Protestant Evangelization of Orthodox

[Savva24]

stgregorythetheologian wrote:

"The Church with its Tradition existed 300 years prior to the actual canonization of Scripture and the pronouncements of the 7 Ecumenical councils."
-this seems to contradict Protestantism in its entirety. Who "canonized" the Scripture? The local Baptist Church elders at the time? It doesn't even matter to this author. He feels that the Truth of Christianity is realized in Southern Baptism.

Yes, I also found it odd that the author had kind of thrown that out there without even bothering to give an answer, as if it didn't matter. I have spoken to not a few Protestants about this very fact and they have never been able to give me an answer. It seems that they really don't care. They will believe what they want anyway.

A silly manual on how to be a good Southern Baptist! It's pathetic that it actually earned him a Ph.D. -- just shows that they don't always mean much.

Yes, silly indeed. But not something that should be ignored. Many of our Orthodox brothers in Eastern Europe and Russia are not as educated and equipped to answer this manual as we in the west may be. It seems that a great many Orthodox brothers and sisters are being lost to the sects thanks to stuff like this.
May God preserve them.

In Christ,

Nicholas (Savva)

Nicholas

[Seeker]

This is one of the biggest problem I find with the Orthodox Church. It is my impression that the Orthodox are too concerned with their own Theosis then worry about others. I know this sounds harsh but I feel the Orthodox Church could do so much MORE in the efforts of evagelization. The resources are there and the tactics have been perfected by the Protestants. Why doesn't the Church go out on the offensive and bring the faithful back to the Church?

Basically, I am saying the Church could do a lot MORE in these efforts.

[尼古拉前执事]

Seeker, the Church does do a lot. It is just that America is a mission country. For instance, you, yourself attend a mission church, no? You see more Protestant evangelization in this country because those churches are based in America. The Orthodox Churches are based in other countries like Russian, Greece, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, etc. and so the evangelization starts there. Orthodox Christianity would not be the second largest religion in the world if we were not evangelizing!

[Justin Kissel]

Seeker,

My witness begins with my life. If I tell people how great Orthodoxy is, and give them all these academic intellectual arguments for it, and go through all the apologetics... and then they see me being the sinner that I am, all of my talking will be worthless. Everyone can talk a good game. There's 1,001 religious groups out there that can/might sound persuasive to the listener. Obviously I think Orthodoxy has the truth, but what sets my witness apart from that of others? The Fathers teach: gain inner peace and [then] thousands around you will be saved; and: ascetics are Orthodoxy's only missionaries, and asceticism is Orthodoxy's only missionary school. For now, sinner that I am, it is enough of a evangelizing load to concentrate on friends and family, and try to get them interested. As with most people in America, however, if you try to force yourself onto them they will withdraw (intellectually, and perhaps even physically); so I talk, drop hints/suggestions, and wait.

[Gregory2]

Also, it takes much longer to convert to Orthodox Christianity than it does to something else. First of all, the seeker/inquirer must be interested and usually attends liturgy for a while to whet his taste. Then the priest imposes a catechism with a length of time as a catechumen.

We don't tell folks that if you don't "accept Jesus as your savior" this weekend you're going to hell. Orthodoxy doesn't use coercion or crafty/shrews speech to get people to convert. More than anything, the individual has to want to convert.

Orthodoxy is still very foreign and exotic to many Americans and Westerners -- our worship style, with lengthy liturgies, fasting, vespers, confession, etc is very out of whack with American life.

In traditional Orthodox countries, while protestant groups may get converts for a little while, my guess is many converts to protestantism realize the shallowness of it after a while and delve deeper into the faith of their forefathers. I don't think Romania or Greece or Russia will become Baptist nations anytime soon.