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To: Kolokotronis
It would seem to me that the issue is not whether "outside the church there is no salvation." That is, one way or another, affirmed by Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants. The issue is where the bounds of "the Church" are.

Myself, I would argue that anywhere where the person and work of Christ are preached in an orthodox way, that is "the Church." Some subsets of "the church" may still be desparately wrong, but they're still "the church" nonetheless. God's not about to keep someone out of his Kingdom who believes that Jesus Christ died and rose for him and who tries to live according to the ethical requirements of Christianity just because he grew up in the wrong church. God's not arbitrary enough to expect us to muddle along to the right building down the road; he cares much more about the state of our hearts than whether we believe about some doctrinal debate most Christians couldn't articulate past the level of "my pastor says ______."

97 posted on 01/29/2006 12:51:10 PM PST by jude24 ("Thy law is written on the hearts of men, which iniquity itself effaces not." - St. Augustine)
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To: jude24

"It would seem to me that the issue is not whether "outside the church there is no salvation." That is, one way or another, affirmed by Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants. The issue is where the bounds of "the Church" are."

Interesting. As an Orthodox Christian, I wouldn't say that at all. I think The Church is quite well defined. Where I as an Orthodox Christian will not go is to say that so and so, because he/she is not a baptised member of The Church, he/she has no hope of theosis. I simply don't know what the Spirit does to whom.


99 posted on 01/29/2006 1:05:02 PM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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