[sionnsar]

[I find it puzzling that he mentions "some thirty continuing Anglican bodies." I have located only 14 "bodies," as you can see on the Traditional Anglican Page, and there are discussions and mergers occurring. Some of these are quite small, some are shrinking, but others are growing. In my searches I did find and exclude single-church "bodies" which looked pretty questionable to me. I see only 5 of significance and two of them are merging. --sionnsar]

[sionnsar]

Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

[sionnsar]

discussion ping

[NYer]

I am grateful to be home in the Catholic Church.

The purpose of The Coming Home Network International (CHNetwork) is to provide fellowship, encouragement and support for pastors and laymen of other traditions (Protestant, Orthodox, etc..) who are somewhere along the journey or have already converted to the Catholic Church. The CHNetwork is committed to assisting and standing beside all inquirers, serving as a friend and an advocate.

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[FormerLib]

Lord, keep me from ever having to make such a decision using only my flawed ability to reason, but guide me by Your hand.

[Kolokotronis]

When I read your introduction to this piece I had planned to make some pithy remark about Fox News taking over the Traditional Anglican list, but, as you can see, I refrain!:)

As most of you are aware, I am Orthodox and know virtually nothing about Protestantism. For me, therefore, it seems self evident that if an Episcopalian were to leave that "ecclesial assembly", as some might say ECUSA has become the past 30 years or so, to come into the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, that person has only two alternatives, the Latin Church or Orthodoxy. It cannot be for me, or indeed any of us Latins or Orthodox to appropriately presume to tell the inquiring Episcopalian which way to go. I say this because it is well established that Rome and the East each recognize the validity and salvic efficacy of the others' sacraments, though the two are in schism for reasons which are thus far sufficient to each. It is better for that seeking Episcopalian to become as educated as possible about both the particular Churches within The Church, attend liturgies in both and after prayer, probably a lot of prayer, listen to what the "inner forum" as the Romans call it, and make a commitment to catechesis in one or the other.

Which one? Well aside from the specific nature of the hierarchal structure of the Roman Church, it might be that that Church will be more attractive to the majority American Episcopalians. The mindset of the Roman Church is certainly Western, its liturgy certainly familiar and it speaks in terms which are readily accessible to American ears. For people who are particularly attracted to the principle of unity, who can and do trace a multitude of manifest errors to the schism between the English Church and Rome under Henry VIII, the claims of Rome to universal jurisdiction and its hierarchal or papal attempts, not so successful of late in this country and generally in the West in my opinion, to enforce a sort of modern Christian orthodoxy and who find the focus of the Latin Church on the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ calls strongly to them, then Rome is probably the place for them. It is Western in thought and not overly rigorous in its day to day discipline on the Faithful, at least compared to Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy, on the other hand, looks at the world through eyes which never knew the Protestant Reformation nor the Enlightenment, which only recently has had to come to grips with capitalism or Western notions of individuality. While Roman Catholicism is a Faith which can well be described as a Eucharistic Community, in practice, at the parish level, it tends for the vast run of Latins to be quite individualistic. Orthodoxy's position that the fullness of The Church is found, as +Ignatius of Antioch wrote, found in a single diocese with a bishop surrounded by his people and clergy and, frankly, centuries of oppression under the heel of the Mohammedans, is in practice a communal Faith. We are saved, as individuals, within The Church as a liturgical people. The Church teaches that God never condemns us, that His Love falls on the good and the evil alike. We condemn ourselves and at the Final Judgment it is not our good deeds or evil doings, but rather how much like Christ we have become which will determine if we are among the sheep or the goats. Orthodoxy expects that we will live in the world but not be of the world and that the focus of our lives will be on our theosis. In order to advance in theosis, the Church teaches that we should pray, unceasingly if we can, fast regularly and become fully involved in the sacramental life of The Church. But these aren't "rules" and it is not a sin to fail to pray unceasingly or to fast or to miss the liturgy on occasion. Nor are these disciplines, in the final analysis, really hard to comply with if an Orthodox person comes to understand that the point of all of the Faith is to so die to the self that the "eye of the soul" becomes increasingly focused on God alone. The piece from the convert to Orthodoxy fairly shimmers with this mindset. But it is also massively counter cultural and it seems to me that if one is coming into The Church from the outside, one had best be sure that by heading East one is ready for all that entails, including the reality that if you truly become Orthodox, you won't look at the world like the other very good Christians around you in a great many ways.

The pieces you have posted each display clearly much of the mindset of the Latin and Orthodox Churches. Episcopalians will have to decide for themselves which of these particular Churches within The Church will be most successful in advancing their own salvation. I think pieces like these will help people to start that process.

[FreeRep]

Why Baptist?

BAPTIST

B - Born Again. For a person to know God personally and go to heaven, he must experience a new/spiritual birth (Jn 3:3). The steps to salvation are conviction, repentance, faith, and acceptance of Christ.

A - Autonomy of Local Church. Baptists believe believers are part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Each local church is autonomous or self governing.

P - Priesthood of the Believer. Baptists believe in the equality of all believers before God, in the right of each believer to direct access to God, and the responsibility of each believer for ministry according to his spiritual gifts.

T - Trustworthiness of Scriptures. For Baptists, God's Word, the Bible, is the rule for faith and practice. We believe the scriptures to be of divine origin, without error, indestructible, and able to reveal God and His plan for man.

I - Immersion. Christ told us to make disciples, mature disciples, and mark disciples through believer's baptism. Since the church is composed only of believers, only believers should be baptized. This baptism follows salvation, is in obedience to Christ's command, and pictures the spiritual death and burial, new life, and union of the believer with the church.

S - Seperation of Church and State. Baptists believe that state affairs should have no dictation over the church.

T - Task to Tell. Baptists take personally Christ's Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. Each person should contribute to souls being saved in his city, county, state, nation, and world. To that end, Southern Baptists cooperate to evangelize the world for Christ.

BAPTIST


Just a different view, no harm intended. :-)

Peace