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I married into a Greek Orthodox family as a non believer and developed more of an interest in Christianity over the last few years. I wanted to do my research on denominations so started with Anglicanism being an Englishman and all, but all you have to do is look at the CoE to see how well that is going. Protestantism didn't make any sense as they seem to think you only need the Bible, not the church, but it was the church that constructed the Bible, so for me it came down to Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Long story short is whether you agree with the infallibility of the papacy and I don't think the evidence in favour holds up. Orthodoxy follows the ways of the church pre schism, even most Catholics agree on that but think the papacy has authority to change things. Thats why I leant into Orthodoxy and haven't regretted it one bit. As for the service in Greek, my church does Saturday service in English as there are other English converts and other non Greek attendees and the other services in Greek are still lovely, the same way a traditional Latin mass would be for Catholics. I would definitely encourage you to check out your local Orthodox Church 🙏🏻☦️

PastorGary 1y ago

Sadly you are correct about protestants nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wvfskuep0qyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcprdmhxue69uhkummnw3e8qatz9euk2emgwfhjuumfw3jj7qg4waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t09uq3wamnwvaz7tmzd96xxmmfdejhytnnda3kjctv9uq36amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wvf5hgcm0d9hx2u3wwdhkx6tpdshsqgyejh6yf4x6gnnfsj6vlgahlmpu7k74p44c8drrpn9qf7nrnfyqvquh45d6 , I’m a pentacostal minister and far too many no longer believe the church is relevant and have crossed into mysticism.

I believe this has a lot to do with the mega churches and televangelists and their watered down gospel.

The Good News though is God is still sitting on His throne.

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Discussion

7fqx 1y ago

I'm not sure what it's like in the US, but I feel like the UK protestant churches have an unseriousness about them. Like they've consulted a social media manager for an illinformed rebranding and been told that Pinterest live laugh love aesthetics and liberalism will draw in the crowds. I may just be basing this on a few churches I walk past, in quite affluent liberal areas lol).

(Not sure in what sense you are using mysticism here(?) but there is a level of seriousness in the Christian mystics which I find more appealing than the Protestant approach.)

PastorGary 1y ago

I’m in Australia, so it’s probably similar here, the “christian” mystics here are certainly not Christian if measured against the Bible.

Something I have seen all over the world is if the car park is full, chances are the gospel isn’t being preached and people are being entertained.

Our church is focussed on Community, Faith, and Simplicity

7fqx 1y ago

I see, I think of Christian mystics as more like Julian of Norwich lol, maybe you mean a more wishy-washy modern spiritualism 'cheistian'. Or something?

Laeserin 1y ago

Almost esoteric.

7fqx 1y ago

I'd probably go as far as saying some UK protestant churches are actually for atheist's to continue some sort of tradition of church going without belief.

Jamin ☦️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 1y ago

Hey Gary, I appreciate your response and think you have a good point there. My issue with seperating the Bible from church history is that it leaves everything up to interpretation and gets muddled up with mistranslation. My priest recommended an Orthodox study Bible for English speakers which is essentially a king James translation but with notes adding context to the passages, highly recommend.

Ultimately I think it's great more people are turning to, or back to, Christianity. #orthodoxy #orthodoxstr

Laeserin 1y ago

I reverted in a Pentecostal church that was very charismatic and later switched to one that was more academically rigorous.

They weren't preaching different things, necessarily, but different focus/style.

Switched to Catholicism, later, to be with my husband. Feel very at home, there, but I'm probably unusually open to discussion with non-Catholics because of that experience.