I agree with Ality. It does seem the Orthodox and Catholics spend of much time hating one another that you have to wonder when do they have the time to love Christ and love like Christ?

Muslims, desparate to know Christ and escape hostile religiosity, would look elsewhere for the truth, I am afraid.

If a Muslim convert to Christ stands the chance of losing his family, friends, career, or worse, by that very act, being immersed in the hostile environment of Orthodoxy or Catholicism must be avoided.

Perhaps in God's economia, He has birthed Protestantism for the mission of bringing Muslims to Christ. Besides, the root beliefs of Protestantism would have a certain affinity to Islam that Muslims would find similar and attractive.

But even if a former Muslim finds a spiritual home within Protestantism, he would do well to study the spiritual Christian masters of the East, and I would suppose, the masters of the Catholic West, as well.

God is in charge. Thank God!

Salaam in the Christ,

Abdur

If I’m not mistaken in my(limited) understanding the Holy Scriptures & Tradition, Jesus Christ the risen Lord was God incarnate and both Scripture & Tradition speak of him as a man. Understanding the Faith is important and we should not alter the Tradition of referring to God in the masculine form. (we recite He will come again to judge the living and the , not It will come to judge the living and the )

Protestantism in my experience does tend to doubt the claims of the Holy Bible in general, especially when it comes to the main stream denominations such as Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran, Anglican, etc. Don’t get me wrong not all the members doubt, but almost all the clergy I have spoken with or meet with in these denominations have doubted the validity of the Bible as a teaching tool. In a way I fully appreciate there view, if it were not for men (& women) such as these I would never have searched deeper into the mystery that is our Faith in Christ.

[ 06-22-2002: Message edited by: Odo ]

Dear ALity,

Thanks for that post. There are a lot of good Protestant Christians out there ... and we can learn a lot from them:

1.) how to become zealous Bible Christians ("without the bible-thumping/bashing")
2.) how to become more vocal concerning our faith in the workplace (Jesus called ALL believers to make disciples.. it is NOT jut the job of the priests)
3.) how to be more outspoken concerning homosexual relations (RC's and
BC's are quite vocal on abortion issues, but employ a silent pulpit when it comes to homosexual relations; at least that has been my observation and experience)
4.) they can teach how to cultivate the gift of prayer (it would be nice if all of Christianity would learn how to "talk" to God without having to read the prayers or to rely solely on memorized liturgical responses)
5.)how to culturally relate to everyone in evangelization (Orthodox and BC churches are for the most part organized ethnically which will not always be the best conditions for witnessing for the Lord)

We must remember that ALL wisdom comes from God, whether it comes from an Evangelical or Orthodox or Catholic. St. Paul reminds us of the "spiritual dangers" when one thinks they "belong to Apollo, and another belongs to Cephas". We all belong to the body of Christ. The Protestants may not have the "fullness of the faith", but they certainly cultivate a personal relationship with the Lord.

As Scott Hahn, RC Theologian puts it; "Catholics need to become Bible Christians, and Bible Christians need to become Catholic.

In His Service,
Walter Metrick