Posted: July 30th, 2007, 8:46 amJust to clarify my own position, I don't think Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism are interchangeable. But I do think in a forum that is primarily Protestant that it is most important to establish that there IS an actual physical presence of the Church of Christ and to encourage people to begin their search for it (I'm sure Stanley and others will agree with me here).
I've always believed that God honors sincere seeking for Him and His Church, whether they find it or not (I don't know what that says about their salvation - the only place I can be sure of finding the correct path to salvation is through the Orthodox Church). If someone honestly doesn't find Orthodoxy, I think that Catholicism would be the best choice. (That's how I see Chesterton's choice to become Catholic. It was honestly the closest thing to Orthodoxy that he found. Perhaps a similar argument could be made for Lewis as well.) In today's world that is becoming less of an excuse and it has become more important to understand what Orthodoxy is, and what the reasons to accept/reject it are. As with Catholicism, the main problem is disinformation about what the Church teaches as a basis for rejecting Orthodoxy or Catholicism out of hand, which is what many Protestants here have done. In addition, as I've pointed out, knowledge of Orthodoxy is nearly nil - at best people know that there are many different ethnic parishes and jurisdictions and take that to be disunity.
I've always believed that God honors sincere seeking for Him and His Church, whether they find it or not (I don't know what that says about their salvation - the only place I can be sure of finding the correct path to salvation is through the Orthodox Church). If someone honestly doesn't find Orthodoxy, I think that Catholicism would be the best choice. (That's how I see Chesterton's choice to become Catholic. It was honestly the closest thing to Orthodoxy that he found. Perhaps a similar argument could be made for Lewis as well.) In today's world that is becoming less of an excuse and it has become more important to understand what Orthodoxy is, and what the reasons to accept/reject it are. As with Catholicism, the main problem is disinformation about what the Church teaches as a basis for rejecting Orthodoxy or Catholicism out of hand, which is what many Protestants here have done. In addition, as I've pointed out, knowledge of Orthodoxy is nearly nil - at best people know that there are many different ethnic parishes and jurisdictions and take that to be disunity.