fried chicken strips
September 13, 2007 at 6:11 amLog in to Reply
Canadian made the following comment in the link under “Why Remain Protestant”:“The Eastern Orthodox are conciliar not papal, and Rome tried to exert it’s universal authority over the other four patriarchates. This is why Rome can call all her councils “ecumenical” when the Orthodox only hold the 7 ancient Councils of a united Christianity.”When I hear the Orthodox played as the pitiful victim of the mean Roman Empire, I like to note the See in Constantinople tried to rival Rome. Constantinople held their first council without Rome’s representation. They of course refused to except the 28 Canon of Chalcedon, which made Constantinople the New Rome with Old Rome subject to it. I was at the Greek Festival this year and an Orthodox threw the pity card at me, so I looked it up at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13535a.htm.
Here’s a question. If the Orthodox has not had a council in centuries, how can they teach the Gospel of Christ to this generation? For example, graphic calculators became the new instrument for understanding and solving calculus problems. When the world demands fast and accurate results, how can the abacus function to meet these needs? (Notice the math doesn’t change and neither does the Gospel of Christ only its implementation.) In a similar manner, when there are more people in the world, more conversation, and evitably more moral concerns, can an Orthodox Church without regular councils respond?
“This is why Rome can call all her councils “ecumenical” when the Orthodox only hold the 7 ancient Councils of a united Christianity.”Thing is, this “united Christianity of the first 7 councils” business is a myth. There were already break-away groups in existence in the first 700 years of Christianity (non-Chalcedonians for example). The existence of schismatic churches didn’t make any of those first 7 councils unecumenical, nor did it make the other councils (Trent, etc) unecumenical.-Dev.
It is an interesting discussion, and one I have had many times with my brother (an evangelical minister). We were all raised Catholic, all left the Church. I came back 8 years ago and was followed by my eldest brother 2 years ago. The only holdout is the youngest. With love and patience, I pray that he will see the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church and return home.Thanks for the link. It was very informative and educational.
Another thought…If the reformers were correct in their original assumption that the Roman Catholic Church was corrupt and no longer the Church which Jesus Christ founded, then what would we logically expect to see today? Wouldn’t one reasonably expect that the original church would have withered up and become irrelevant while the Reformed Church would be the beacon on a hill, a shining light of Christianity? That’s not what happened though, is it? The Roman Catholic Church is the largest faith denomination in the world. It is still protected by the promises of Christ. The reformers’ church have continued to split and schism with each other in a continued effort to “reform” each other. Instead of the one unified Christian church which would have proven the truth of their argument, they now have thousands of denominations which continue to squabble amongst themselves.Their model seems to have failed.
Why remain protestant? Since the Holy Catholic Church has fullness of truth the only reason to remain protestant is so you can “pick and choose” your religion according the the beliefs you want to adhere with. Such as maybe your protestant church only has three sacraments–they don’t like the sacrament of confession–since you don’t like confession you can just join a church that eliminates this sacrament.Staying Protestant means staying outside the fullness of truth–why would anyone only want partial truth? Oh, because being Catholic means stepping up to the plate and playing the whole game–responsibility for living according to all God’s precepts.
In case anyone wants to read what I think, here it is: What’s keeping you?.
Canadian made the following comment in the link under “Why Remain Protestant”:“The Eastern Orthodox are conciliar not papal, and Rome tried to exert it’s universal authority over the other four patriarchates. This is why Rome can call all her councils “ecumenical” when the Orthodox only hold the 7 ancient Councils of a united Christianity.”When I hear the Orthodox played as the pitiful victim of the mean Roman Empire, I like to note the See in Constantinople tried to rival Rome. Constantinople held their first council without Rome’s representation. They of course refused to except the 28 Canon of Chalcedon, which made Constantinople the New Rome with Old Rome subject to it. I was at the Greek Festival this year and an Orthodox threw the pity card at me, so I looked it up at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13535a.htm.
Here’s a question. If the Orthodox has not had a council in centuries, how can they teach the Gospel of Christ to this generation? For example, graphic calculators became the new instrument for understanding and solving calculus problems. When the world demands fast and accurate results, how can the abacus function to meet these needs? (Notice the math doesn’t change and neither does the Gospel of Christ only its implementation.) In a similar manner, when there are more people in the world, more conversation, and evitably more moral concerns, can an Orthodox Church without regular councils respond?
“This is why Rome can call all her councils “ecumenical” when the Orthodox only hold the 7 ancient Councils of a united Christianity.”Thing is, this “united Christianity of the first 7 councils” business is a myth. There were already break-away groups in existence in the first 700 years of Christianity (non-Chalcedonians for example). The existence of schismatic churches didn’t make any of those first 7 councils unecumenical, nor did it make the other councils (Trent, etc) unecumenical.-Dev.
Wow, I just got over 100 hits from your link! Thanks much. I’ll make sure to put you on my blogroll.
It is an interesting discussion, and one I have had many times with my brother (an evangelical minister). We were all raised Catholic, all left the Church. I came back 8 years ago and was followed by my eldest brother 2 years ago. The only holdout is the youngest. With love and patience, I pray that he will see the truth and beauty of the Catholic Church and return home.Thanks for the link. It was very informative and educational.
Another thought…If the reformers were correct in their original assumption that the Roman Catholic Church was corrupt and no longer the Church which Jesus Christ founded, then what would we logically expect to see today? Wouldn’t one reasonably expect that the original church would have withered up and become irrelevant while the Reformed Church would be the beacon on a hill, a shining light of Christianity? That’s not what happened though, is it? The Roman Catholic Church is the largest faith denomination in the world. It is still protected by the promises of Christ. The reformers’ church have continued to split and schism with each other in a continued effort to “reform” each other. Instead of the one unified Christian church which would have proven the truth of their argument, they now have thousands of denominations which continue to squabble amongst themselves.Their model seems to have failed.
Why remain protestant? Since the Holy Catholic Church has fullness of truth the only reason to remain protestant is so you can “pick and choose” your religion according the the beliefs you want to adhere with. Such as maybe your protestant church only has three sacraments–they don’t like the sacrament of confession–since you don’t like confession you can just join a church that eliminates this sacrament.Staying Protestant means staying outside the fullness of truth–why would anyone only want partial truth? Oh, because being Catholic means stepping up to the plate and playing the whole game–responsibility for living according to all God’s precepts.