A Response to An "Apology" to the Eastern Orthodox Community
by Fr. Benedict Simpson · April 21, 2017
Many of you have now seen the recent bit of vitriol being directed at Hank (John) Hanegraaff and towards the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church by bloggers of the “Bully” Pulpit & Pen. The first bit of drivel being launched by a blogger named Jeff Maples and now this bit of propaganda as a chiding piece of self-serving sophistry from the owner of the blog, JD Hall. Many of you may remember him as being the self-proclaimed Baptist minister that was accused of cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking Brandon Caner; a 15-year old teenager suffering from cancer who ended his own life after interactions with Mr. Hall. Mr. Hall has denied any culpability for the teenager’s suicide from the exchange between Brandon Caner and himself; but nonetheless issued 3,180-word “confession” to answer the outrage caused by his “alleged” involvement in the matter. (* I said "alleged" because everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt...)
I thought that we should look into these statements offered below and offer a response that is pointed, truthful and loving. Perhaps Mr. Hall might offer a similar bit of repentance. So… Here it goes. The Pulpit & Hammer, er... I mean Pulpit & Pen's original comments are in the dark red text... Kind of like a red letter edition if you will...
As the owner and president of Pulpit & Pen, I feel that I need to issue a public apology to the Eastern Orthodox community in regards to my managing editor’s recent words. In a series of posts, Pulpit & Pen editor, Jeff Maples, took it upon himself to essentially anathematize the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff, and in the process said some hurtful things about an old and revered religious tradition. I would be remiss not to clarify Jeff’s remarks and in the process, make some apologies. I pray that it is received well by all of our friends in the Eastern Orthodox community.
Here is a sign that it’s going to be an interesting ride, folks...
Firstly, we would like to apologize on behalf of Protestants everywhere for overlooking the grave and damning heresies of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, compared to our stalwart protest of Rome. This has been an oversight of Protestants, due mostly to the revival of actual Biblical orthodoxy (you might call it Protestantism) developing primarily in the West, and under the wicked authority of Rome, and not under the Eastern schismatics known by the misleading name of “Orthodox.”
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| Martin Luther |
If their claim to Biblical Orthodoxy is to be believed, then we have to discount the fact that many of these congregations won’t sit in the same room with some of the others. That is not the definition of a confessional Church. It is the actual reality of a rarified and limited viewpoint of the Faith that was based upon a schism and is further replicating itself into schism upon schism and splintering upon splintering. A legacy of division is all that Protestantism can offer. This is because even the best intentioned of sects rely upon the dubious doctrine of Sola Scriptura, which means Scripture Alone and the individual interpretation of those scriptures. With these two doctrines, the proof of what truth is relies only upon the reader or upon the one expounding his interpretation to the masses.
In Orthodoxy, we have the Holy Tradition. The same Holy Tradition which is the progenitor of the Gospels and the completion of the Old Testament. It is what the Holy Church has believed at all times, in all places and by all of the Faith. Orthodoxy also has the virtue of being completely whole and full. In other words, we have no denominations. We have unity in theology and praxis as being one Church without schism throughout all of the world. Of course we do have groups that have fallen away from us. The Orientals (non-Chalcedonians) in 535-548 AD and the Roman Catholics in 1054 AD. We do miss them and pray for their return. But in all reality… If you go to a Greek Church or a Russian or Bulgarian Church; you’re going to have uniformity in theology and practice with some local ethnic flavor thrown in.
In Orthodoxy, we have the Holy Tradition. The same Holy Tradition which is the progenitor of the Gospels and the completion of the Old Testament. It is what the Holy Church has believed at all times, in all places and by all of the Faith. Orthodoxy also has the virtue of being completely whole and full. In other words, we have no denominations. We have unity in theology and praxis as being one Church without schism throughout all of the world. Of course we do have groups that have fallen away from us. The Orientals (non-Chalcedonians) in 535-548 AD and the Roman Catholics in 1054 AD. We do miss them and pray for their return. But in all reality… If you go to a Greek Church or a Russian or Bulgarian Church; you’re going to have uniformity in theology and practice with some local ethnic flavor thrown in.
While we have rightly called the Bishop of Rome the “anti-christ” in our Confessions of Faith, we have overlooked the many anti-christs that have gone out into the world and settled in their positions as leaders in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It was not right of us to prejudicially focus on the Western anti-christ church just because they happened to be the ones murdering us for several centuries.
Let’s talk of murder and other injustices on the part of Protestants and the Reformers, shall we?
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| Melancthon |
Durant (438-440)
1652 AD
British Parliament signs act that every Irish Catholic priest be hanged, beheaded, quartered, his bowels drawn out and burned, his head thrust upon public poles. Dissenters fingers were twisted off, they were seared with hot iron, whipped or beaten till bones were broken. The edict added, “If any one shall know where a priest remains concealed, in caves, woods, or caverns, or if by any chance he should meet a priest on the highway, and not immediately take him into custody and present him before the next magistrate, such person is to be considered a traitor and an enemy of the Republic... any correspondence or friendship with a priest, he is to suffer death.”
British Protestant historian, Professor Lecky recorded in his History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, “the slaughter of the Catholic Irishmen was looked upon as literally the slaughter of wild beasts. Not only men, but even women and children who fell into the hands of the English, were deliberately and systematically butchered. Bands of soldiers traversed great tracts of country, slaying every living thing they met.”
Men, women and children wherever found were put indiscriminately to death. The soldiers were mad for blood. Priests were murdered at the altar, children at their mother’s breast. The beauty of woman, the venerableness of age, the innocence of youth was no protection against these demonically driven men.
1649 AD
Oliver Cromwell sent to their deaths over 5500 Irish specifically as punishment for their Catholic faith. Including
the entire population of the town of Drogheda. When reporting to the House of Commons, Cromwell announced, “It has pleased God to bless our endeavor at Drogheda. . . we put to the sword the whole number. . . . I wish that all honest hearts may give the glory of this to God alone, to whom indeed the praise of this mercy belongs." (Seumas MacManus,The Story of the Irish Race, 1920)
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| Oliver Cromwell |
The infamous “Cromwellian Settlements” followed his conquest of Ireland. Millions of acres of land were allocated to English Protestant settlers. The landowners of Irish birth were either killed, banished or forced out to Connaught in the west of Ireland, where it was hoped “they would starve to death.” (J. M., The Way of the Aggressor, p. 20.)
From 1649 to 1652, one-third of Catholic Ireland, about 660,000 people were killed. Twenty thousand Irish boys and girls also were sold into slavery to the West Indies. (F. H., Cromwell, p. 149.) It was a deliberate Protestant attempt at Catholic genocide. Many scholars today call it an attempt at ethnic cleansing.
In Sweden, Catholic land and churches were seized by the crown. In many countries Catholic Bibles were taken and burned. Huguenots butchered Catholics by tearing out their bowels, burning them, hacking up children, priests’ genitals were cut off, grilled and fed to them.
1586 AD
British citizen, Protestant Margaret Clitherow, converted to Catholicism and was arrested for harboring a Catholic priest. Her sentence? The same as all who converted, she was to be crushed to death beneath a half tone of weights. She is recorded as stating, “I am fully resolved in all things touching my faith, which I ground upon Jesus Christ, and by him I steadfastly believe to be saved, which faith I acknowledge to be the same that he left to his apostles, and they to their successors from time to time, and is taught in the Catholic Church through all Christendom, and promised to remain with her unto the world's end, and hell-gates shall not prevail against the same faith; for if an angel come from heaven, and preach any other doctrine than we have received, the Apostle biddeth us not believe him.” As her ribs cracked, Margaret whimpered, "Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Have mercy on me." Her body was left under the door and weights from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., then stuffed secretly in a rubbish heap. Queen Elizabeth who ordered this execution, was responsible for murdering more Catholic in one year that the Inquisition did in all its over three hundred years. Anglican bishops were accomplices if not directly but for their silence.
It would seem that a lot of people can lay claim to persecution on both the Protestant side and the Catholic side. So claims of being the persecuted underdog can go both ways compadre.
In the future, we will strive to explain that anyone who seeks the title of ‘priest,’ (a blasphemous title if ever there were one), -
The term in Revelations (written by St. John the Apostle, whom we refer to as St. John the Theologian) used to describe the twenty-four that surround the Lamb in Heaven is “Presbutyroi”. In English, it is rendered as “Priests”, which is also the root of the words, prester, and presbyter. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul himself tells the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:9-16) that He is their father in Christ Jesus through the preaching of the good news and he urges them, "Imitate me". So what does Jesus mean when He says, "call no man father"? Our Lord is contending with certain rabbis of His day who were using these specific titles to accomplish their own ends. Some of the rabbis were adding their own ideas and interpretations to the true tradition of Moses' teaching and thereby obscuring it. Father Demetrios Andrews points this particular point out in a sermon he delivered once by saying, “By saying, "You shall not be called rabbi", Jesus was telling His disciples not to use their position as fathers and teachers as an opportunity to build disciples around their own private opinions. - (*Sounds a whole lot like your standard Protestant community...) -Instead, with the coming of Christ, these rabbis—and indeed all who would teach God's Word—are to faithfully hand down the true tradition of only one Rabbi: Christ Himself.”
By the way, the word used in Timothy for the office of the "elder of the Church is rendered from the Greek as “Episkopos”. This is the root of the word, “Episcopal” and also renders to us the word, “Bishop”.
But by all means, please continue...
-lead people into idolatry, claim the sole mediary position between God and man, practice necromantic prayers to the dead, engage in corpse worship, and promote meritorious salvation is an antichrist, every bit as much as the Roman Catholic abomination. We are sorry for leaving out specific condemnations of your religion in our Confessions, as it wasn’t very inclusive of us.
Ok… Let’s deal with this bit of misinformation.
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| Our Lord, God & Savior; Jesus Christ |
“…Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.” When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”…
John 20:21-23
That’s pretty cut and dried. This is where Apostolic Succession comes in which is possessed in unbroken lineage by the Bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church as successors to the Apostles and bestowed upon those priests who act on their behalf. As the Apostles acted upon Christ’s behalf after His Ascension into Heaven; so also this same was bestowed upon those whom the Apostles chose to be their successors… And it has been so ever since. Lamentably our Protestant friends cannot lay claim to this so they have extrapolated an interpretation that discounts this small point of contention.
Oh… We do not pray for the dead. The contention that we do is an ignorant smack in the face to all Orthodox Christians not because it is offensive; but because it belies an oppressive ignorance of a key doctrine of the Christian Faith that has eluded many of our Protestant friends. It’s really simple and has been stated clearly by St. Paul in Corinthians. Ever hear of the great cloud of witnesses? Do Protestants discount Jesus at His word that those who believe upon Him should never perish, but have everlasting life? Perhaps it was an allegory that Christ meant on the Cross when he told the thief that He would be with Him in Paradise that very day. I don’t know… In Protestantism, I’ve heard that you can pick and choose.
Well, here is an Orthodox perspective.
Those who have reposed in Christ are not dead. They are more alive than any of us have ever been. So we never refer to someone who has ceased living upon the earth who is a Christian as being dead. It is impossible if we were to take Christ at His word. So it is perhaps well and good that Protestants don’t pray for their dead… for if they believe not Christ and His words, then… well… you know. Let’s just let that point lie as dead and cold as the Frozen Cho…, ah, let's not go there. No need to open that can of worms here.
Let the dead bury the dead and let’s move on.
Let the dead bury the dead and let’s move on.
Secondly, we are sorry that many Protestants have stopped protesting, sending the impression that our confessional doctrinal beliefs don’t anathematize you as not only being sub-Christian, but being anti-Christian.
Remember… This is being said from the position of doctrinal authority claimed by the 33,000+ denomination Protestant movement represented through the bloggers at “Pulpit & Pen”...
We are sorry that men like Albert Mohler, Paige Patterson, Russell Moore and Carl Trueman, all who should certainly know better, seem to have affirmed you in your superstitious and pagan religion.
Seems they devour their own too...
While the Intelligentsia class of evangelicalism are happy to learn about how Rod Dreher’s monasticism fetish might be a valuable tool for fleeing the culture wars, the rest of us failed to speak up loudly enough to challenge them on this, partially because the idol-factory of our hearts are quick to make our own popes out of mere men, and we don’t like to challenge our popes. The fact is, Greek Orthodox men like Rod Dreher have no part in the Kingdom of God on Earth, because they have no part of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, unless they were to recant their idolatry and believe the one, true, catholic doctrine of Sola Fide.
Ever notice that anyone who disagrees or leaves the folds of fundamentalist Protestantism is treated in a like manner as the defectors and critics of the North Korean government?
It seems to me that Pulpit and Pen have enough of their own popes and the idols they hold dear is that of judgment of others. Last I heard was that Christ will be the Dread Judge of men and the winnower of the sheep and the goats. I’ll simply leave the judgment to Him and think it best to advise others to do the same.
It seems to me that Pulpit and Pen have enough of their own popes and the idols they hold dear is that of judgment of others. Last I heard was that Christ will be the Dread Judge of men and the winnower of the sheep and the goats. I’ll simply leave the judgment to Him and think it best to advise others to do the same.
Faith must be accompanied by works or it is simply dead. Martin Luther didn’t like this inconvenient fact that was pointed out by St. James, so he simply discounted James entirely. (*literally removed the offending book from his personal bible. Perhaps more pick and choose action going on? Perhaps. Or perhaps the disconnect is that the Orthodox view works as simply part of Faith. Works done out of love for God are pure works. They are the fruit of a good tree. They are not meant as a striving for heaven... But as love to God manifested in tangible acts.
There’s no such thing as being “kind of Christian,” and the Trinitarian ontology of the Eastern Orthodox Church doesn’t undo the fact that trusting in your merit for salvation is just as damning as being a Modalist like TD Jakes or believing in 9 divine persons like Benny Hinn.
We don’t trust in merit for salvation. At least do some honest research! I spent the first part of my life as a Protestant. I got so tired of having to keep up with the latest innovations and interpretations present in the shifting sands of Protestantism that I finally cleaved to the Rock of Christ in His true Church. We have had the same interpretation since the Bible was finally codified by the Holy Church beginning with the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. And nice use of the term “modalist”, which the Church defined during the councils that also defined the other heresies that seem to permeate some Protestant communities.
And we can forgive you for your TD Jakes’ and your Benny Hinns. Since you brought up the issue of anti-christs earlier, let’s bring up specifics. Joel Osteen is one of your own and he and his wife have preached a strange gospel that is at odds with the Gospel of Christ. Joyce Meyers comes to mind for her stunning comments that Christ was tortured when He entered into hell during His three days in the tomb. Hey! I can’t make this stuff up.
So, therefore, we apologize for our evangelical leaders who have stopped protesting, even though they call themselves Protestants. Much of your outrage (the thousands of angry, F-bomb dropping emails we have received) is due to the fact you’ve never heard a Protestant say you’re not a Christian. It’s not because Protestant doctrine doesn’t say you’re lost (it certainly does), but because we’ve become a bunch of limp-wristed milksops. Forgive our cowardice.
It’s always fun to judge a group by it’s worst members. Probably were some angry emails sent after reading the contrived and obvious hit piece by Mr. Maples who actually had the nerve to stalk someone at their Church. That’s a bit creepy… But, well… You know… What’s good for the goose is good for the gander it seems with this sarcastic apology issued by Mr. Hall. 
As far as problems with Protestants saying we’re not Christians, it’s not really that angering. It’s more ironic than anything. We have larger things to worry about than some fundamentalist Protestant bloggers saying we’re not Christian. Our problem is the fact that our Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters are actually being killed in the lands of Christianity’s origins simply because they ARE Christians. They are killed because they profess the name of Jesus and it is His name that is upon their lips as they are killed. It’s really easy to issue armchair polemics about who is and is not Christian when you’re not required to die for the Faith. I guess we could overlook your cowardice if you went to where our people have been professing the Faith for nearly sixteen centuries prior to the formation of your movement and see if you could still say the same thing about those who suffered such horrific deaths for being Christian. Perhaps you are accurate in describing yourself as "limp-wristed milksops". Or perhaps the killers of Christians don't regard you as so much of a threat. Who knows?
Thirdly, we apologize for making it seem, should you have perceived it that way, that you’re unchristian because your priests wear dresses and you burn incense. While true religion has little patience for pretentious pageantry, the issue for us concerning your doctrinal apostasy is your denial of Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and Penal Substitution. The fact that you adorn your buildings in gaudy and sacrilegious, bedazzled idols is second to the more blatant soteriological heresies that damn your soul (although idolatry is damning enough). The fact that you believe that superstitious voodoo oil poured over someone’s head fills them with the holy spirit and brings them back from apostasy is secondary to your hope in your own righteousness for salvation. We (still-protesting Protestants) shouldn’t have focused upon your bizarre, extra-biblical rituals that resemble more seance than Biblical service of worship; we should have focused far more upon your doctrinal beliefs that oppose Jesus and the very Gospel itself.
I think the best response to this diatribe is best handled by Spokane FAVS columnist Nicolas Damascus. He writes,
“The Lord directed Moses to construct the tabernacle (Ex 25; 1 – 27; 21). Then he established a permanent, hereditary priesthood, beginning with Moses’ brother Aaron and continuing through Aaron’s sons (Ex 28: 1). The priests were sanctified, or consecrated, with holy oil (Ex 30; 22 – 30). Their holy garments of finely woven and richly decorated material were for the honor and glory of God.
-from the Orthodox Study Bible (*New King James Version Bible with added Commentary)
Exodus 28: 2 – 39, garments for the priesthood are described in these 38 verses. “Then you shall make holy garments … a breastplate, an ephod, a full-length robe, a skillfully woven tunic with a fringe, a turban, and a sash ….of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work … shall wear them when they come into the tabernacle of testimony or when they come near the altar of the holy place to minister as priests ….. It shall be an ordinance forever to him (the Levites) and his seed after him.”
The authority of the Levitical priesthood, from the Christian perspective, ended with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and when the curtain was torn asunder in the Jewish Temple (Mt 27:51).
Orthodox Christians believe that the priesthood of the church is Christ’s priesthood, with the Eucharist as the first-fruit offering. The clergy do not serve in place of Christ; rather, Christ himself serves in them.
There is purpose in what the Lord asks us to do. The temple, the worship in the temple, the decor, and much more is to remind us of heaven. His will and intention for us is to be with him in heaven. Since there is no Jewish Temple, the Orthodox Church has inherited the fullness of the temple tradition. So when someone (non-Orthodox) asks what might heaven be like? The response from an Orthodox Christian might be, “Come taste and see.”
In Isaiah 6 and Revelation 1, one gets a glimpse of God being worshiped in heaven. Clergy attire is part of this “foreshadow” of Heaven and the spiritual edification of the church.
(*By the way... Every Protestant building I have seen, with the exceptions of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons; has an icon either on it or in it. The Cross is the quintessential icon. Go figure... And while we are on the subject of "Voodoo oils", who can forget Protestant TV Evangelist and professional con-man Peter Popoff and his "Double-Portion Blessing Oil" con? ~ Fr. B.)
Fourthly, we apologize for letting you get away with asserting your religious superiority by the age of your church. While it is true that you happen to live in a part of the world that was first affected by the Gospel, your geographical proximity to the early church does not mean that you hold to the doctrines or practices of that New Testament Church. The fact is, the heresies of Gnosticism, Antinomianism, and the Judaizers all predate the Greek Orthodox Church. In fact, the sect of the Nicolatians (founded by an Acts 6 deacon) predates your church considerably. Logic, of course, would not deduce that these groups, because they are older, are right. We apologize for not being more forward in pointing out that Jesus specifically wrote to the Ephesians Church (where there is now the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate) that he would remove the lamp stand (IE the Holy Spirit) from their church for forsaking their first love, the Gospel of Jesus. The Scripture contains a very explicit warning, directly from the dictation of Jesus, that the church that would become Eastern Orthodox would have the Holy Spirit depart it should they continue on their path of abandoning true religion. While the Eastern Orthodox church is older than, for example, churches in other parts of the world, that doesn’t make it better. It just means that the Eastern Orthodox Church has been apostate longer than most churches have existed. Big. Stinking. Deal. You don’t get brownie points for the number of centuries since the Holy Spirit left your building.
You don’t get brownie points for false conclusions and faulty scholarship either. The Gnostics, Antidominians, Arians, and the Judaizers among others are still here in the examples of the Johnnites (sic), the Messianic Jews, the Hebrew Roots Movement and many other modern day heretical communities which are firmly outside of the Holy Church. They have done this to themselves and remain outside of the Church. Perhaps there may be some lurking in the folds of Pulpit & Pen. Who knows! It seems that anything is possible in Protestant practice.
Pulpit & Pen seem to believe that there was some divergence between the New Testament Church and the Holy Catholic Orthodox Church. The historical, the theological and the secular record bears no such proof for this often quoted Protestant viewpoint. It is a false dichotomy that when examined in the harsh daylight of methodical investigation, crumbles into dust faster than a movie vampire being exposed to sunlight. I have heard a Baptist minister proclaim that their Church is based off of the ministry of St. John the Baptist (*or John the Baptist if you’re a Baptist). This is non-sensical and definitely un-Biblical when one actually “reads” the scriptures. John tells those who followed him to follow the one who shall come after him. Jesus was that one. John’s ministry ended when Christ’s began. He whose sandals John was unworthy to untie became baptized by he who would decrease so that Christ would increase.
Fifthly, we apologize for not pointing out, as you rage in anger that we anathematize you, that you anathematized us first. Like the Roman Catholic apostate church, Eastern Orthodoxy has also declared Protestants to be hopelessly damned for trusting in Christ’s accomplished work alone for our salvation. While the Eastern Orthodox community has ranted and railed with lamenting and gnashing of teeth toward Pulpit & Pen in recent weeks, they seem blissfully unaware that, like many cults, official Eastern Orthodox teaching declares that only they are the one true church and more specifically, they teach that actual Christians like ourselves are damned for trusting only in Jesus. We apologize for not pointing out that your man-made tradition similarly anathematizes, only it does it wrongly. There is no moral high ground of tolerance and open-mindedness that you can confess toward outsiders without denying the official teachings of your church, a church you believe infallible based upon nothing but the amount of time it’s held to its heresies.
Well… Anyone who hears the Truth and does not come to it anathematizes themselves. St. Paul declared that he who comes to you and declares another gospel than what he has delivered should be declared anathema. Salvation is in Christ. Christ said that He who does not partake of His Body and Blood has no part in Him. Protestants claim that to refer to His sacrifice on the Cross. Hey! We agree. Because Christ also instituted the everlasting Eucharist which shall be offered until His second coming in glory. But Reformed Theology being what it is (*simply bad theology), Protestants do not perceive the Eucharist to be Christ’s Body and Blood. They see it as a "nude remembrance" or simply as a symbolic sign. I know! It’s amazing but true. Again, not taking Christ at His words.
“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
Luke 22:19-20
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.”
John 6:53
Where the pundits at Pulpit & Pen err seriously is that we DO trust in Jesus and we DO proclaim Him as the author of our salvation. But we also take Him at His word and follow His commandments. We are obedient to that which He has given to us as His Church. Protestants probably get tired of being told this but in order to be Christian, you have to actually follow Him. It’s called obedience. It's about love and obedience. You can’t pick and choose what you’re going to believe in. The picking and choosing has wrought a Pandora’s Box full of woes that has become cafeteria Christianity.
You call us a cult. Last I heard, cults were almost impossible to leave. But in Orthodoxy, all one has to do to leave is to simply… leave. It would seem that to leave Pulpit & Pen’s brand of Protestantism would be to endure the haranguing and stalking of it’s editorial staff. I’ll say it again… Kinda creepy… and, well… cultish.
I pray that you, as the Eastern Orthodox Community, will receive our apologies charitably. There has been much confusion because of the inability or unwillingness to articulate what Protestants actually believe about those who deny Sola Fide and Penal Substitution. We aim to fix all that, and do better in the future.
When the hyena cannot defeat a strong opponent outright, he cowers and feigns respect whilst he devises a way to “nip” his opponent to death. I call an apple an apple. Pulpit & Pen’s contrived and satirical apology is the fruit of the tree of bad doctrine. I would caution them though… “Even now the axe lies nigh at the root of the tree and that which bears no good fruit shall be cast into the fire.” This piece of drivel and the others from Pulpit & Pen are far from charitable, far from spiritually edifying and far from being a clarion call to the Faith that they claim to be theirs.
The fifteenth century Protestant doctrine of Sola Fide (Faith Alone) cannot be accepted because Christ also demanded works to accompany faith. The man who comes to Christ with the question of what he must do to inherit eternal life is answered by Christ saying, “Keep the commandments… Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your mother and father, love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:16-19)
In another instance Jesus likened faith as lifetime work. “We are not to labor for the food that perishes but that which is endures to eternal life. When asked what must be done to be the works of God, He answered them saying, “This is the work of God; that you believe in Him whom God has sent.” (John 6:27-29)
Faith entails loving Christ on His terms, not ours. He said, “If a person loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him. And We will come and make our home with Him.” (John 14:15-17, 23)
The doctrine of Penal Substitution was absent from the Church for over one thousand years. In the eleventh century, Anselm of Canterbury began to lay the groundwork for this way of thinking and it was borne into full maturity by the sixteenth century reformers (*or deformers, depending on your viewpoint). It is bad baggage inherited by Protestantism and is wrong on many fronts, but here are the most glaring examples masterfully pointed out by author Alexander Renault from his book, “Reconsidering Tulip”
1) It compromises the deity of Christ and separates the Trinity
If Christ died for and is our solution for our sins against God the Father, then what about our sins against Christ? He is, after all… God as well; just as the Holy Spirit is God. In the doctrine of penal substitution, the members of the Trinity are pitted against each other. A deFaith entails loving Christ on His terms, not ours. He said, “If a person loves me he will keep my word and my Father will love him. And We will come and make our home with Him.”formation, if you will.
2) Penal Substitution subjugates God to necessity
If God’s justice demands that He punishes sin… Then there exists a higher power than God, which is “necessity”. This would dictate what God can and cannot do. Calvinists argue that justice is a part of God’s nature and that there is no outside animus directed at Him. But the logic doesn’t hold true. If we sin then God must punish. He has no choice. This destroys the omnipotence of God. Calvin took this to another extreme by stating that God fore-ordained our sinful actions, thus forcing Him to respond to them. (* A sovereign God that must do things some things but not do others -like save sinners- is not a sovereign God. Just saying… *My own words… not Alexander’s)
That’s enough here. Alexander’s book is actually a really good read and I highly recommend it to the folks at Pulpit & Pew once they get bored with casting barbs at the Orthodox and stalking Hank Hanegraaff which is, again... creepy and disturbing.
(*Note: Since we're talking of praying and charity here... Charity is a two-way street. Couching terms like "praying" and "charity" in a sentence that is simply a veiled barb belies a mindset of false piety and a compromised authority from someone claiming the be "Christian". ~Fr. B)
(*Note: Since we're talking of praying and charity here... Charity is a two-way street. Couching terms like "praying" and "charity" in a sentence that is simply a veiled barb belies a mindset of false piety and a compromised authority from someone claiming the be "Christian". ~Fr. B)
There is no justification outside faith alone in his accomplished work. Christ’s accomplished work includes his substitionary and vicarious death in our place, being for us our propitiation.
-See Above comments-
No amount of smells and bells, chanting absurdities, or calling out the gods of Ba’al and Asherah with much incense-burning, bell-ringing pomp and circumstance will change that.
Oh, the ignorance… It burns! On that same token… remember those words the next time you attend the rock & roll contemporary service at your local Community Church of the the Hip and Happening. I think the modern equivalent to what you call “smells and bells” is stage smoke and cowbell. As far as the charge that Maples made in his original soliloquy of the Orthodox guilty of vain repetitions… You ever hear a praise chorus being sung into the ground while the collection basket is being passed around for the second or third time? I guess that Ba’al and Asherah are alive, fat and happy… albeit… hanging not with the Orthodox; but with you guys just behind the Marshall Amplifiers and the Pulpit.
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