Church History

Yeah, I haven't posted in a while.
It's for a specific reason. I got stuck.

For a while, my fingers punched away peacefully at the quiet keys, feeling a sense of positive release - and maybe even a positive addition to an important discussion.

I decided over 2 weeks ago that I wanted my next post to be a general overview of church history. I wrote a post....and then I stopped. I couldn't click "publish." I just couldn't.

My once peaceful fingers felt fretful and tense. The words seemed to stick in my throat like an unwanted fishbone swallowed too hastily.

And that's when I cornered it: I had been hasty. I had wanted to be compelling, perhaps even convincing, on a topic about which I'm not even qualified to write an introductory statement. Ah, the humility. Praise God for showing me.

I still want to write about church history....but this time, instead of trying to tell you "all there is to know" and to be convincing about it, I'll just share my personal experience and some of the things that grabbed hold of me. This is my humble experience, to which I'm sure volumes could be added.

Most people I know who converted to Orthodoxy did so in part because of church history. 

I suppose I’m no different, except that I didn’t really want to pull at that thread, because doing so threatens to unravel the fabric of much of my understanding about which church doctrine is true and trustworthy. 

Pulling at the “church history” thread is a slippery slope.

Growing up, I knew basic church history from the time of the Reformation onward. For many years, I assumed that all reasonable Christian people, those who really know God, agreed that the Reformation was the start of the “true church.” That somehow, the church had become irreparably marred before that time, and that our only hope (and God’s intent) was to withdraw from all "vain tradition" and focus solely on the Bible (sole scriptura), from which we could draw all REAL truth about Christ and avoid any pitfalls of “dead religion.”

Looking further back, however, raises some questions. Here is the another (simplified) timeline that is similar to the one used in an earlier post. I think it's helpful to have a visual:

Assuming the above is basically correct, here are some things I started to wonder about: 

Who changed what, and when?

The Catholic Church added to the faith throughout the years, as documented here. It is those additions that I, like most Protestants, used to rail against. It is those additions that fuel our passion to hold true to the Bible ALONE, lest we be swayed by add-on doctrines of all kinds. However, Protestants notably took away from the original faith. Some things I always assumed were "add-ons" (venerating Mary, praying to the saints, using icons) were actually original. When "cleaning house" after Catholicism, we did away with anything that smelled of dead tradition. Perhaps when we were pruning the faith, we cut and trimmed too much.

One way an Orthodox person would summarize this is as follows: the Catholic Church has added to the faith, the Protestant Church has removed things from he faith, but the Orthodox Church has maintained the original faith. 

When peeling back the layers of doctrine, it's remarkable to see that many of them I reject actually find their origin in the original church and (even more remarkably) have been maintained throughout several thousand years since that time.

Where do I fit - and is that a good place to be?

In the end, that title looming to the right that says "Thousands of Denominations" applies to me. I could give an argument about why MY denominational beliefs are sound. But - couldn't all those around me? How are any of us certain that we're standing on solid ground? I used to feel pretty good about the approach of "teaching the Bible" - surely you can't go wrong if you base everything off the inspired Word of God! But we all know of people and churches around us who have some pretty nutty ideas that they claim are "based on scripture." Who is right?

And what is more, I became amazed to see that the Orthodox church is teaching from the Bible as well...Each practice, belief and tradition can in some way be supported by Biblical text, even if it is also supplemented by Tradition. It's the lens you bring to the text that seems to make all the difference.

The stuff I feel icky about might actually be cornerstones of original faith. (!) 

It's interesting to note that some things we Protestants reject (like Papal infallibility) were added after the Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox church, but MANY things we reject were actually foundational beliefs since the beginning of Christianity - things like praying to saints, using icons, and a deep honor for Mary.  Could it be that we "threw out the baby with the bathwater"?

For roughly the first 1500 years of church history, even with the split of Catholic and Orthodox, ALL Christians believed things that we Protestants firmly reject. Some examples:

Mary:  The importance of Mary's role in the gospel story and our appropriate response to her.

Saints: The reality of the "communion of saints" including a dialogue via prayer with saints who have died, requesting that they pray to God for us. (It's not "worshiping saints" - a sticky misconception.)

Icons: The validity of the use of icons as a way to treasure our God and remember the inspiring stories of his saints, capturing in a photo what words alone could not do, and inspiring our visual senses.

Sacraments: The inherent importance of sacraments in our worship, and the affirmation that sacraments are sacred and are more than just "outward symbols."


When I, as a Protestant, firmly reject many or all of the above, I adhere to a Christianity that is a mere shadow of the original. 

Praise God for the Gems! 

I say this not to weaken the value of those gems that I HAVE been given: the truth of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and the life-saving work of the Holy Spirit. Praise God that we have those truths!

But in doctrine and practice, my Christianity doesn't look much like that original model. Perhaps it's time to go back home.