Return of the Sheep ☦️

This is the guy who started the protestant reformation and came up with the concept of Sola Scriptura btw. Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 32: Career of the Reformer II, p. 59

@sola_chad I'm Orthodox and I agree this is a very perverted way of viewing our relationship with God. The focus on the legal status based on your current sin status and seeing confession as the only solution is a very corrupted expression of the truth.

The most damnable twisting of Scripture known to man is done by the Catholic Church. This IS NOT the gospel.

@OrthodoxRaichu This is awesome lol

@catholicpat This meme would make perfect sense if you swapped Catholic and Orthodox.

I had to correct the record on which Star Wars trilogy is which Christian denomination

@DB_Apologetics @BeBerean7 Every denomination except for Roman Catholics and the apostolic eastern churches. I suppose Anglicans probably are mostly still holding to a true teaching of the Eucharist as well. All others, including Luthers, abandoned the early church model.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @BeBerean7 “They” means who specifically? I agree that the church is somewhere that believers should be because you never see an “independent” believer in the NT and we are told to not forsake the gathering of believers. The church in Acts 2 is specific what it did and what it taught

Orthobros: You cant interpret scripture on your own, your reasoning is fallible. You need us. Protestants: How do you know you're the true church with authority to interpret? Orthobros: quotes scripture and uses his fallible reasoning on said scriptures and church history. 🫣

It's not either/or. It is true that some areas likely were aniconic and some areas were fully pro-icons. Once the persecution was lifted, these practices came out more into the open, causing objections from some bishops, but ultimately the Church sided with those with the icons. And that's all that matters.

The "church always venerated icons like today" is a nonsense argument that isnt necessary to defend the validity and apostolic continuity of such a practice. The development view is clearly the more cogent perspective

Problem with that is they teach a different gospel, so that argument doesn't really hold up. They also abandoned the Eucharist which was very clearly established as truly the body and blood of Christ from the beginning. The apostles saw the Church as the life in Christ. To leave the Church is to leave the life itself that makes salvific sanctification/theosis possible. So they may have some teachings and idea correct, and God may have mercy on those born into schism who had no idea, but ultimately to leave Orthodoxy is to leave the Light itself even if you ascend to similar beliefs.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @BeBerean7 The reformers wanted to go back to following the example in Acts 2 before certain traditions were brought in and made dogmatic. I think people are correct to be hesitant when certain things that hadnt been dogma later become official dogma and are taught as infallible That’s all

@HHS3239 Can you share the truth revealed to you, O Great Mini Pope? And who sent you so that I can thank them?

After seeing some of the many replies I get, I really do wonder if some of these Orthobros open their Bibles at all. Make sure you're reading your Bible!

All good, I did say a lot. Main point I was making is that if sola scriptura is true, then before you can even begin salvation you need to figure out on your own what it means first. And we all disagree variously on what the passages mean. James and John were used as examples but the response was very vague. The Church was given to us so that we don't have to each reinvent the wheel. If that Church failed to preserve the truth, then the gates of Hades prevailed over the Church. Nobody should ever have to schism to find the truth, *ever*. That in itself is a failure for Christianity, if the protestants are right about the apostles' intent. But they were right about one thing - Rome's 16th century approach was despicable. But the reformers should have joined the uncorrupted east.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @BeBerean7 “You didn’t answer my question” Bro which one? You asked like 6 I agree that sanctification is important in our walk with God as well. I answered your question. Don’t deflect

@DB_Apologetics @BeBerean7 I do not disagree with your starting point for salvation. I'm merely stating that union with Christ until you die is also part of your salvation. It is not completed until God judges your heart and glorifies you. You didn't answer my question, so I will be moving on now.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @BeBerean7 Bad faith argument off the jump As a Protestant I understand salvation comes from the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the redemptive act that brings us back into unity w/ God Ephesians, Romans, Galatians & John say faith saves. I don’t need the church for that

So salvation comes down to being intellectually capable of discernment? Let's test this theory. Church aside completely, what did James mean when he said that Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac up on the altar? What did John mean when he said those who practice righteousness are righteous, and those who don't obey but claim to know Christ are liars? Are you going to take these letters at face value like you do in Romans, or are you going to say that they actually somehow mean "justified by men" because that's what the protestant churches say in order to preserve their teaching of faith alone? The Church brings Scripture to life. All of it. I converted less than a year ago and I am in LOVE with *all* of Scripture now and not just Romans 4. My personal experience is that we absolutely cannot understand the proper context of the time without the historical Church that was there.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @BeBerean7 You can do that with basic exegesis informed by good hermeneutics. You don’t need the church to define everything for you to be able to understand clear things and things we can understand by looking at the context historically, culturally, and linguistically for discernment.

@BeBerean7 How old is your church again? Who sent you? Have you thanked one of those "cult" monks for preserving the Scriptures for you so that you could call them as being in a cult 1000 years later?

Catholicism in Eastern Orthodoxy are cults just like Mormonism and Jehovahs Witnesses. All falsly claim infallible interpretation and that salvation is mediated through them exclusively. They all also preach works salvation.

@KevinCl59528387 @sarahdunham23 I'm not responsible for your soul, that's your choice to make. But I will pray for you!

@ReturnOrthodoxy @sarahdunham23 Good. You're just giving us more reason to defend Protestantism.

Imagine bragging about leading people away from Christ’s church. Demonic. On another note, my husband has several friends in his circle that have now started inquiring. Not because of anything he’s said or done…no evangelizing…but simply because they can see the difference it’s made in him.

@KevinCl59528387 @sarahdunham23 The difference is protestantism is a false religion from 500 years ago and Orthodoxy is the true faith. Therefore, anyone gleefully keeping people from the Church is doing Satan's work.

@ReturnOrthodoxy @sarahdunham23 So its wrong for us Prots to convince fellow Prots to uphold Protestantism and not convert to Eastern Orthodoxy? How is this attitude of yours any different than muslim hardliners?

Yep. Moreso than usual. Orthodoxy is going to explode over the next 10 years, and everyone is going to show their true colors. People will either joyfully join the Church, or will turn into rabid wolves toward it and seek to devour as many of the converts and inquirers as possible.

Has anyone else ☦️ felt like the enemy has been busy these past few weeks? X discourse aside, but also in your personal life?

@ChristandGuitar Simply look in history and find out what happened. See who preserved the faith and who diverged.

Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church claim to be the 'one true Church' founded by Christ. They both trace themselves to the same apostles and Church Fathers up through the Great Schism of 1054 - yet they mutually anathematized each other and still do to this day. They can't both be right. If the evidence is essentially identical, doesn't that mean that the 'one true Church' claim fails for both? What’s the actual standard that decides this? I would argue that it's Scripture - and Scripture is what leads me to believe that both claims are false.

@CertainSpeaks Lol. Wow. And who sent you?

The Trinity is not required to be a Christian. Infact, all true Christians reject the Trinity.

@exanxc Those eastern churches are tiny schismatic sects that joined Rome out of a feel that Rome is more important than the 8th ecumenical council. Roman Catholicism is overwhelming and almost entire western latin churches.

The One True Church (i.e., the Catholic Church) is made up of 24 different Churches. The Latin Church and the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches are all in communion with the Bishop of Rome. 1. Latin Church 2. Coptic Catholic Church 3. Ethiopian Catholic Church 4. Eritrean Catholic Church 5. Maronite Church 6. Syriac Catholic Church 7. Syro-Malankara Catholic Church 8. Armenian Catholic Church 9. Chaldean Catholic Church 10. Syro-Malabar Church 11. Albanian Greek Catholic Church 12. Belarusian Greek Catholic Church 13. Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church 14. Byzantine Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia 15. Greek Byzantine Catholic Church 16. Hungarian Greek Catholic Church 17. Italo-Albanian Catholic Church 18. Macedonian Greek Catholic Church 19. Melkite Greek Catholic Church 20. Romanian Greek Catholic Church 21. Russian Greek Catholic Church 22. Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church 23. Slovak Greek Catholic Church 24. Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church