The Orthodox Church

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by InChristAlone

Aron, it's always nice to talk to you. Years ago, thanks to your thoughtful advice and your kind words about the EOC and the Church Fathers, I got back to my roots and started to explore Orthodoxy.
Sorry, Aron, could you please tell me which verse is this? I can't find it in English. Can it be 1 Corinthians 7:20-21? Or 1 Corinthians 7:23-24? Or maybe some other verse? What is the context of the advice?

Should be this entire section in I Corinthians 7.17-24, repeated in almost every verse.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Should be this entire section in I Corinthians 7.17-24, repeated in almost every verse.

Yes, 1 Cor 7. I think it's applicable. "Come out of her, my people", applied too liberally, makes us all leave one another alone. Nobody is perfect.

And the "her" of LSM LC lore was the Great Harlot sitting on the seven hills of Rome. That was all that Luther could see. Hardly blame him for posting his ideas on the door in Wittenberg.

But again, why no Luther rose up in the EOC? The RCC has spawned division after division. By rights I should have titled my mini-essay, "How to create a post-RCC splinter cell" because the Anglicans and thus the Wesleyans were not perforce Protestants. But they were all post-RCC. (Watchman Nee was educated in an Anglican school).

But the EOC never got "reformed" or "recovered". . . interesting to think about. Puts the "restored church" narrative in a new light, for me. I heard it so many times, and never really thought about it much. Took it for granted.

And not only that, but Witness Lee said that everyone who got a vision created a division, except somehow Nee was exempt from this rule. And only he and Nee could see revelations in the scriptural text; anyone else who tried to see anything was ambitious for power. Again, somehow (magically?) he & Nee were immune from self-interest, bias, corruption and self-delusion.

(And I do remain thankful for my Baptist roots, but am no longer proud of them. We have no room for pride of place on this earth. Pride creates false judgment which creates division, isolation, paranoia, darkness. And then Christ has died in vain - no, we must not have it. "Receive those whom God has received in Christ Jesus" said the apostle. . . amen.)