Featured Roman Catholic...Christian or Cult?

Be a man, but importantly a Christian. God is not honored by your lies.

 

Hi, Rebel

If you don't mind, I'll answer your questions in reverse order since it reflects the chronology of the journey to where I am today.

I guess in the first instance, it was the internet. :smilewinkgrin:

Once I discovered different theological websites, I encountered good arguments for the positions that I had been taught to reject as a Southern Baptist. For example, I read some good reasons from advocates of CONDITIONAL eternal security why 'OSAS' was not correct (and I began becoming a Berean to see if these things were true ). Also while reading some of the debates on James White's site (which I looked at for his defense of TRINTIY and basic Protestant distinctives, NOT for his Calvinism), I actually thought some of his RC opponents actually made better arguments for some of their positions than he did for his. Around the same time, I started reading a lot about Eastern Orthodoxy and read much that made me question my view of the canon, sacraments, apostlic succession, etc. Finally, I had also stumbled on a book written by a BAPTIST (DH Williams) about the importance of TRADITION in establishing orthodoxy, while also reading some of NT Wright's stuff about Jesus and Paul.

So at this point I began reading the writings of the ECFs--either directly (as in the APOSTOLIC FATHERs or Eusebius) or indirectly through such works like EARLY CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES by JND Kelly--to see what they said. I read some RCC books by Ray and Hahn, and even some Protestant ones which attempted to defend sola scriptura and such from the church fathers. However, I mostly read a lot of EO stuff and was most attracted to this communion, and so I began (to my wife's dismay) attending an EO parish periodically, and eventually became a catechumen for a few months.

Well, for a few reasons I moved on from the brink of the Bosphorus and headed down the Canturbury Trail instead, so to speak. Probably the first of these was one that wasn't theological at all, and that was my wife was totally not on board. However, their were a few nagging concerns I had about EOC and they are:

(1) the knee jerk anti-Western sentiment I detected among a lot of bloggers and modern EO theologians
(2) lack of emphasis on imputed justification and substitutionary atonement (*and I know you and I have argued about this previously--SEE BELOW)
(3) scary language about the Theotokos in the words of the Akathist hymn, for instance, and
(4) along the lines of #1 and #2, the idea that Holy Spirt went <poof!> and vanished from the Western half of the Church in 1054 just because Pope and Patriarch excommunicated each other.

So at any rate, I found a continuing Anglican parish within driving distance (1 hr) and started attending there about every 2-3 weeks for a few years, and was actually confirmed by the bishop. However, a few years ago, I came in contact with a former IFB preacher in my home town who was in process of converting to Anglicanism and I got involved with his mission parish which is in the ACNA, and I've been there ever since (as it is obviously much closer to drive to).

I could say more but I need to scoot.

(*I know we may continue to disagree about the above regarding justification/atonement, but I would like to apologize if I came across rude in my previous interaction with you)

Later...