Posted on 04/10/2017 6:40:46 PM PDT by fishtank
Evangelical Apologist Hank Hanegraaff Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy
Posted by: Rob Bowman
On Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017, Hank Hanegraaff formally joined the Orthodox Church. Since 1989 Hanegraaff has been the President of the Christian Research Institute (CRI) and (since ca. 1992) the host of CRI’s Bible Answer Man radio program.[1] Hank, his wife Kathy, and two of their twelve children were inducted by a sacramental rite called chrismation into the Orthodox faith at St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, near where CRI is based. In chrismation, a baptized individual is anointed with oil in order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.[2]
(Excerpt) Read more at religiousresearcher.org ...
Many years!
“Many have tried to date the book of Revelation, but no one has ever been able to get it to go to dinner and a movie.’
I appreciate good humor, and that is good humor. Thanks! I’ll have to remember that one for the next time Bible humor comes up in conversation. Very rarely, but it does happen.
Frank Schaeffer is NOT a good Orthodox Christian, even though he apparently receives the Eucharist in his parish:http://orthodoxwiki.org/Frank_Schaeffer
Linked from there is this, from 2012: Rod Dreher, "Frank Schaeffer: Go To Hell, Pro-Lifers", which seems spot on.
Once again, the volcanic Frank Schaeffer trots out his tiresome shtick about how horrible he was back in the day when he was a conservative Evangelical, and what a rotten man his daddy was, and how it’s time for someone to blow the freakin’ lid off the Religious Right, etc., ad nauseam. It’s dinner-theater psychodrama, this stuff. It’s also the left-wing version of the stock character in fundamentalist circles: the supposed former Satanist who got religion and who now goes around peddling ooga-booga stories to gullibles who love a conversion story. Schaeffer goes around the bend one mo’ time to introduce, with hearty approval, a column by an associate that starts like this:...
He's let his family and daddy issues consume his entire life. Sad.
I wouldn’t paint all EO believers badly. I had some correspondence some years ago with an internet moderator on a religious news discussion group...he was EO and when I inquired about it, I mentioned Schaeffer. He was not celebratory about Schaeffer’s “conversion”.
The book FS Jr. wrote “Dancing Alone” (I think) was more vitriol than apologetic. Not a good representation, he said, if EO.
+1
IIRC Frankie has gone full blown atheist.
O heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth
who are in all places and fillest all things:
Treasury of good things and Giver of life:
Come and dwell in us and cleanse us from every stain,
and save our souls, O good One.
Aye and Amen.
Yup, “in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
Once someone does a reverse Nebachadnezzar they go off the deep end.
I'm curious why you think that. Virtually everything Protestants complain about in Catholicism is found in Orthodoxy, except for the Pope. In some cases, it's emphasized to a much greater degree in Orthodoxy.
1By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
7You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. 8So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
Paul continues...
I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. (II Cor. 11:1-15)
I will give thanks to thee, O Lord and King,
and will praise thee as God my Savior.
I give thanks to thy name,
2 for thou hast been my protector and helper
and hast delivered my body from destruction
and from the snare of a slanderous tongue,
from lips that utter lies.
Before those who stood by
thou wast my helper, 3 and didst deliver me,
in the greatness of thy mercy and of thy name,
from the gnashings of teeth about to devour me,[a]
from the hand of those who sought my life,
from the many afflictions that I endured,
4 from choking fire on every side
and from the midst of fire which I did not kindle,
5 from the depths of the belly of Hades,
from an unclean tongue and lying words—
6 the slander of an unrighteous tongue to the king.
My soul drew near to death,
and my life was very near to Hades beneath.
7 They surrounded me on every side,
and there was no one to help me;
I looked for the assistance of men,
and there was none.
8 Then I remembered thy mercy, O Lord,
and thy work from of old,
that thou dost deliver those who wait for thee
and dost save them from the hand of their enemies.
9 And I sent up my supplication from the earth,
and prayed for deliverance from death.
10 I appealed to the Lord, the Father of my lord,
not to forsake me in the days of affliction,
at the time when there is no help against the proud.
11 I will praise thy name continually,
and will sing praise with thanksgiving.
My prayer was heard,
12 for thou didst save me from destruction
and rescue me from an evil plight.
Therefore I will give thanks to thee and praise thee,
and I will bless the name of the Lord.
Autobiographical Poem on Wisdom
13 While I was still young, before I went on my travels,
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer.
14 Before the temple I asked for her,
and I will search for her to the last.
15 From blossom to[b] ripening grape
my heart delighted in her;
my foot entered upon the straight path;
from my youth I followed her steps.
16 I inclined my ear a little and received her,
and I found for myself much instruction.
17 I made progress therein;
to him who gives wisdom I will give glory.
18 For I resolved to live according to wisdom,[c]
and I was zealous for the good;
and I shall never be put to shame.
19 My soul grappled with wisdom,[d]
and in my conduct I was strict;[e]
I spread out my hands to the heavens,
and lamented my ignorance of her.
20 I directed my soul to her,
and through purification I found her.
I gained understanding[f] with her from the first,
therefore I will not be forsaken.
21 My heart was stirred to seek her,
therefore I have gained a good possession.
22 The Lord gave me a tongue as my reward,
and I will praise him with it.
23 Draw near to me, you who are untaught,
and lodge in my school.
24 Why do you say you are lacking in these things,[g]
and why are your souls very thirsty?
25 I opened my mouth and said,
Get these things[h] for yourselves without money.
26 Put your neck under the yoke,
and let your souls receive instruction;
it is to be found close by.
27 See with your eyes that I have labored little
and found for myself much rest.
28 Get instruction with a large sum of silver,
and you will gain by it much gold.
29 May your soul rejoice in his mercy,
and may you not be put to shame when you praise him.
30 Do your work before the appointed time,
and in God’s[i] time he will give you your reward.
It was enough to cause The Great Schism in 1054 A.D. and these "differences" remain so that nearly a thousand years later there has been no reunification of the two.
Some of the differences are:
1. Both Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox followers believe in one and same God.
2. Unlike the Greek Orthodox believers, the Roman Catholics believe that the Pope is flawless.
3. While Roman Catholics consider that Mary is free from original sin the Greek Orthodox believers don’t.
4. Greek Orthodox priests can marry before they are ordained unlike in case of Roman Catholic priests, who cannot marry.
5. The language that is used in case of Roman Catholic, services is Latin; however the Greek Orthodox makes use of native languages.
6. Roman Catholics pay homage to statues unlike the Greek Orthodox believers who pay homage to icons.
7. Unlike the Greek Orthodox Doctrines can be altered in Roman Catholicism.
8. Unlike the Roman Catholics the Greek Orthodox believers refuse to accept the concepts of Stations of the Cross and purgatory. (From http://vspages.com/the-roman-catholic-vs-greek-orthodox-churches-16133/)
Sirach isn’t Divinely-inspired Scripture. Is that why you neglected to post the reference?
The “Prayer of Azariah” isn’t Divinely-inspired Scripture either. Martin Luther said, “Apocrypha—that is, books which are not regarded as equal to the holy Scriptures, and yet are profitable and good to read.”
Are you just spamming or do you have a point in posting these passages? What spurred my post to you of II Corinthians 10 was your bigoted and boastful claim to fishtank that, “The spiritual poverty of Evangelicalism is in stark contrast to the spiritual wealth of any Eastern Orthodox Church.” Being as you cannot possibly know what is spiritually in the hearts of those NOT EO or RC, Paul’s admonition is appropriate. Those that measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, are not wise.
“Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” (II Cor. 10:17,18)
Says who? It most definitely is "Divinely-inspired Scripture" according to the Orthodox.
Like I also said, these differences (whatever they may ALL be) were enough to cause a split nearly a thousand years ago that has never been rectified. Being that I am not a Greek/Eastern Orthodox member, it's not my place to teach you all about that. From the reading that I have done, I can say that they sound MORE orthodox than Roman Catholicism. They sound like they have remained MORE faithful to the ancient Christian faith than the RCC, though I have no desire to join up with them.
If you are interested, here are a few more links that describe the differences:
http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html
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