For those of you who may not have picked up on this AP story out of Thessaloniki, Greece, it seems there is rather a to-do about efforts made by the Greek Orthodox Church to improve relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Now a Protestant may not appreciate the doctrinal differences between the two, and I certainly can't claim to be up-to-date on all the specific issues. In the US Roman Catholics greatly outnumber Greek Orthodox, and it is not uncommon for us to unite the two in our minds. BUT... there are major doctrinal and practical differences. The current disagreement did not come as a great surprise to me... but the actions it spurred seemed decidedly "un-monklike" to me. Here is an excerpt:
"Police posted a guard yesterday outside a chapel at an Orthodox monastic sanctuary where rebel monks remained barricaded following clashes that left seven people injured. Wednesday's violence involved rival groups of monks carrying crowbars and sledge-hammers." Not very Friar Tuck-ish, huh?
It reminded me of an article in 2004 about Greek Orthodox and Franciscan priests getting into a fist fight at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, after arguing over whether a door in the basilica should be closed during a procession. Club-wielding Iraeli riot police had to break up the fight.
I mention all of this because I have talked to believers who live, or have had extended visits, in Israel. When you say you are a "Christian", not only are you identifying yourself with the Spanish Inquisition and any & all Crusader atrocities wreaked upon the Jews, you are also identifying yourself with the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. That is their picture of "Christianity". I would hazard a guess that similar assumptions are made in other foreign countries. It's bad enough that we have to be identified with the Jimmy Swaggerts and Tammy Fay Bakers, but we also carry the burden of every brawling priest or monk.
So what's the answer? First, I think we need to realize that everything WE do reflects upon the name "Christian". I can't control the actions of every person who takes on the name "Christian", but I can control my own witness. Second, we have to use God's Word as the basis for Truth. How many times have you witnessed Christ to someone who believed all churches were "full of hypocrites"? I've certainly heard that a lot. My response is that some churches are "full of forgiven sinners", who do not always obey their Lord. Then I point them to God and His Word as being what they ultimately need to deal with.
Any other thoughts? Ideas?
3 comments:
you could do what some in 'evangelical Christianity' are thinking of doing (MacArthur, Sproul, Mahaney, Dever, Mohler, Piper, etc..) and change your name. Last I heard was 'Classic Christian'.
but whenever I hear people say that the church is full of hypocrites, I usually agree with what you said, but also that my faith isn't in those churches. Your faith is founded upon men and women, but upon God. What man does is irrelavent when it comes to my faith in God.
this may be a side effect of the Roman Catholic Church. Since the Church has all authority on earth, and the pope over the church, then if anyone in the church messes up, it reflects upon the religion as a whole, mainly God, Himself. don't know if I clearly explained that, but just a thought I had.
I like the idea of using "Classic Christian" in the US...but it wouldn't mean anything abroad.
I remember Loren counseling us NOT to use "labels" whenever we could avoid it. We should just try to stick with Biblical terms. I know that's certainly good advice even among like-minded believers. Recently I was discussing the Bible with a friend, who thought the term "Reformed" was anathema. I told him I was "reformed" in soteriology and opened up a firestorm. His response made ME assume he was Arminian...and I began hauling the big guns out. ;) It finally turned out that we were pretty much in agreement, but HIS definition of "reformed" and the classical definition of "reformed" were not the least bit close to each other.
The possibilities for American reality TV!!
Battle of the Network Monks
Fox Network has rolled out a new reality TV show, "America's Next Top Monk" that pits humble, celibate men against each other in a battle to win coveted titles.
According to a Fox Network spokesman, "Ten monks, who have been chosen from Roman Catholic and Buddhist monasteries across the country, compete against each other in various categories, such as meditation, chanting and fruitcake baking."
Post a Comment