This past Saturday I attended the graduation of one of my nephews from a local Moravian College. He was awarded his second Masters degree which was a Masters of Divinity. He is a Lutheran with hopes of evenutally becoming a Lutheran Minister. After the ceremony we had a long conversation. Some of what he told me both disturbed and amazed me. It certainly shows the result of the Protestant concept of individual interpretation of Scripture. First off, he received a low grade on one of the papers he was required to do because he referred to God in the masculine gender by using the word 'he'. He challanged the professor and was told by him that the grade still stands as long as he insists of referring to God by gender identity. Secondly he was required to spend time as a counsellor at one of the major city hospitals in his area. He works with two Protestant Chaplains
both of which DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE RESSURECTION OF CHRIST! One of them does not believe in the Incarnation. Yet both of them consider themselves Christian Chaplins that have the responsibility of counselling Christians in distress!
If this is what Protestantism has come down to than thank God I'm Orthodox!

OrthoMan

Slava Jesu Kristu,

I don't think his experience is the norm. I know a few protestant Ministers who are very gounded in Bibilical Faith.

Dmitri

Can it really be called a biblical faith when they ignore tradition and live on their own intrepetaion of the bible?

[Can it really be called a biblical faith when they ignore tradition and live on their own intrepetaion of the bible?]

Thank you! That is the point I was trying to make.

OrthoMan

My thought,
they live on their own interpretation because then they are not held accountable. If they accept the teachings of the Catholic or Orthodox Churches, then they are not only held accountable to God, but also the magisteriums of these Churches who were given the apostolic authority to do so.

Rose

I do not believe that God is male or female, but a person should not get a low grade on a paper for using the word "he", thats the word used in the Bible in John3:16! And If he would of used she it wouldnt be wrong either since thats what God is called in Proverbs chap8 and 9. And as for the ressurection and the incarnation, THOSE ARE REAL! and any one who doesnt believe in them is not a christian! Another interesting thing to think about is this, protestants took away some of the sacraments! Confirmation,confession and anointing!guese it didnt ft with there interpretation of the Bible, although all three are in the Bible!

HECK! I hear that some churches take away the sacrament of baptism and make communion out to be a simple memorial meal! lets read what the Bible says on the sacraments, Matt28:19(baptism) Acts8:14-17(confirmation) John6:56(Communion) John20:22,23(Confession) James5:14,15(Anointing) can a preist be married? Eastern Churches say yes, but celibacy is still honored as it is in the Bible Matt19:12, do protestants honor celibacy? NOT MUCH!

I know a few who are as well, but not very many. What this man ran into is quite typical.

Dan Lauffer (United Methodist Pastor for 27 years).

Dan,
Once again I ask, Can it really be called a biblical faith when they ignore tradition and live on their own intrepetaion of the bible?

We only have the Bible because of Tradition. Without Tradition, which all protestants deny, we have no Bible.

David

We have a local Arab Evangelical congregation, associated with the Presbyterians, who have done what others have not been able to do with any success: convert Muslims to Christ.

At least some Protestants are able to do what Orthodox and Catholics are not very successful at: take the Gospel to Muslims and save their souls.

My point is not to criticize Catholics and Orthodox for their lack of missionary success among the Muslims, but to point out that some Protestants do good work for the Lord Jesus; work that others are incapable of doing. They must be the servants of the Lord: "...those who are not against us are for us.."

Hint: Catholics and Orthodox seem to think if you pound down Muslims with insults, you prepare them for "conversion."

Dumb! Actually, by doing that, you only prepare them for "reconversion" to Islam.

Peace in the Lord Jesus,

Abdur

PS: Do the Catholic and Orthodox churches recognize Protestant baptism?

Abdur,

Some very good points. Fr. Seraphim Rose of blessed memory wrote about this very topic.

David,

I hadn't answered before because I assumed your question to be rhetorical.

"Dan,
Once again I ask, Can it really be called a biblical faith when they ignore tradition and live on their own intrepetaion of the bible?"

The answer is "Of course not!" That's one of the reasons I left.

Dan Lauffer

Traveler,

The BC Church recognizes "protestant" baptism. That is why I was only Chrismated and not rebaptized. Good thing too. My body does not look so good without covering.

Without tradition there is no bible . . .

So very true. Unfortunately, the insta-burger salvation of Protestatnism is very contagious. Last night I was surfin' the web and found some statistics in Ukraine that show that protestantism is almost as big distirct by district as the Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy and Catholicism is being choked by 2,000 years of "cultural baggage" and as a result, people are attracted to what they see as a true "biblical" New Testament Church. Meanwhile we are arguing over validity of Sacraments, whose church this is, juridictional rights, etc. We are all entangled with our scruples and the Protestants use this to prostyletize our faithful. And they have no concern about "sheep stealing". To them, we are phonies and the more of us they can take, the better for them.

I believe there are good Protestant Christians in the world. Their theology may be kooky, but they still struggle to be a good Christian as they understand a good Christian should be. Does
God look at all Protestants with disfavor? I doubt it.

ALity

[ 06-21-2002: Message edited by: ALity ]