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Here is a quotation from the article which succinctly summaries that prevalent thought:
| Quote |
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| “The Wind blows where it will,” Jesus said, “you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.” I know/know of very Christian men and women who are not Orthodox, yet the “sound” of the Holy Spirit in their lives is so loud that I am almost ashamed to call myself a Christian in comparison. I can criticize aspects of their faith and practice and certainly point out that they are not Orthodox, but to say that they are not somehow part of the Body of Christ, the Church, I cannot say. |
Although he admits that he knows "Very Christian people", yet he can not confidently say that they are part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Another quote
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| I am not saying that a heterodox group is the True Church because it produces a true saint. What I am saying is that even within heterodox Christian assemblies, there remains something of the True Church. How much remains, how Grace functions in it, what does or doesn’t take place in their sacraments, I do not know. Like I said, I don’t know what the Church isn’t. |
The term "True Church", "Mysteries", "Body of Christ", etc are used, which makes it hard to argue against this type of thoughts. And when these thoughts are echoed by the Church leaders: Bishops, priests, it gives it very heavy authority, which becomes hard to oppose.
This is very troubling to me. Mainly because of the implications of what this line of thought leads to. The "True Church" which is what he uses in the article to refer to the Orthodox Church, can not through the Holy Spirit discern other members of the same Body outside its own stream.
Furthermore, this This leads to a further problem, the True Church has very "strict" (is the word I would use) set of rules that are meant to be adhered to in order to be even considered for Salvation. If you go to a Coptic Orthodox Church, they'll say, you'll have to:
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They usually refer to a particular verse from John 20:22-23:
| John 20:22-23 |
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22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. |
And they couple this with their argument for the Traditions of the church which Jesus has passed on to the disciples orally, but were not written down. This an argument of the "Holy Traditions". For example they claim that Jesus taught the disciples the "Liturgical prayers" and other types of prayers. So although they admit that the Bible is the authoritative word of God, they also say that there are other aspects, verbally passed down, which are also part of the teaching of Christ.
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