The Boble

The Internet

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/Indexes/orthwriterx.php

I don't advocate orthodoxy, but here are quite a few articles and commentaries. If you're looking for belief statements, they're universal among orthodox churches and can be found on wikipedia or any of their individual websites.

Genuine question, why do you think Lutheranism is superior to Orthodoxy and Catholicism?

isn't lutheranism literally just the "do you, man--do you" version of christianity

Not at all. You'll find that in a lot of modern, non-denominational churches though. I've experienced a couple myself.

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on September 07, 2015, 01:02:40 PM

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/Indexes/orthwriterx.php

I don't advocate orthodoxy, but here are quite a few articles and commentaries. If you're looking for belief statements, they're universal among orthodox churches and can be found on wikipedia or any of their individual websites.

Genuine question, why do you think Lutheranism is superior to Orthodoxy and Catholicism?

I honestly don't consider myself a Lutheran, largely because I don't believe the early church was capable of perfectly preserving traditions and "unwritten" scripture. I don't support any denomination that puts some other document on par with the Bible because of some supposed 'apostolic succession' wherein the ability to perfectly interpret new scripture as society develops was passed down through councils over the centuries.

The Catholic Church and the Orthodoxy believe that they have some sort of divine ability to interpret and add to scripture. Catholics do so through the papacy (an incredibly pernicious idea that is hard to believe could even come to exist from the same root religion), and Orthodoxy through a council. I think that's entirely opposite of what scripture dictates, and the very reason I hold stock in the Bible is because of how consistent among copies it's been shown to be over the centuries...I can cite the existence of numerous copies and accounts to verify that our modern version is what was written originally, whereas other traditional scripture doesn't have that. It's all word of mouth until they decided to write it down many centuries later. I think the model of a single church with firm guidelines for conduct, organization, worship, and evangelism is also entirely opposed to Jesus, who made grassroots churches all over the middle east, allowing his message to absorb other cultures and teach more effectively rather than dictate how everything must be done. For example, Catholics and Orthodox would claim that contemporary rock music is not a real form of worship, because some apostle somewhere down the line apparently said worship had to be done one way (even though you'll never see that in the Bible).

There are many other differences that go into deeper theology, like veneration of Mary, salvation by work rather than faith alone, and baptism requirements.

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on September 07, 2015, 01:22:57 PM

salvation by work rather than faith alone, and baptism requirements.

Sola fide, right? Where do you stand on that?

I support it, but I consider the discussion to be really tedious. Protestants say justification by faith alone, wherein faith is legitimized by one's actions, and Catholics/the Orthodoxy says justification is a combination of faith and work; I think they're basically saying the same thing, but nobody wants to admit to another's interpretation. None of the three would claim someone could have faith in God while doing absolutely nothing about it. Faith isn't belief, as James stated, "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror."