Church, Tradition and Scripture Where does the Authority Hide?
I often get asked the question, “What about the Orthodox Church, how is it different from the Evangelical Church?” So instead of trying to answer everyone individually I just decided to write a book about it!
You can buy my book on Amazon.com
This is not a long boring theology book that will take you hours to read through. You will probably be able to read it in about 30 mins or so. It goes straight for the issues that matter without getting bogged down with less important things.
In the book you’ll find:
- A brief explanation of what Orthodoxy is
- Quotes from Orthodox theologians
- A Scriptural response to Orthodox teaching
- Practical ways to talk with Orthodox believers
I pray that the book will be a useful resource to help you think through your theology and how it affects your view of the church, traditions and Scripture.
Here is a little preview from the forward of my book.
Growing up the only thing I knew about the Orthodox Church was that their buildings had funny steeples on them. We didn’t have any Orthodox Churches in our small town. All I knew I gleaned from National Geographic magazine or from TV programs.
As a sophomore in high school I took a driver’s education course where I developed a small crush on a new girl in our school. She and her family had just moved from Alaska where they attended an Orthodox Church.
We had some interesting discussions about her faith and her church and when she invited me to visit her church I didn’t hesitate in taking her up on her offer. Here family attended a small church about 75 miles away called “Church of the Holy Trinity”. It was part of the Orthodox Church of America.
Everything was new to me including the use of liturgy, candles and burning of incense. Little did I know that God would later call me to live and minister in a country where the Orthodox Church was the dominant religion.
A few reasons you might want to get the book.
- It will give you a better understanding of why the Orthodox Church differs from evangelical churches
- It will explain some of the history of the Orthodox Church
- It will provide some ways to begin a conversation with an Orthodox believer
- It will help you better understand the importance of the authority of God’s Word
Buy now on Amazon!
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Testimonial
I just wanted to drop a line to say thank your for your edifying book. I thought you dealt very gracefully with some of the issues with Eastern Orthodoxy.
I’m a 26-year-old from Romania. I’d say the religious landscape over here is very much like the one you’ve described in Ukraine. I was brought up in an Orthodox family, but as I grew up I was pushed off by the ritual and dogma. Priests and church-goers alike seemed to be doing things out of habit more than anything else.
I started wondering who says you have to do that and why do you have to do this, only to discover that some fellows is Western Europe had been having the same questions as me over 500 years ago. I discovered C.S Lewis, Tim Keller and all these great authors and, by the grace of God, I’ve come to true faith a few years ago. After I started reading the Bible for myself I was just gobsmacked by the contradictions with some Orthodox beliefs.
The saddest thing is that people tend to associate Christianity with Orthodoxy around here, with so many people around my age being simply disgusted with the corruption and backwardness they see in Orthodox churches. Romans 2:24 is ever so true in Romania. And obviously because of the hateful Orthodox propaganda, most people regard reformed faiths as a weird cult. The fact that some of them actually are weird cults masquerading as Protestant faiths, doesn’t help either.
I imagine Ukraine not being much different from what I could tell from your book, and that makes me admire all the more your courage to leave the US for a country with a background of religious ignorance and bigotry.
Kudos for fighting the good fight of faith and God bless you and you family!
-Alex
