(AFR) - Bobby Maddex interviews Fr. Timothy Scott Lowe, the Orthodox Rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, an organization committed to Christian unity and interchurch harmony among diverse Christian communions. Located in Jerusalem, it also serves as a welcoming place in The Holy Land for visitors and scholars from the Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox traditions.
IS THE CHURCH JESUS BUILT AN ECUMENICAL ASSEMBLY?
ReplyDeleteEcumenical defined: Christian unity aimed at achieving universal Christian unity through interdenominational organizations.
Jesus prayed for unity. (John 17:20-21 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one, as You Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.)(NKJV)
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement.(NKJV)
Here listed are some of the denominations and churches who are involved in the ecumenical assemblies. Wesleyan churches, the Roman Catholic Church, Lutherans, The Salvation Army, United Church of Christ, Independent Christian Churches, Methodists, Presbyterian Churches, Baptists, Pentecostal Churches, and Quakers, to name just a few.
These churches do not speak the same thing. They teach different ways to become saved. They teach conflicting doctrines about how to remain saved. They do not agree on how to have sins forgiven. They declare various and sundry terms for pardon from sin. They differ on the essential doctrines of Christianity.
To refer to these associations as ecumenical give misnomer a bad name. How can the different churches cooperate in charitable causes? How they join together in Bible study and worship? There can only be true unity in the truth found in Scripture. God did not create nor approve of different doctrines for thousands of denominations and church groups.
The true ecumenical church is the one founded on the Day of Pentecost 33 AD. The statement of faith is the New Testament Scriptures. Jesus died for one church, His church.
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