Contents:

An Orthodox Layman’s Perspective

Not being well versed in the detailed theology of the various Christian Churches, I selected some basic salient features on each of the three major Church Faiths namely the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox and evaluated the feasibility of a negotiated accord in realizing a Pan-Christian Church. However before indulging into the evaluation of the feasibility of a Pan-Christian Church, I first examined some reasons for the need and possible benefits for such.

Why a Pan-Christian Church?

Although Protestantism is not so much a Church as it is a movement of Churches, the salient features listed below are common to most Protestant Churches. The Protestants do not recognize the existence of Saints and consider the Theotokos as a plain woman who just happened to give birth to Jesus Christ. Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible is the only infallible and inerrant authority for the Christian faith and it contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. The Roman Catholic Church believes that it is the only true Church of Christ as it was built on Saint Peter the Apostle whose holy relics are in the basement of the Vatican. It must also be understood that co-worshipping with the heterodox Christian faiths is again not feasible. History records that many times the dogmas formulated by one Pope were rejected by the following Pope s.

Today world Christianity boasts a vast number of independent Churches, all claiming to own the truth and nothing but the truth. Wars and persecutions were unleashed over the millennia in Europe at a horrendous cost to human life, to impose one brand of Christianity over another. During the 20 th century, after two horrific world wars, an exhausted Europe came to the conclusion that nationalism and religion bred enmity and adversity always resulting into calamitous wars.

Something had to change. But what and how? A decision was made to resolve these two major causes of conflict among the European nations. So far this model seems to function adequately. Having successfully responded to the old nationalism through the creation of the EU, attention was turned onto religion. Could a similar model be made to apply to religion? Would it be possible to create a European Christian Union where all the independent European Christian confessions are included within one all inclusive Church where Europeans of any Christian faith could worship together, namely an Ecumenical Christian Church?

The answer was a resounding yes!! For decades now the WCC through countless of meetings, conferences and crusades has been searching for a mutually acceptable way to bring all the European Christian Churches together. Both Protestant and Catholic Churches expressed favourable support. To facilitate the process it was decided to allow the individual Churches to keep their individual confessions. They were only required to open their Churches to common worship. The Roman Catholics even agreed to accept all the Christian Churches as they were with few if any modifications to their faiths, suffice they agree to submit to the supremacy of the Pope.

So why is the Orthodox Church at large still negotiating? To this end seven salient points from the Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox confessions are compiled below.

Although Protestantism is not so much a Church as it is a movement of Churches, the salient features listed below are common to most Protestant Churches. Salient features of the Protestant Faith. Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible is the only infallible and inerrant authority for the Christian faith and it contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness.

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The Protestant Faith demands that only those doctrines are admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid deductive reasoning from Scripture. The Protestant Faith believes that justification is received only by faith and does not accept the Holy Church Traditions, as they are considered traditions of men.

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The Protestants do not recognize the existence of Saints and consider the Theotokos as a plain woman who just happened to give birth to Jesus Christ. This can happen by simply declaring their belief in and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The Protestants believe that the Original Church of Christ ceased to exist during the early Roman persecutions of the Christians.

They believe that the Church of the first millennium was formed about years after Christ by the Ecumenical Synods. Salient features of the Roman Catholic Faith.

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The Roman Catholic Church believes that it is the only true Church of Christ as it was built on Saint Peter the Apostle whose holy relics are in the basement of the Vatican. The Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth, namely he represents Christ on earth. As such he has absolute authority over his followers, and he can send them after their death to paradise or hell, since he possesses as he claims the keys to paradise. The number one duty of every pious Catholic is to submit and obey the Pope in everything and without question. Other Christian confessions are welcome to join the Catholic Church partly or wholly unaltered even if their dogmas and doctrines are diametrically opposed to those of the Catholics, as long as they submit to the authority of the Roman Pontiff.

The Pope can free souls from purgatory through the use of the Church Treasury. The Church Treasury possesses all the excess good deeds of devout Catholics and saints of the Catholic Church which were over and above what they needed to enter paradise. Catholics believe in the existence of purgatory. Purgatory is a place where souls go which were not good enough to enter paradise but were too good for hell. At purgatory such souls are purged with fire until they become clean and can then proceed to paradise.

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The Pope could cut the stay of souls in purgatory by the use of the excess good deeds of the Catholic saints that are deposited in the Church Treasury. Salient features of the Orthodox Faith. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Orthodox Church here on earth. The two cannot be separated. The Seven Ecumenical Synods did not institute the Orthodox Church but defined her and the holy Canons of the Church were set to protect her from future heresies and innovations.

Icons are used to encourage and project the prayers of the faithful to the prototype. The holy priesthood of the Orthodox Church proceeds from an unbroken chain of succession from apostolic times and is in strict conformity with the Holy Church Canons. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Holy Spirit , please sign up.

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The Holy Spirit: A Layman's Perspective

Finally, someone writes a book about the Holy Spirit that doesn't go psycho! This is a very well-written, easy to understand book. There's not a lot of hype in it; some personal experience is included to let people know where he's coming from, but overall, it's just a good, systematic coverage of who the Holy Spirit is, what He has done in Scripture, what He's doing now, and what He wants to do in the believer's life.

The Old Testament Told in Only 5 Minutes

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