Why Anabaptists and Mennonites are not Orthodox

[LJones]

I have skimmed most of this discussion. Wow. I had no idea that this had happened when I stopped in back in April.

A couple of things that I noticed. First, Valerie, you need to stop representing the Orthodox Church. Our teachings do not allow us to go around correcting folk. I have been Orthodox a very short time but I can tell you that you really don't start learning about Orthodoxy until you are there week in and week out. If you want to answer for the Orthodox Church you should probably become a catechumen for a while and then enter into membership. You've been my friend and I appreciate it, but you have been really improper in some of the things you have said regarding our church. The largest is to promote the Orthodox Church as if it would be willing to have some kind of ecumenical connection with others. We will be kind to other groups and perhaps join in to denounce abortion, but there really is no chance that we are going to open our doors to what you desire.

Second... and this is difficult. It comes across loud and clear that I am no longer considered a Christian by this group. That is fine. I am not offended or put off. Matter of fact, I don't claim to know the condition of any of your souls. That is not my place to judge. However, it really seems to me that many of you don't want anyone from a different faith on here at all. I was not expecting that response. Josh is the biggest proponent of this. That is ironic since he is seeking membership in a group that was always labeled as heretical by the Anabaptists I associated with. Yet, some of the others that I didn't expect were also hinting that those outside Anabaptism should not be on here. Lesterb in particular made a comment that cut me to the core. Perhaps I needed this. Perhaps I should take the same approach in my own faith life. In the end it is what has really happened. I chose something vastly different and no matter how fond I was of some of you, I am no longer part of the same religion. I can value what I learned and I, much to your consternation, will attribute that to God's leading me elsewhere.

In the end we all should be aware that modernity's idea that we are all one big family is a lie from the devil. Separations are needful and healthy. However, we should always be mindful that our enemy bears the image of God. With that in mind, and I am preaching to myself, we should choose our words more wisely.

Paisios Jones

[Josh]

LJones, I consider you and other EO friends of mine to be sincere followers of and believers in Jesus.

[Bootstrap]

LJones, I consider you and other EO friends of mine to be sincere followers of and believers in Jesus.

Me too.

[LJones]

LJones, I consider you and other EO friends of mine to be sincere followers of and believers in Jesus.

Josh, honestly, and as I have just relayed to you privately, you have made it very clear that you don't want to have anything to do with EOs. You have told me how your former business partners were immoral and you now know more about Orthodoxy because of them than does the Patriarch of Constantinople.

No offense, but just leave me alone. You show signs of narcissism. You are never wrong and you think you know everything about everything. I'm not going to allow you to undress us with your words elsewhere and try to make yourself look like you are our loving brother here. It is immoral and serves no one. Your words matter.

[Wayne in Maine]

LJones, I consider you and other EO friends of mine to be sincere followers of and believers in Jesus.

Josh, honestly, and as I have just relayed to you privately, you have made it very clear that you don't want to have anything to do with EOs. You have told me how your former business partners were immoral and you now know more about Orthodoxy because of them than does the Patriarch of Constantinople.

No offense, but just leave me alone. You show signs of narcissism. You are never wrong and you think you know everything about everything. I'm not going to allow you to undress us with your words elsewhere and try to make yourself look like you are our loving brother here. It is immoral and serves no one. Your words matter.

And this again demonstrates why MN would be a less hostile place if people would not insist on discussing Eastern Orthodoxy, even those who are Eastern Orthodox.

My advice to Josh and anyone else: don't take the bait.

[Josh]

[LJones]

LJones, I consider you and other EO friends of mine to be sincere followers of and believers in Jesus.

Josh, honestly, and as I have just relayed to you privately, you have made it very clear that you don't want to have anything to do with EOs. You have told me how your former business partners were immoral and you now know more about Orthodoxy because of them than does the Patriarch of Constantinople.

No offense, but just leave me alone. You show signs of narcissism. You are never wrong and you think you know everything about everything. I'm not going to allow you to undress us with your words elsewhere and try to make yourself look like you are our loving brother here. It is immoral and serves no one. Your words matter.

And this again demonstrates why MN would be a less hostile place if people would not insist on discussing Eastern Orthodoxy, even those who are Eastern Orthodox.

My advice to Josh and anyone else: don't take the bait.

I believe this thread was started by an Anabaptist. If you would show me one time where I insisted on discussing Eastern Orthodoxy on a thread that was not created by an Anabaptist for that exact purpose.

I have tried for two days to get Valerie to stop discussing this on this forum, but you guys are so full of your hate that you won't stop for a second and realize this.

By the way Wayne, everybody has asked Valerie why she hasn't joined an EO church. Why haven't you joined an Anabaptist Church?

[Judas Maccabeus]

I have skimmed most of this discussion. Wow. I had no idea that this had happened when I stopped in back in April.

A couple of things that I noticed. First, Valerie, you need to stop representing the Orthodox Church. Our teachings do not allow us to go around correcting folk. I have been Orthodox a very short time but I can tell you that you really don't start learning about Orthodoxy until you are there week in and week out. If you want to answer for the Orthodox Church you should probably become a catechumen for a while and then enter into membership. You've been my friend and I appreciate it, but you have been really improper in some of the things you have said regarding our church. The largest is to promote the Orthodox Church as if it would be willing to have some kind of ecumenical connection with others. We will be kind to other groups and perhaps join in to denounce abortion, but there really is no chance that we are going to open our doors to what you desire.

Second... and this is difficult. It comes across loud and clear that I am no longer considered a Christian by this group. That is fine. I am not offended or put off. Matter of fact, I don't claim to know the condition of any of your souls. That is not my place to judge. However, it really seems to me that many of you don't want anyone from a different faith on here at all. I was not expecting that response. Josh is the biggest proponent of this. That is ironic since he is seeking membership in a group that was always labeled as heretical by the Anabaptists I associated with. Yet, some of the others that I didn't expect were also hinting that those outside Anabaptism should not be on here. Lesterb in particular made a comment that cut me to the core. Perhaps I needed this. Perhaps I should take the same approach in my own faith life. In the end it is what has really happened. I chose something vastly different and no matter how fond I was of some of you, I am no longer part of the same religion. I can value what I learned and I, much to your consternation, will attribute that to God's leading me elsewhere.

In the end we all should be aware that modernity's idea that we are all one big family is a lie from the devil. Separations are needful and healthy. However, we should always be mindful that our enemy bears the image of God. With that in mind, and I am preaching to myself, we should choose our words more wisely.

Paisios Jones

While I may (and should) judge doctrine, I do not judge people.

J.M.

[LJones]

I have skimmed most of this discussion. Wow. I had no idea that this had happened when I stopped in back in April.

A couple of things that I noticed. First, Valerie, you need to stop representing the Orthodox Church. Our teachings do not allow us to go around correcting folk. I have been Orthodox a very short time but I can tell you that you really don't start learning about Orthodoxy until you are there week in and week out. If you want to answer for the Orthodox Church you should probably become a catechumen for a while and then enter into membership. You've been my friend and I appreciate it, but you have been really improper in some of the things you have said regarding our church. The largest is to promote the Orthodox Church as if it would be willing to have some kind of ecumenical connection with others. We will be kind to other groups and perhaps join in to denounce abortion, but there really is no chance that we are going to open our doors to what you desire.

Second... and this is difficult. It comes across loud and clear that I am no longer considered a Christian by this group. That is fine. I am not offended or put off. Matter of fact, I don't claim to know the condition of any of your souls. That is not my place to judge. However, it really seems to me that many of you don't want anyone from a different faith on here at all. I was not expecting that response. Josh is the biggest proponent of this. That is ironic since he is seeking membership in a group that was always labeled as heretical by the Anabaptists I associated with. Yet, some of the others that I didn't expect were also hinting that those outside Anabaptism should not be on here. Lesterb in particular made a comment that cut me to the core. Perhaps I needed this. Perhaps I should take the same approach in my own faith life. In the end it is what has really happened. I chose something vastly different and no matter how fond I was of some of you, I am no longer part of the same religion. I can value what I learned and I, much to your consternation, will attribute that to God's leading me elsewhere.

In the end we all should be aware that modernity's idea that we are all one big family is a lie from the devil. Separations are needful and healthy. However, we should always be mindful that our enemy bears the image of God. With that in mind, and I am preaching to myself, we should choose our words more wisely.

Paisios Jones

While I may (and should) judge doctrine, I do not judge people.

J.M.

I unblocked you to read this... I was tempted to cuss in Russian but I don't know any Russian cuss words. You have harassed me personally as much as anybody on this thread.

[Bootstrap]

Back to the original post ...

To me, the biggest issue is this: what is your practice of religion mostly about, what is the source of authority, and what is The Church. In the Orthodox Church, the liturgy and particular religious practices not mentioned in the New Testament are central, and church tradition is the real source of authority - even greater than the Bible itself since they teach that the authority of the Bible comes from the authority of The Church. And they believe that the Eastern Orthodox Church is the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church" (though many accept other Christians via Ware's proposition that "We can say where the Church is; we cannot say where she is not.")

Anabaptism is varied, but the branches I relate to are very much trying to strip away Constantinian and other later traditions to get back to what the New Testament is mostly about. We believe the authority of the Bible is greater than that of any church and that our authority comes from obedience to Scripture.

Still, any two Christian traditions will have a lot in common because of our devotion to the same Bible and the same Lord. And we can learn from each other. Sometimes what we learn might be that we have to be careful ourselves lest we give our own church traditions that kind of authority or reject large parts of the Kingdom of God.