Conversion
Between Baptists and Orthodox; Which is Correct?
“To understand these patterns better,
it is important to know that in traditional Orthodox countries there is a large
majority of nominal Orthodox. They come
to church services once or twice a year and almost never participate in the
Church sacraments. Most conversions away
from the Orthodox Church happen from this class of people.”
“As a Romanian Baptist, I knew that the
Orthodox practice a Christian faith “corrupted” by un-biblical human traditions. I do remember that once a Baptist minister,
who was well educated, told me that the Orthodox theology is much more profound
and rich than ours. My own pastor in
Bucharest complained that while the Orthodox have a rich theology of the
Church, ours was very weak and limited. Coming
in contact with some Orthodox books in 1999, I perceived a paradox: I could not
understand why Orthodoxy is so corrupted and at the same time holds such a
treasure of profound spirituality. Trying
to resolve this paradox I ended up by converting to Orthodox faith.”
“It is easy to perceive an asymmetry
between the two directions of conversion.
In most cases, the Orthodox to Evangelical convert is one who was a
nominal Christian and knew very little about the church in which he formally
belonged, and through some friend has an encounter with an Evangelical service,
where he has an emotional experience. He
discovers friendship and love and a sense of community which were previously
lacking in his life.”
“The typical Evangelical to Orthodox
convert is a knowledgeable and theologically literate Christian who searches
for truth and the right Christian practice.
He discovers the Orthodox faith, but is first stopped by all the
accusations which he had heard in his own church. In Romania, the Evangelicals often define
themselves in opposition to the Orthodox.
“Unlike the Orthodox,” they say, “we do not believe in…” After a careful
study of the issues, he finds out that the accusations are either false or
superficial. Moreover, he discovers a
huge body of tradition, practice and theology, which stands as an answer to his
or her many old questions.”
Within the above
lies the crux of the problem.
Honest appraisal
reveals that there are many nominal or sleeping people among both Protestants
(Evangelicals, often specifically Baptists) and Orthodox. These people should not be deceived into
believing that they are Christians.
Christianity is about sincerely trying to follow Jesus, and actually
achieving that as the gift of God’s marvelous grace. Failure to follow Jesus as demonstrated in a lax,
nominal lifestyle puts the sincerity of one’s confession in question. Equally heinous is the fault or replacing
Jesus with the idolatry of emotionalism, excitement, and sensationalism. This idol exists in both Protestants and
Orthodox churches as well.
Honest appraisal shows
that in both cases, that is in either direction, the individual grew closer to
Christ in the conversion. Baptists
showed the nominal, something precious about Jesus. Orthodoxy showed Baptists, something equally precious
about Jesus.
Common sense might
indicate that our true brothers and sisters in Christ are those who are
sincerely following Jesus by faith in His precious name, whether they are known
as Orthodox, Protestants, or Romanists. See
Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke 8:18-21. Those
who are asleep in the pews or are overcome with idolatrous excitement and
superstition are not our true brothers and sisters in Christ.
Honest appraisal
realizes that many Baptist churches have a rich heritage of the Liturgy of the
Word, but almost no Liturgy of Communion.
Many Orthodox churches have a rich heritage of the Liturgy of Communion,
but almost no Liturgy of the Word. Roman
churches have their faults as well. As a
result the bulk of the laity are dying of starvation. Few of the laity realize that they have a
responsibility to awaken the sleeping and suppress the idolatrous among them.
This is not to
overlook the fact that we are also failing to address the hateful masses
seeking to destroy us both, and need to hear that Jesus died and raised again. That as hateful as they are, Jesus loves them,
He died to give them life, and He raised to give them a home.
When we fully
realize the impact of these facts, we will see the need to come together sincerely
as One in Christ, not by compromise, but by seeking the Truth together. Throughout this reply, I have assiduously
avoided the use of the word Catholic, simply because we will not be truly
Catholic until we (all the sincere Orthodox, Protestants, and Romanists) come
together as One in Christ. Then and only
then will we be effective in changing our fallen world to the obedience of
Christ. We must stop taking sides and
figure out how to come together.
Which is
Correct? Both and Neither.
