"Is the Catholic and Orthodox branch truly Christian?"
Wow .. was initially very surprised by this question posted on Yahoo Answers,
Is the Catholic and Orthodox branch of Christianity truly Christian?
Thankfully, most of those who responded did correctly point out the historical facts and that we all started from One Christ. Even a quick reading of Christian History should build the mental image of the Christian 'tree', a visual of man's failure to interpret the Scriptures and Jesus' teachings and the resulting state of Christianity today. As one Evangelist pastor I met shared the following, which is what everyone who follows Christ should keep in mind - "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things Christ".
But, I guess this was the first time I really ran into someone asking if Catholic and Orthodox were "Christian". Who took away the Christian label from us? Did we get an e-mail on that?? (A Ralphie May reference on the Rainbow WARNING: Ralphie May has a terribly filthy mouth ... one of the funniest comedians, but if you are easily offended just view 1:08 - 1:40 of the link).
But, seriously ... how very sad. As the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". But, since this is a matter of Faith, it's a much more severe reflection of the dangers of just blindly following the crowd to the church that is the most fun or has the shortest service.
One of our Orthodox priests shared his observation that there is no way our Church can compete with the mega-churches ... and this is a fact. The resources, mind-set and numbers are not there. But, perhaps through education we can enlighten those dedicated Orthodox Christians to not leave the Church, but rather work their energy through our Church to make make Christ's words relevant on a daily basis.
Is the Catholic and Orthodox branch of Christianity truly Christian?
Thankfully, most of those who responded did correctly point out the historical facts and that we all started from One Christ. Even a quick reading of Christian History should build the mental image of the Christian 'tree', a visual of man's failure to interpret the Scriptures and Jesus' teachings and the resulting state of Christianity today. As one Evangelist pastor I met shared the following, which is what everyone who follows Christ should keep in mind - "In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty, in all things Christ".
But, I guess this was the first time I really ran into someone asking if Catholic and Orthodox were "Christian". Who took away the Christian label from us? Did we get an e-mail on that?? (A Ralphie May reference on the Rainbow WARNING: Ralphie May has a terribly filthy mouth ... one of the funniest comedians, but if you are easily offended just view 1:08 - 1:40 of the link).
But, seriously ... how very sad. As the saying goes, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". But, since this is a matter of Faith, it's a much more severe reflection of the dangers of just blindly following the crowd to the church that is the most fun or has the shortest service.
One of our Orthodox priests shared his observation that there is no way our Church can compete with the mega-churches ... and this is a fact. The resources, mind-set and numbers are not there. But, perhaps through education we can enlighten those dedicated Orthodox Christians to not leave the Church, but rather work their energy through our Church to make make Christ's words relevant on a daily basis.
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