Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
You see a lot the way I see it when you say:
Much to agree with there.
Can't say the same for the rest. The articles only suggest that there is an out on the idolatry thing. I agree. But it doesn't make everything OK. Just not simple idolatry.
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OBW, you have your opinion. I have mine. That's fine with me.
You know, Muslims also blame Christians for worshiping and believing in three different gods, but do we really do it? I bet they say so because:
a) they hardly studied the doctrine;
b) they have not experienced the Living Reality of God behind the words and concepts;
c) they don't really want to understand it.
The LRC has a similar issue when WL and his followers reject celebrating Easter and Christmas. These holidays are unbiblical for them, but based on some pagan holidays. No matter how hard you try to explain them the meaning of the celebrations, they will still stick to the letter, not the spirit. But whose loss is it? I.e. who is losing: Christians who celebrate Easter and Christmas, rejoicing and praising the Lord, or followers of WL who ignore these holidays? Paradox: the latter don't want to celebrate the holidays related to their Lord but do celebrate b'days and other significant dates related to their friends and relatives.
BTW, just an observation, I have always been surprised why in the LC, on the Lord's Table, we break bread and drink grape juice. If WL was so keen on the recovery and restoring of the biblical practices, including "one location - one church" idea, why didn't he go further and use wine for communion?
PS Yesterday I found this article, “Forty excuses for not joining the Orthodox Church.”
I will share some quotes. Please don't take them too seriously. They are written with a good sense of British humor.
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because it’s a sect’.
(For nearly 2,000 years, billions of people have not thought so. Are you so much cleverer than all of them?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because you have saints’.
(Sadly, that is your loss. Don’t you want to know the friends of Christ?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because you kiss icons’.
(Don’t you kiss members of your family? Don’t you love Christ and those close to him? Are you not members of the family of Christ? Or are you victims of Protestant scientism?).
I can’t become Orthodox, because Orthodox are sinners and argue among themselves’.
(Yes, we know about ourselves, that we are sinners. We also think our Faith is important – that’s why we argue, because we are not lukewarm and indifferent. And that’s why we go to church and go to confession and communion, repent, read the Lives of the Saints and find healing for our arguments. You mean you do not know about yourself and your own need to repent?).
‘I cannot become Orthodox, because you don’t sing our hymns’.
(Why sing Victorian platitudes, when you can have ancient spiritual depth?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because you can’t take part in the services’.
(You mean you have never tried praying?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because I will no longer be free to change the Faith and pick from it what I want’.
(You don’t come to the Church to change the Orthodox Faith, you come to the Church to be changed by the Orthodox Faith. Or do you consider that you do not need changing?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because it’s not Western, it’s Oriental’.
(Then it’s like Christ. He came for the Middle East. He wasn’t Western and secular either).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because I was born English’.
(Nor was Christ. By the way, I didn’t know that ‘English’ was a religion).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because the services are too long’.
(You mean you are lazy?).
‘The services start too early and finish too late’.
(See above).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because then I won’t be able to live with my partner any longer’.
(Yes, you will, only you will receive a Divine blessing, your union will become spiritual as well as physical, and your ‘partner’ will become your legitimate spouse, instead of your partner in sin).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because you have to fast’.
(You mean you reject Christ’s sacrifice of fasting in the desert and his Gospel instructions about freeing yourself from demons through prayer and fasting?)
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because the priest says that I should try to give up smoking’.
(You mean your passions are stronger than your faith?).
‘I can’t become Orthodox, because the clergy wear beards’.
(So did Christ. More victims of their cultural prejudices).
http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/40excuse.htm
BTW, when the author of the article complains that in the times of the Cold War the ROCOR didn’t want to accept him because he had no Russian roots (which is a wrong thing, of course), I believe the Russian priests were just too cautious. Probably, they were afraid of British spies.