation of the Septuagint. Further, they are dated approximately 900 years before the eleventh century rescission of the Masoretes. Each of the prophesies of Christ are in place, intact, and supported by the texts found in the Judean desert. Even apart from such modern supporting documentation for the text of the Septuagint, we can, as Orthodox Christians, continue to rely, as did the Evangelists, Apostles, and Fathers of the Church, upon the Septuagint as Canonical Scripture.
America and the Spirit of Rebellion
America and the Spirit of Rebellion
America was founded on a spirit of rebellion. Consider how the founders of our Nation and the Revolutionary War were in clear and direct contradiction to the Bible on which they claimed to base the new nation.
1) In the Old Testament it is written that God hates the spirit of rebellion, which is worse than witchcraft.
2) When Israel was in captivity and reduced to slavery, God never instructed them to form an army or rebel. They were to endure in repentance until it was God’s time to set them free.
3) In the New Testament we are told to submit to and obey the authorities and to respect the government. This was written when the government at that time was pagan and oppressive.
4) St. Paul admonished slaves to obey their masters whether they were good masters or evil masters. If they endured the evil, they would have a reward but if they rebelled they would be in the wrong. When the run away slave, Onesimus, was converted to the Christian Faith, St. Paul sent him back to his owner.
5) The apostles lived and suffered under a pagan government in a pagan society. Never did they advocate rebellion. When they were arrested and mistreated for obeying God, they submitted to the incarceration and punishment. They never led a march or protest or advocated such. They trusted God for their deliverance and vindication in God’s time.
6) The Gospels clearly teach us to do good to those who do evil to us, to turn the other check and to live in humility and meekness.
Now it becomes evident that the founding fathers were not following the teachings of Scripture but a spirit of rebellion. And it becomes evident that the Protestant Evangelical world by and large follows the same spirit of rebellion in rejecting these clear teachings of Scripture by either ignoring them or saying they don’t apply to us today. If we can ignore one Scripture, why not ignore all? If one part doesn’t apply to us, why should any part apply to us? Who’s to say and who’s to decide what does or what doesn’t? Such an individualistic and private approach eventually leads to little or no beliefs, which is the salient feature of American “Christianity” today.
For the most part, the founding fathers of America were not Christians but Deists. There is a big difference. The slogans “God Bless America”, “God and Country” and “In God We Trust” are expressions of Deism but have no significant Christian meaning or content.
The rebellion against England involved politics and economics but a large part of it was religious. The spirit of rebellion did not want to submit to the ancient forms and beliefs of the Christian Faith but instead sought the freedom to form religious beliefs according to individualistic and private interpretations. Such, also, was the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
The Amazing Message of TV (and other) Preachers
The Amazing Message of TV (and other) Preachers
As I sat down for my morning coffee the other day I was flipping through the channels on TV. I came across a local preacher of one of the mega-churches in Nashville. He was expounding on the unity of the church. He pointed out that on the day of Pentecost the believers were of one mind and one spirit. Then he pointed out that St. Paul taught we are to maintain the unity of the faith. (For some reason he didn’t dwell on the concept of THE FAITH.)
I should have expected the next words that came out of his mouth as I have observed when preachers quote Bible verses that don’t exactly say what they want them to say, they then proceed to explain them away and reinterpret them according to their private interpretations.
So the preacher continued, supposedly expounding on what the Bible says about unity. “Listen people”, he said, “We don’t’ have to believe everything alike or agree on everything. We don’t have to be like little robots all saying the same thing.” (The little robot analogy is a common tactic to belittle the unity of one true faith as taught in the Scriptures.) Then he said, “But there ARE some things we Have to agree on.”
“Really?” I said out loud to myself. “And who is going to decide what those essentials are?” But I already knew the answer. HE was going to decide. But why does he get to decide and I don’t? What if he comes up with five essentials we all have to agree on and I come up with six? How are we going to work that out? And what if we let the Church of Christ preacher decide? That list won’t match his. And what if we can’t all agree on what this preacher decides is essential? Does that mean we aren’t Christians? And why aren’t we like little robots if we all have to agree on his essentials? Why not leave it all open? After all, there is no Bible verse that says we have to agree on certain essentials and certainly not one that gives us a definitive list.
Then I flipped to another preacher (no, I didn’t say I flipped the preacher). This preacher was on a rant. At the top of his voice he is screaming, “I'M SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING EVERYBODY GIVE THEIR OPINION ON THIS AND THAT. I FOLLOW ONLY ONE OPINION (now he is waving the Bible in the air and prancing/strutting across the stage) AND THAT IS WHAT THIS BIBLE SAYS, THIS BLOOD BOUGHT BIBLE!" But isn’t what he says the Bible says just one more opinion?
I don’t know, but it just seems to me that if the robots sitting in the average pew on Sunday morning would ever really listen and pay attention to what is being said from the pulpit and really think it through the pews might soon be deserted.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Why I Don't Celebrate Halloween
Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween
Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween
When Christianity came to Britain, the Church found pagan people, the Celts, who celebrated a feast of their god “Samhain”, the Lord of Death, in the fall. On the night of “Samhain”, it was believed that the spirits of the dead roamed the earth and needed to be appeased, so that they would not work evil. To imitate this ritually, people would pretend to be the dead and roam from house to house demanding “treats.” On this dreadful night, as well, there were probably human sacrifices to appease death, as there were human sacrifices at many of the major Druidic holidays.
When the Church came to Britain and Ireland, of course, She strove mightily against the pagan religion of the Druids and attempted to stamp out such practices. In revenge, the pagans intensified their practices. This included, on “Samhain”, harassing those who would not give them “treats” – thus the threat of “tricks”. It also came to include mocking Christian practices: for example, “decorating” with skeletons was done in mockery of the veneration of the relics of the saints. The carved pumpkin is a mockery of the revered skull of a saint.
The original date of “Samhain” varied, because the Celts had a lunar, not solar, calendar. But after the Romans introduced the Julian calendar in Britain, “Samhain” came to be fixed on the night before November 1st. Thus it stood in direct conflict with the vigil for the Feast of All Saints.
It was very clear, then, that on the Eve of All Hallows, only PAGANS roamed the streets demanding ‘treats’, while CHRISTIANS KEPT VIGIL FOR THE HOLY FEAST DAY in a pious and Godly manner. When we go “trick or treating” we are, whether we know it or not, identifying with the pagans against the Christians.
But Isn’t the Modern “Halloween” Harmless?
Some people may object to all this and say, “Well, that was true at ONE TIME, but NOW Halloween is just a time for kids to dress up, get candy, and enjoy themselves.” I am afraid this is wishful thinking. The facts are these:
The “cute-ification” of the witches, demons, and other symbols of Halloween is not harmless. On the contrary, it is the NORMALIZATION of things that are EVIL. Things that are evil should not be depicted as if they were friendly or harmless. This teaches children the opposite of what they should be learning. And even if our children dress up as something harmless, they are “swimming,” as it were, in the atmosphere of the occult symbols that are everywhere at Halloween, and we are lending support to the whole thing by being part of it.
Real witches still exist, and they STILL regard “Halloween” as one of their “holy” nights. All over the United States alone, thousands of “Wiccan” and “Church of Satan” practitioners perform evil ceremonies on this night, ranging from the Wiccan neo-pagan nature worship to actual Satanic rituals. On a night when such things are known to go on, it is more important than ever not to confuse our Christian identity with things that are anti-Christian. It is also a night when we should intensify our prayers to combat the forces of evil.
By taking part in the pagan Halloween, we make ourselves part of the rapid de-Christianization of the United States and Europe. Current data indicate that the number of people who “keep” Halloween is constantly growing and may at some point surpass the number of people who observe Christmas in the United States! Do we want to contribute to this trend?
We may THINK that we “mean no harm” by “doing Halloween,” but uncritical behavior regarding invisible realities that we don’t really understand often invites demonic activity. Why should we take a chance on letting demons into our lives? Are we absolutely sure that Halloween is so harmless?
In summary, Halloween results in one of two things. Either it is a celebration of demons and evil, or else it makes fun of these things as though they aren’t real or to be taken seriously. Either way, it is a contradiction of the Christian Faith.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Why Orthodox Christians Don't Participate in Joint Worship and Prayer Services
Why Orthodox Christians Don’t Participate in Joint Worship and Prayer Services with Various Denominations or Religious Bodies
Introduction
Christians from the various denominations cannot understand why Orthodox Christians do not participate in joint worship or prayer services such as Easter sunrise services, Thanksgiving Day services, National Day of prayer or any other worship/prayer services. The very idea that some would consider it wrong to participate in joint worship and prayer with others is a concept that is totally foreign and baffling to most in American Christianity.
For the purposes of this paper, the groups who find the Orthodox view on this subject to be strange or even offensive will be grouped together and referred to simply as American Christianity. American Christianity in this context includes most denominations and those who call themselves non or inter-denominational. All of these groups hold a form of the Christian Faith that developed in and grew out of the Western/American experience and is unique to Western/American Christianity.
American Christianity stands in sharp contrast to the Orthodox Christian Faith, and herein lies the problem. Most in American Christianity cannot understand why joint worship is a problem precisely because they do not understand the great difference and divide between them and the Orthodox Faith. Some may perceive Orthodoxy, if they know of it at all, as just one more denomination among many that shares a common understanding on the basics but exists as a separate denomination because of differences that really don’t matter. From an Orthodox perspective nothing could be further from the truth. American Christianity and Orthodoxy are two very different understandings and expressions of the Christian Faith; not just in a few externals and customs but in the very essence of what is confessed and believed about the Christian Faith.
If a Christian who lived, let’s say in Antioch, Jerusalem or Alexandria in the 3rd, 4th or 5th centuries could suddenly appear in America today he could enter any Orthodox Church for a Sunday service and apart from a language barrier he would be right at home. He would recognize the worship with all its forms and parts and the Faith confessed as the same he had known back then. But if he entered a typical church of American Christianity, he would encounter a form of worship and an understanding of the Christian Faith that would be unrecognizable to him. To be sure, most in American Christianity don’t see why this is a problem. They contend the Church has to adapt to the culture and that’s why American Christianity is so different from something out of the past. But this is simply one more indication of the great difference and divide that exists between the Orthodox Faith and American Christianity, as we shall see.
What is it about the Orthodox Faith that is so different and unknown to American Christianity? How is it more than just a difference in a few non-essential externals? Why does Orthodoxy refuse to change with times, fads and movements? And why do these differences pose a problem for joint worship and prayer from the Orthodox perspective?
The essential differences between the Orthodox Christian Faith and American Christianity can be grouped under three broad headings:
· Different foundations
· Different content
· Different conclusions
Different Foundations
Foundation has to do with what we stand on, the source of our authority and that on which we base our existence. Our understanding of how we came to be – the foundation we are built upon, ultimately determines our beliefs and our practices.
The Foundation of American Christianity
American Christianity claims the Christian Faith as their foundation, to be sure, but it is as each one or each group understands that Faith according to their interpretation of the Bible. Everything goes back to the Bible and everything is drawn from the Bible. The Bible is claimed as the manual, the source and guide for all that is believed and followed in American Christianity. This is the heritage of the Reformation in Europe in the 16th century and of the Restoration Movement and the Great Awakening in the 19th century in America. A description or explanation of these movements is beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to say, American Christianity is the product of these movements that based the Christian Faith and the various churches on Scripture alone. These movements soundly rejected any source as authoritative for determining their faith and practice except the Bible. All the teachings of the early Church Fathers, the Church Councils through the centuries and the consensus of the early Church were rejected as sources for determining the beliefs and practices of the Christian Faith. Nothing could be taught or believed as essential to the Christian Faith unless it was taught in the Bible. American Christianity claims the Bible to be its sole foundation – that from which all of its beliefs and practices are drawn or based upon. This is called sola scriptura, from the Latin for scripture alone.
The Orthodox Christian Faith rejects the teaching of sola scriptura as false and misleading, believing it results in an understanding of the Christian Faith that is very different from the historical Faith, both as to its content and its practices.
Before explaining the contrasting foundation of the Orthodox Faith, it would be helpful to understand some of the problems the Orthodox Church has with sola scriptura and why we believe it has produced a form of the Christian Faith that is erroneous in many of its parts and therefore unacceptable.
The first problem is that the concept of sola scriptura is a late development. This doctrine was taught by certain reformers who created their own church some 1500 years after the Church began. In fact, the Church existed almost 400 years before there was anything close to the New Testament as we have it today. For almost twice as long as America has been a nation, the Church existed without knowing which books that now comprise the New Testament were authentic and which were not. There was no clearly defined New Testament until the 4th century. Even then people did not have copies of the Bible until hundreds of years later with the invention of the printing press. People did not carry Bibles to church in the first century and Saint Paul did not preach from a Bible. From this it should be clear that the Church did not grow out of the Bible and was not based on the Bible. The Bible grew out of and was based on what the Church already believed and practiced. The Bible did not give us the Church. The Church gave us the Bible. The Bible does not interpret the Church. The Church interprets the Bible. These are crucial distinctions that result in very different Faiths.
The second problem with sola scriptura is that there is no such thing. It is a false construct. The Bible begs interpretation. It does not interpret itself. It is open to many different meanings and understandings. This is why there are thousands of denominations all claiming to be based on the Bible. The fact that the Bible needs interpretation is why there are preachers preaching, teachers teaching, Bible studies studying and authors writing thousands of books and commentaries to explain the meaning of the Bible. If it were self-interpreting, there would be no need for all the attempts to interpret it and there would not be numerous interpretations and explanations.
The fact is that all of American Christianity is built, not on the Bible alone, but on someone’s interpretation of the Bible. Every denomination or group has its own tradition that determines its interpretation of the Bible. Each denomination or group is based on a preacher’s interpretation or that of the denominational founder or leaders. If you are a Lutheran, your religion was founded by Martin Luther, an ex-monk of the Catholic Church, in the year 1517. If you belong to the Church of England, your religion was founded by King Henry VIII in the year 1534 because the Pope would not grant him a divorce with the right to re-marry. If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox in Scotland in the year 1560. If you are a Congregationalist, your religion was originated by Robert Brown in Holland in 1582. If you are Protestant Episcopalian, your religion was an offshoot of the Church of England, founded by Samuel Seabury in the American colonies in the 17th century. If you are a Baptist, you owe the tenets of your religion to John Smyth, who launched it in Amsterdam in 1606. If you are of the Dutch Reformed Church, you recognize Michelis Jones as founder because he originated your religion in New York in 1628. If you are a Methodist, your religion was founded by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1774. If you are a Mormon (Latter Day Saints), Joseph Smith started your religion in Palmyra, New York, in 1829. If you worship with the Salvation Army, your sect began with William Booth in London in 1865. If you are Christian Scientist, you look to 1879 as the year in which your religion was born and to Mary Baker Eddy as its founder.
If you belong to one of the religious organizations known as Church of the Nazarene, Free Will Baptist, Pentecostal Holiness, or Jehovah's Witnesses, your religion is one of the hundreds of new sects founded by men within the past 150 or so years.
If you belong to a non or inter-denominational group, your religion was founded in the last 50 years and your interpretation of the Bible is determined by your founding pastor or left up to each individual to interpret as they like.
All of this sounds like what St. Paul condemned in his letter to the Corinthians because one faction was saying, “I am of Paul,” i.e., follower of Paul, and another faction said, “I am of Peter”, and another, “I am of Apollo”. St. Paul told them the Church cannot be divided into factions based on certain persons, groups or personalities. Today people are doing the same thing saying, “I follow Luther, Joseph Smith, the Baptists, the Charismatics, Joel Osteen, or this preacher or that group or denomination. St. Paul taught there is only one Church and all such divisions are incompatible with the one Church that Christ established.
Another problem with sola scriptura is that it contradicts itself. The teaching of sola scriptura is not found in the Bible, which it would have to be if your beliefs are based on the Bible alone.
There are numerous other problems with the idea that the Church is based on the Bible alone but I will mention only one more. With sola scriptura you end up with confusing and contradictory versions of the Christian Faith all claiming the Bible as their support.
Each denomination, group or individual in American Christianity can quote Bible verses to support their beliefs and show the other beliefs to be wrong. Each group claims to follow only the Bible, to be led by the one and same Holy Spirit and to be a true expression of the Christian Faith. Yet, there are numerous interpretations and different versions of the Faith. American Christianity may resemble the confusion of Babel more than the unity of Pentecost.
The Foundation of the Orthodox Christian Faith
For the Orthodox, the foundation of Scripture alone is a foundation of shifting sand that cannot be trusted and results in confusion. It is an introduction of new and innovative teachings that creates understandings and practices that are very different from the historic Christian Faith.
The Orthodox Church can trace its unbroken history directly back to the Church founded by Christ and the apostles on the day of Pentecost. This is not arrogance but a statement of historical fact that anyone can discover with a little reading. Read A History of the Jewish People by Josephus (a Jew and non-Christian), Ecclesiastical History by the 3rd century historian Eusebius or the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (some of whom lived during the lifetime of the apostles) and you will see this to be so. The Orthodox Church of today is the same Church as described by these early writings. Thus, the Orthodox Church existed before there was a New Testament. For the first one thousand years there was one Faith and one Church in the entire world. This is the Church that has the promise of Christ, “I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
The bishops of this Church gathered in council in the 4th century and decided which letters/books to include in the New Testament as authentic and which letters/books to exclude as unauthentic. What were their criteria for determining this? What was their measuring stick? They made this decision based on something they called the Holy Tradition received from the apostles and handed down to them. The foundation of the Orthodox Christian Faith is Holy Tradition. It is interesting to note that American Christianity rejects Holy Tradition and most of the teachings of the very bishops who determined which books to include in the New Testament. And they believe these bishops, whom they reject, were inspired by the Holy Spirit in determining the books of the New Testament but in error on almost everything else they taught.
Holy Tradition includes the Bible but is not limited to the Bible. The New Testament was not written as a comprehensive manual and was never intended to be so. It was never intended to be interpreted apart from the mind of the Church. The letters of the New Testament were written by the apostles addressing particular issues in different locations but were never intended or used as a comprehensive manual until the doctrine of sola scriptura was introduced some 1500 years later.
By Holy Tradition, the Orthodox Church means the fullness of the Christian Faith, as established by the apostles, taught and guided by the Holy Spirit, and handed down as one Faith and one Church. Holy Tradition is the Life and Truth of the Holy Spirit in the one undivided Church. It is not limited to a few basic ideas. Nothing of Holy Tradition as preserved in the Orthodox Church is considered optional, unimportant, unnecessary to our salvation or open for negotiations because it is the Life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As we go, we will see more of what this body of truth, Holy Tradition, includes.
Christ never wrote a book and never instructed anyone to do so. He did, however, ordain apostles whose function and teachings were the foundation stones of the Church. He then instructed them to make disciples by baptizing and teaching ALL that He had commanded them and by passing on the apostolic doctrine to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. Once again, it is this Holy Tradition, the Life and Truth of the Holy Spirit in the Church as received from the apostles and passed down in its fullness and unity through each generation that is the foundation of the Orthodox Christian Faith. It includes the Holy Scriptures, the teachings of the Fathers, Confessors, Martyrs and Saints of the Church, the canons of the Holy Councils and Synods of the Church, the Iconography, prayers and hymns of the worship services and the oral teachings that have been received and passed on from one generation to the next. This is all in keeping with the words of St. Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:15 that the Church is to hold fast to the apostolic traditions whether written or spoken. So, Holy Tradition is the Way, Truth and Life of the Holy Spirit in the Church which began at Pentecost, was established and passed on by the apostles and continues to the present day in the one undivided Faith of Holy Orthodoxy. This is the one, holy Catholic [possessing the fullness of the Faith] Church that holds the same Faith at all times and in all places from Pentecost to the end of time and into eternity. Once again, this is the Church that Christ promised to build and to preserve. It is His Body, His Bride.
The Church rests upon this foundation of Holy Tradition, preserving the fullness of the apostolic Christian Faith, undivided. Only in the context of Holy Tradition can the Bible be properly interpreted with one unified understanding since the Bible grew out of and is a part of Holy Tradition. Without the rule of Holy Tradition the interpretation of the Bible becomes a free for all and an instrument of error and confusion.
Different Content
Different foundations lead to different content. To be sure, there are some similarities in the content of what is believed by American Christianity and the Orthodox Church in regard to a few of the major doctrines but even here there are shades of differences which to the Orthodox are not unimportant and cannot be overlooked as though they don’t matter.
Content of American Christianity
The content of the Faith of American Christianity is impossible to clearly define beyond a few basics, and even here there is not one united consensus even on the basics. American Christianity as we have already seen, embraces numerous, conflicting and even contradictory versions, all of which are reckoned to be the Christian Faith as the following illustrates:
The Calvinists (historically Presbyterians, Primitive and other Baptists) say that according to the Bible God has predestined certain ones to heaven and others to hell and man has no choice in the matter. The Armenians (Methodists, Nazarenes, Free Will/General Baptists and others) say that is false since the Bible teaches that salvation is based on man’s free will. The Church of Christ says the Bible teaches that man is saved by water baptism while Baptists and others say the Bible teaches no such thing. Lutherans teach that baptism and Holy Communion are essential means of grace for salvation while others deny this to be so, based on the Bible. Some baptize by sprinkling or pouring and can support it with scripture; others say this is contrary to the clear teachings of the Bible. The Salvation Army doesn’t practice either water baptism or the Lord’s Supper, believing them to be of no importance, according to the Bible, of course. Some say the Bible teaches that man is totally depraved and incapable of doing anything to save himself; others say the Bible teaches that man is able to cooperate with God and contribute to his salvation. Some say that good works have nothing to do with our salvation, according to the Bible; others say man can’t be saved without good works, according to the Bible. Some say the Bible teaches once saved, always saved or eternal security; others say this is false and contrary to the clear teachings of the Bible. The Pentecostals believe speaking in tongues to be the sign of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to the Bible. Some say the tongues spoken of in the Bible ended at the end of the age of the apostles and that what is referred to as tongues today is just emotional gibberish, based on the Bible, of course. Some believe in present day miracles. The group known as the Church of Christ and some Baptists say miracles ceased at the end of the New Testament era, according to the Bible. Some teach Christ will set up his kingdom on earth when he returns, others deny such a teaching. Some teach that Christ’s death is a substitutionary atonement, others say differently. Some say salvation is a legal declaration of forgiveness of all sins; others believe salvation is a process of transformation. Add to this all the odd and bizarre teachings and practices of Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes, Bill Hybles, Joel Osteen, Robert Schuller, Paula White, Prophetess Bynum, Rick Warner, Mike Murdock, the holy laughter and holy barking movements and the so-called emerging church, etc, etc. and we see there is not one clearly defined Christian Faith in American Christianity that is accepted by all as the one true Faith. In fact, it may be that the two most commonly held beliefs in American Christianity are sola Scriptura and that there is NOT one clearly defined body of belief that can be called the one true and correct Christian Faith to the exclusion of those who disagree
Content of the Orthodox Christian Faith
And they that gladly received his word were baptized and added to the Church. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Acts 2:41,42
The foundation of the Orthodox Faith, i.e., Holy Tradition, consists of specific content and may be likened to a three-legged stool. Each leg is essential to holding up the seat. The first leg is what we call the doctrine, dogma or teachings of the Church (the apostles’ doctrine).
It is not within the scope of this paper to explain all the doctrines of the Orthodox Faith or to show how they differ from much of American Christianity. Such an effort would require several volumes of books. If anyone wants to understand these differences they can learn about them in numerous books and Internet articles. Since American Christianity is not one unified body of truth, the extent and degree of differences will vary from one person or one group to another. The point to be made here is that there are significant differences in many areas such as the following:
- The meaning and significance of the doctrine of the Trinity and how it must be expressed in the life and worship of the Church
- The doctrine of the nature of Christ and how the Incarnation relates to our salvation
- Meaning of the fall in Eden and its consequences
- The doctrine of sin
- Meaning of the cross and how Christ accomplished our salvation
- What is meant by salvation and how this is accomplished in man
- What the Church is and its role in our salvation
- The significance and role of the Virgin Mary and the saints in the Church
- The relationship between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven
- The meaning and nature of worship
- Meaning and nature of baptism, communion, repentance, confession, absolution, marriage, the priesthood and the forgiveness of sins
- What is involved in living the Christian life
- The purpose, nature and goal of the Christian life
In some of these areas there is hardly any agreement between Orthodoxy and American Christianity. In some areas there are similarities here and there but total agreement is rare in any area. The disagreements are significant enough to end up with two very different understandings of the Christian Faith. This is why some in American Christianity question whether or not Orthodoxy is truly Christian. Some question whether the Orthodox are even saved due to many Orthodox teachings they consider false, not the least of which is the rejection of the idea that people are saved or born again simply by saying a brief prayer and inviting Jesus into their hearts. (Where is this taught in the Bible?) From the Orthodox perspective, this may be a good beginning but it is not the new birth or entrance into the Church.
The second leg of this three-legged stool of Holy Tradition is the worship of the Church (the apostles’ breaking of bread and of prayers). Just as God revealed one true way of worship to the Church in the Old Testament, which preserved a true understanding and worship of the one true God, the Orthodox Christian Faith holds that God has done the same in the New Testament Church. This understanding about worship is drawn from Holy Tradition. In particular it is found in the writings of those who succeeded the apostles in which they tell us that this is the understanding passed on to them from the apostles, the apostolic form of worship. This understanding is also taught and confirmed in the writings of the Fathers and Confessors of the Church and the voice of the Holy Spirit in the one united Faith of the Church from the beginning to the present. The earliest recorded description of the Church’s worship at the end of the first century is a liturgical form based on the order of Temple worship and is identical to the order still followed in the Orthodox Church today.
The early Church continued the basic form or outline of worship God had given to Israel but substituted the reality or fulfillment of the law as fulfilled by Christ in place of the old shadows or symbols of the law under Moses. For example, the animal sacrifices of the Temple worship are replaced by the communion of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Divine Liturgy. The Old Testament Feast of Passover is fulfilled in the Death and Resurrection of Christ called Pascha in the Orthodox Faith and Easter in American Christianity. The covenant of circumcision in the Old Testament is fulfilled in holy baptism in the Church. The Sabbath of the Law is fulfilled in the Resurrection on Sunday, etc.
The Orthodox Faith holds that the worship of the Church is divinely revealed and cannot be changed anymore than the Bible can be changed. The worship of the Church is another part of Holy Tradition just as is the Bible. It is held that this divinely revealed worship is essential for preserving and participating in the true Christian Faith. It is not merely symbolic but an other-worldly and mystical participation in the worship that continually takes place around the throne of God with the saints and angels of heaven as described in the letter to the Hebrews, chapters 8 and 9 and in The Revelation of St. John. How could anything the Holy Spirit has revealed be optional, or how could we join in worship with those who seen to us to be rejecting what the Holy Spirit has revealed in favor of a man-made and man-centered worship?
The fact is that the way we worship reveals what we believe. A different kind of worship created by man presents and creates a different understanding of God, Christ, Salvation and the Church compared to the Orthodox view. The variety of beliefs of American Christianity results in a variety of worship forms and theologies of worship. The total disconnect of American Christianity from the Holy Tradition of the Church results in the understanding that man is free to create his own personal forms of worship that reflect his own personal beliefs about God, Christ and the Church. Christianity is individualized and customized. When separated from the Church, worship inevitably takes on the worldly and secular characteristics of consumerism and entertainment. A worldly, non-believer can go to such a church and enjoy this kind of service, be entertained and feel right at home, but definitely would not feel the same in an Orthodox service. The two forms of worship grow out of and reflect two different spirits. One is of this world; the other is not of this world.
These two understandings of worship reflect two different concepts of God and what is necessary to approach Him. This is reflected even in the buildings used for worship. The Orthodox Temple with its nave, sanctuary and holy place with holy furnishings and holy atmosphere is in sharp contrast to the theatre type of auditorium, stage, performances and entertainment venues of American Christianity.
The third leg of the three-legged stool of Holy Tradition is the order, structure and government of the Church (the apostles fellowship). Once again, in contrast to American Christianity that embraces a variety of forms, structures and governments, leaving it up to the people to decide, the Orthodox have received through Holy Tradition that all of this was established by the apostles and cannot be altered because it reflects the truth of the Church. The Church was established under the authority and life of the Holy Spirit as conveyed through the apostles and is passed on through the succession of those who succeeded the apostles, namely, the bishops of the Church. The bishops who remain in the Orthodox Faith are seen as the conduit of the Holy Spirit (as were the apostles) who pass on the apostolic Faith in the Church through each generation and preserve it as one Faith and one Church. The laying on of hands in ordinations, baptisms, chrismations and blessings are not merely symbolic but the actual conduit and means of preserving and passing on the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church. The worship and holy mysteries (sacraments) of the Church are filled with the saving grace that flows from the apostles through the bishops, to the priests to the people. Thus, the Church believes there can be no true Church without a true bishop nor can there be any grace filled sacraments.
Different Conclusions
Different foundations lead to different content, which leads to different conclusions. Many of the different conclusions regarding the Christian Faith have been touched upon throughout this article and are fairly self-evident. The different conclusions may be summarized under the following two questions:
1) Is there such a thing as one true Christian Faith and one true visible Church?
As we have seen already, American Christianity says no. American Christianity is able to join in prayers and worship with those who hold different and conflicting beliefs because of two innovative or new ideas or teachings they have developed to help them live with the contradictions of denominations and conflicting beliefs.
The first new teaching, called reductionism, reduces the doctrine of the church to its least common denominator as the only parts that require agreement. There is not one clearly defined body of truth (beyond a few basics) that can be identified as the Christian Faith to the exclusion of all others. Many feel that anything beyond a few basics such as Jesus is Lord and Savior is not required or necessary and really cannot be known for certain. Most of the teachings of the Bible are open to individual or denominational interpretations. They refuse to admit it but this is pure and simple theological relativism and reductionism that has overtaken American Christianity. Consequently, if people profess faith in Christ, this is good enough for united prayer and worship. It doesn’t matter if one believes in predestination and one in free will, or if one believes once saved always saved and one that a Christian can backslide and be lost, or that one believes baptism saves us and one doesn’t even practice baptism.
The problem is that the differences are not minor or unimportant. The differences between various groups of American Christianity include doctrines of sin, salvation, the sacraments and the doctrine of the Church itself, i.e., what it is and what it isn’t. These are all major issues that are crucial to the Christian Faith and our salvation. Another issue for American Christianity is who decides what is minor and what is not. It’s all left up to denominations, groups and individuals so there is not a consensus of the one Faith, once for all delivered to the saints as taught in the Bible, the very book they claim to stand on. There is not even a consensus on what is minor and what is major.
The second innovation in American Christianity that allows for united prayer and worship in spite of all the different beliefs is the concept of an invisible Church. This teaching developed as more and more denominations and groups came on the scene, all claiming to be the Church that Christ founded. In the early years of denominations, each one did believe they possessed the one true Faith. But eventually there was such a proliferation of contradictory beliefs that most ceased to believe in the idea of one true Faith. Thus, the idea of the invisible Church became an essential dogma of American Christianity (a dogma, by the way, that is not found in the Bible). This is the teaching that there is not one true visible Church on earth. The Church exists invisibly only in the heart. Thus, you can have all these conflicting denominations and still see them all as one because they all, in their hearts, confess faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. This is a new concept created by American Christianity to deal with the conflicting teachings and divisions of many “churches”. The Church, as something visible and specific, has been replaced in American Christianity by something invisible and unspecific called Christianity. The church has come to mean basically, a building or a voluntary association of people who get together because they like the same things. Thus, the church is more like a club than the Church. The Christian Faith and the Church are seen as two different things. You can get the Christian Faith sort of on your own and then it’s a good idea to join a church of your choice. Christianity is what’s important. The church is secondary.
It is interesting to note that Christianity is not mentioned in the New Testament, but the Church is mentioned over 100 times. In the Acts of the Apostles and all the other Epistles there is only the CHURCH. Anyone who believed was united to the CHURCH through baptism. People can’t create a new Church any more than someone can create a new United States of America. If you want to become a citizen of the USA, you don’t try to create a new one but you humbly submit to the one that is and has existed in history and abide by its laws and life. The same is true concerning the Church.
In the Orthodox Faith the invisible Church is the Church triumphant – the saints in heaven. The Church on earth is clearly visible and identifiable even as it was in the Book of Acts. The Church is not a building but the visible Body of Christ, the New Nation or Israel of God. And as in the Acts of the Apostles, this visible Church is still identified by those who continue in the apostles’ doctrine (one body of truth), fellowship (unity/agreement/submission to apostolic oversight), breaking of bread (celebrating one Holy Communion) and prayers (apostolic form of worship) – a unified body of truth, worship and practice.
The theological relativism and reductionism and the newly created dogma of the invisible Church are considered by the Orthodox to be serious betrayals of the truth as revealed by the Holy Spirit and held in the Church from the beginning. For the Orthodox there can be only one true Christian Faith, a Faith that is denied and betrayed by a conglomeration of conflicting beliefs and practices. What many in American Christianity never stop to consider is that their beliefs have arisen from the Western concept of democracy rather than from the history and Faith of the Church and thus reflect a secular world view rather than a view of the Church as the sacred and holy Bride of Christ that must be kept pure and faithful.
In the Old Testament God revealed to Israel – His Church, one Faith, one government and one way of worship. Israel was forbidden to deviate from any of this because God had attached Himself and His grace to what He had revealed. All else was false. There was only one truth and one way that reflected one God. The pagan Gentiles, on the other hand, held many different beliefs, ways and worships that reflected their belief in many different gods. The Samaritans, however, retained most of the Faith of Israel and changed only a few things here and there. Yet, when Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman He said, “You Samaritans know not what you worship for salvation is from the Jews”. There was no room for joint worship or prayer even though the differences were what American Christianity would call minor. In spite of what God revealed to His Church in the Old Testament, and in spite of the fact that the first Church in Jerusalem and all the apostles were Jews and would have known nothing else, and in spite of the fact that the New Testament Church is the New Israel of God, American Christianity still rejects the belief of one Faith and one Church that is visible, definable and historical from Pentecost to the present. They view the Church more as a sprawling ranch style house with each generation laying its own foundation and adding additional endless rooms in all directions. The Orthodox views the Church more as a skyscraper with each generation adding a new floor to the one unchanging foundation.
2) Why is unity in what we believe and practice necessary for worship and prayer?
For the Orthodox what we offer to God in worship and prayer must be pure and in the unity of the one Holy Spirit since we believe disunity and false teachings are contrary to the will of God and an offense to the Holy Spirit. How can we ignore large parts of what God has revealed and established in the Church when our worship is intended to honor Him? How can we say that much of the Bible is minor or not essential? How can we completely ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit in the Church through history? To pretend to be unified with one Faith and one Holy Spirit when we actually hold different faiths and different spirits is, for the Orthodox, lacking in honesty and truth, both of which are essential for approaching God. To join in public worship and prayer with those who hold something other than or less than the fullness of Faith revealed by the Holy Spirit is to say it doesn’t matter that some have distorted, changed or modified what God has set in order in his Body, the Church. For the Orthodox it matters not only from the point of integrity and authenticity but also for the sake of our salvation, as the following will show.
The scriptures that teach this truth are some of those that American Christianity seems to ignore even in their zeal for what is taught in the Bible.
Romans 16:17: Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them, which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine, which you have learned and avoid them. [Avoid in this context indicates the fellowship of worship and prayer.]
I John 4:1: Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
II John 9-11: Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house [into the fellowship of prayer and worship, i.e. house churches at that time], neither bid him Godspeed: For he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil. [Here we see that abiding in the one true apostolic doctrine and rejecting false doctrine are essential for abiding in the Holy Trinity.]
Galatians 1:8-9: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema [judged as outside of the kingdom of God]. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto than that you have received, let him be anathema. [Incidentally, the Church never understood “gospel” to mean only “Jesus loves you and died for you” but rather the fullness of all that Christ taught and did.]
I Timothy 4:16: Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. [It is essential to our salvation that we continue in the body of truth that is the Christian Faith.]
Titus 1: 7-13: A bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God…holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. [those who hold a contrary doctrine]
Titus 2:1: But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
II Thessalonians 2:15: Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether spoken or written. [Here he refers to the Holy Tradition of the Church – the fullness of the Faith, not just a few essentials. This is a verse you are not likely to hear a sermon on in American Christianity.]
II Timothy 4: 2-4: [St. Paul’s instructions to the presbyter Timothy] Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they gather around teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth.
Titus 3:10: A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject.
There can be no concept of heresy in American Christianity, beyond a few “major” doctrines, because there is no concept of one Christian Faith. St. Paul tells the presbyter Titus to remove from the Church anyone who holds to heresy if they refuse to repent when admonished. The word heresy means to pick and choose, mixing truth with error, treating the Christian Faith like a smorgasbord from which you can take what you want and leave what you don’t like. Since, in American Christianity, there is not one clearly defined body of truth or one true visible Church, the concepts of heresy and excommunication don’t exist. All of American Christianity is, itself, a form of picking and choosing with the mixture of truth and error. Consequently, Orthodoxy would consider it a violation of Scripture and all the Church has taught throughout the centuries to enter into a joint worship or prayer service with what the Church calls heresy.
Summary
American Christianity believes the Christian Faith is held in many different forms in many different groups and bodies. The Orthodox Church believes there is one Faith that was taught by Christ to the apostles, established by the apostles in the Church and has been preserved in the Church by the Holy Spirit as one Faith, unchanged and indivisible. For the Orthodox this Church must continue in the apostles’ doctrine, under a true bishop, with one divinely revealed way of worship and Church government. These are the conduits through which the Holy Spirit is passed and preserved in the one Body of Christ. While we understand that many in American Christianity hold parts of the Christian Faith and are sincerely seeking God this does not allow us to act as though the Church can be divided and the Christian Faith can consist of many conflicting parts. We do not believe that unity can grow out of compromise or can somehow be achieved if we just pretend. We believe that unity in the Faith is prerequisite for unity in public prayer and worship that honors God in Spirit and in Truth.
There really are only two choices. Either there is no such thing as one true Faith and Church, which is relativism; or there is, but no one can know or say for sure what it is, which is agnosticism. And if there is one true Faith and Church, how can we be unified in worship and prayer and bid Godspeed to that which we see as an erroneous distortion of the ark of salvation? We can pray for unity and seek unity among those willing to listen, but we cannot create unity where it doesn’t exist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)