Christian Panel Discussion - November 11, 2024

[Ernie]

A Christian Panel Discussion featuring representatives from Orthodox, Evangelical, Anabaptist, and Anglican faith traditions.

Here is a YouTube link.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrr1Zy4yVD4

Here is the bulletin.
https://lifeq.org/wp-content/uploads/20 ... lletin.pdf

Here is a link to a handout I prepared for distribution at these events. (At earlier events, we were each asked to share what we love about being part of our particular faith tradition.)
https://lifeq.org/wp-content/uploads/20 ... andout.pdf

[joshuabgood]

Thanks for posting. I listened to it in its entirety and found it encouraging. A lot of really thoughtful answers. You did very well Ernie in capturing the Anabaptist tradition. I also really resonated with quite a few of the things the other church traditions reps said. I loved the EO's answer to how to become a follower of Jesus. I also loved the Anglicans thoughts on Jesus being the perfect revelation of God and truth incarnate as the north star for all of us. And I really liked the Evangelical brother's commitment and passion around unity and John 17.

[Ernie]

Thanks for posting. I listened to it in its entirety and found it encouraging. A lot of really thoughtful answers. You did very well Ernie in capturing the Anabaptist tradition. I also really resonated with quite a few of the things the other church traditions reps said. I loved the EO's answer to how to become a follower of Jesus. I also loved the Anglicans thoughts on Jesus being the perfect revelation of God and truth incarnate as the north star for all of us. And I really liked the Evangelical brother's commitment and passion around unity and John 17.

The Evangelical puts his actions where his mouth is. We recently started another church here in State College and he and his church is giving us significant financial gift (like they do other startup churches in the area of other denominations) to encourage church planting and expansion of the kingdom.

I felt like I could call these men brothers. I haven't felt that with everybody I've been on panels with.

[barnhart]

I could agree with most of what was said. Probably the largest area of discomfort was the Orthodox representative saying THE context to experience the grace of God and spiritual growth is the Orthodox church while simultaneously claiming the early church as property of his tradition. Also claiming sympathy from Anabaptism because of victim status in the Crusades was too clever by half. Technically true but it leaves out a lot relevant details.

[barnhart]

Was the omission of a strong representative of the Reform tradition intentional? It felt like this group, lacking Catholic and Reform, was uniquely suited to respecting each other's perspectives.

[Ernie]

Was the omission of a strong representative of the Reform tradition intentional? It felt like this group, lacking Catholic and Reform, was uniquely suited to respecting each other's perspectives.

Not intentional. I've participated with Catholics and Reformed in the past.
https://lifeq.org/resources/

The organizers of this event think that 4 panelists is about the max for something like this. Otherwise, it can get laborious or listeners can get lost in the weeds.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

Was the omission of a strong representative of the Reform tradition intentional? It felt like this group, lacking Catholic and Reform, was uniquely suited to respecting each other's perspectives.

Last year's panel had a rep from Roman Catholic and a rep from Reformed. Both last year and this year had someone from the Orthodox tradition and Ernie repping Anabapts.



They make a comment in here somehow stating that they advertise the panel but it's up to people to volunteer to do it. So maybe the Evangelical church(s) didn't hear about it last year.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

Ernie, thanks for posting this. The panel that was from last year is still one of my favorite videos. I remember really appreciating how prepared and charitable you were last year, and I also remember how much I liked the Orthodox rep and his views on things.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

Here is a link to a handout I prepared for distribution at these events. (At earlier events, we were each asked to share what we love about being part of our particular faith tradition.)
https://lifeq.org/wp-content/uploads/20 ... andout.pdf

Wow, thank you also for this Ernie. I printed it off today and gave it a read. It is concise, readable, engaging, and inspiring. I will probably print off a few copies to keep on hand with me.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

A Christian Panel Discussion featuring representatives from Orthodox, Evangelical, Anabaptist, and Anglican faith traditions.

Here is a YouTube link.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrr1Zy4yVD4

Thanks again Ernie. We just finished listening to the panel. I am very appreciative of the event. I wish I could have been there.

The first answer to the first question (the Orthodox man answering about his church's unique and valuable part in larger Christianity) I found very lacking. A bit nitpicky about theologizing and phraseology of the question. However, I thought his response to the question "what do you wish was different about your tradition?" was wonderful. My biggest gripes with eastern orthodoxy is that, more than any other tradition, they seem to have done the least to sever Tues between church and state. To hear him mourn over the sins in the church like approving of wars and colonialism was a breath of fresh air.
I wonder what others here thought of his answer about their eucharist being a sacrificial offering back to God. This was a huge point of contention during the Reformation. When I read Martyr's Mirror, a refrain I kept seeing was "The Mass is not a sacrifice!"

I think all your answers were great. You have a way of conveying information in a succinct and easy-to-understand way. I do think your answer to one of the audience questions could have been better. It was something along the lines of "what traditions from the New Testament does your tradition still carry out". I think talking about nonresistance and how it was an apostolic tradition would have been good; or, for a more tangible example, you could have mentioned the headship order/head covering (Paul refers to this as a "tradition" or "ordinance" in 1 Cor. 11).

I really like the Evangelical pastor's attitude and answers. He seems to be thoughtful about the pitfalls in the history of his own tradition, and desires to guide his flock towards a positive vision rooted in Christ and not a negative vision nor a vision dictated by other things like politics. I hope his churches join in this desire in unity together.

I recently went to an event hosted by the Anglican (or Episcopal, I forget which) church in my region and I enjoyed visiting with the people there. Their liturgical leanings were offset by a very down-to-earth minister who delivered a homily that would've been fitting for an evangelical church.