An Orthodox Christian View of Non-Christian Religions

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America ^

[MarMema]

We have The Law of God, and it is a lovely book. I don't read it often enough.

[MarMema]

I could only find Greek parishes in the state of Wyoming.

[MarMema]

But missions can be very enjoyable, lots of intimacy and Grace everywhere.

[moondancer]

Wow, Thank you everbody!
marmema,
Greek parishes? is this orthodox or roman catholic??

i will try the orthodox this weekend and see if i cant talk to the priest. my biggest obstacle will be getting my fiance to go, period. if its not roman catholic, its protestant in his eyes. i dont think latin is so important to him, thou i know he really enjoyed it, mostly its the new mass.
my problem with our parish is when i decided to re take RCIA last year, the priest that gave the lecture also handed out papers for us to read...one was on the beauty of sex, but when i got it home to read it it said nothing about marital sex and talked more about how gays have more rights now then they did in the 50s, is this appropriate?
our priests liberal side really came out during the onset of the war, i attended one of the rosary meetings and overhead the discussion in the other room, how anyone who voted for bush was a nazi. apparently there is a whole sect of liberal catholics, forget what they called themselves. anyone know? im just really confused!

[malakhi]

Judith's claim of God's helping her lie to the Assyrians is a good example.

Just curious, what is your specific objection to this?

[malakhi]

but with the exception of Moses asking to go sacrifice in the desert I don't think God condoned it

Okay, this further explains your position.

Consider this:

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. (Exodus 1:17-20)

(BTW, I agree with your larger point about the canonicity of the apocryphal books).

[Boiler Plate]

Malakhi,
That is a good example but it doesn't go so far as to say that God told them to do it.

In Moses' case God did say to Moses

Exodus 4
21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.' "

And then Moses said.

Exodus 5
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the LORD , the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.' "
2 Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD , that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go."
3 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."

So did Moses say exactly what God wanted him to? Did God mean for Moses to deceive Pharaoh or just use Moses' words as condemnation against Pharaoh. What if Pharaoh had let them go when Moses first asked, would the Hebrews come back?

There is a much deeper story to that of Judith's asking God to help her deceive the Assyrian General. I don't think that the Orthodox Readers are being completely objective in their assesment of what they claim Luther did with the Apocracrypha books. The apocryphal had pretty much always been in question and when you read them it is clear as to why.

Best Regards,
Boiler Plate

[RussianConservative]

Three views of non-Christian religions An Orthodox scholar recently observed that there are basically three views that Christians have taken with regard to non-Christian religions. The first is that the non-Christian will be damned because there is no salvation outside the visible Body of Christ, the Church, The second is that the non-Christian may be saved in spite the religion he practices, but only through the mercy of God. The third is that the non-Christian may be saved by means of the very religion he practices, for nonChristian religions may also contain saving truths.[9] These three views parallel the three approaches identified elsewhere as exclusivism. inclusivism and cultural pluralism.

The claim of exclusivism has been rejected by many Orthodox scholars as untenable. This is not done in the interests of facilitating missionary endeavors or to foster world peace. Exclusiveness is rejected as a matter of Truth.[10] The majority of Orthodox scholars would accept inclusivism. Some Orthodox scholars espouse the view characterized as cultural pluralism but with qualifications. Relativism and syncretism are denied. And the view that Christianity is simply one of the world religions offering the blessing of salvation is not accepted. The focus, rather, is on the Spirit of God, the Paraclete, who leads us "Into all the truth," where in Christ all become one.[11]

The approach taken in this paper is to emphasize "the middle way," that of inclusivism. It seems clear that the way of exclusivism is properly rejected as a matter of Truth. At the other extreme, the thin ice of cultural pluralism is fraught with danger