Francis Chan - "What should I do next?" Father Josiah Trenham, an Orthodox priest, gives the answer.

okay i want to ask something because i feel like i'm in a place that's similar to a lot of people where i've been a part of a tradition that basically allows every individual to go in his office or his basement and just kind of come up with an interpretation and then get as many followers as they can and so it's almost a popularity contest right of hey i am so intelligent so follow me or i have this supernatural power in doing these miracles so follow me or i just have charismatic personality or i'm just a gifted leader and so and and and based upon that you have so many different theologies that when you walk into a church you don't know their view of sexuality you don't know their view of marriage and divorce you know it's just because everyone just preaches something different and so some of us are just going okay i've been a part of that it feels like a circus you know and i am fighting for these things and now i'm seeing some of the wisdom of okay i get why people say wait you don't just everyone goes alone and figures it out for themselves and then gathers as many followers as possible we go back to the ancient church and try to figure out what did those early church fathers agree on what did those councils agree on and part of that feels very good to me that it's not like i've got to be that beacon of truth because everyone and their mother is starting their own podcast you know out of their basement and going hey follow me these guys are out these guys are you know and and and it's just going this is ridiculous this can't be the way and so there's something attractive going oh there was a time when everyone agreed i want to go back to that so that i can say look this isn't an idea that i just made up 1500 years they all agreed this is your view of sexuality this is the view of whatever whether it's a eucharist how you dress or whatever but i'm just going gosh i don't know if i i want to surrender to that there's a part of me that would go oh that would be nice um i don't have to feel like i'm the savior of the world and my theology is right and i got to fight all these other guys who think their theology is right i'd like to be able to say you know what i believe is historical this is what everyone believed for this many years now again i don't know what to do at this point i'm not where you guys are at where you've tied yourself completely um and i i guess i feel a little bit lost like i'm starting to see the value in that i mean really see the value in that and see that makes sense and going gosh that does make more sense than being out here rebellious i feel a bit arrogant for the way i've lived my life and the way that i've taught because it had a lot to do with me and my personal interpretation and i do want to learn what is you know this collective interpretation they talk about in these councils what would be your advice to me in taking this next step yes i also uh saw the news clip of this influential and dynamic protestant pastor asking this question and also i read some of the responses from some of his uh his parishioners uh some of his flock to his queries you know when you're when your faith is built upon the articulation of a faith that didn't exist prior to the 16th century it can be very unnerving to begin to ask the question what did the believers believe before the 16th century i asked often in correspondence with inquirers here in my own parish we i've been able to to catechize and baptize hundreds of protestant christians over the years and one of the questions i ask them is if if they can't take their faith what they believe now in the 21st century as protestant christians in the 18th century or in the 13th century or in the 9th century or in the 3rd century if they can't find their faith there if they could transport themselves to a previous time and they couldn't actually find a church to go to because there was no christian community that was articulating their faith then that is one of the clearest signs that they are not in the church of jesus christ because the church that jesus christ established was two thousand years ago and he made precious promises to the church he said i will build my church and the gates of hades will not prevail against her and he promised to send the holy spirit to his disciples to lead them into all of the truth so as soon as a as soon as a protestant christian begins to read church history prior to the 16th century this raises many important questions one of the important questions then is what the protestant christian thinks about those believers who clearly were not protestant and as as they begin to wade into the ocean of sacred literature from the first 15 centuries they begin to seek commonalities as this pastor himself has seen and one of those commonalities in the first 1100 years of the church for instance when the east and west were undivided was that all christian believers confessed the nicene creed all christian believers had an altar that was the center of their worship life they all had a bishop and a priest appointed by him to be a shepherd of their souls and they all received the eucharist as the climax of their worship experience and of their connection with god uh so if you're in a protestant community communion that doesn't have a bishop it doesn't have an altar it doesn't have the sacred gifts of the precious sacrament of the eucharist at the center then that would naturally lead to questions of what what happened how did we get to be where we are today and the thing to do that piece of advice i would simply say to this pastor and to all protestants who are inquiring is to continue to search i myself when i began to first explore holy orthodoxy as a young man i was encouraged uh to pay attention especially to literature that was written by authors who have uh s t period or argues right in front of their name uh because this this is a completely different type of of literature this is a this is an authentic and authoritative account of lived experience with christ that comes from the saints and it has a certain potency it has a power a spiritual vitality uh that uh changes you you know one of our recent incredible uh saints uh elder emilianos of cement from monastery he has a chapter in one of his books on the value of spiritual study of reading the lives of the saints and of the of the scriptures which are in harmony and he says to do so to touch the pages of of the scripture for instance is like touching the clothing of jesus and you you know it produces a an effect upon you uh in consonance with the holy spirit and the more that protestants begin to dive into the literature of the saints and to read the bible in the context of the historic church things begin to settle and become clear

Channel: According to John

Views: 48,747

Rating: 4.8635745 out of 5

Keywords: Francis Chan, francis chan, fr josiah trenham, patristic nectar, orthodox church, father josiah trenham, francis chan 2020, francis chan orthodox church, francis chan holy communion, orthodox vs protestant, the orthodox church, reformation, protestant, francis chan josiah trenham, Hank Hanegraaff, KP Yohannan, Eucharist-Francis Chan, aka KP Yohannan, eastern orthodox church, francis chan orthodox, francis chan and orthodox christianity

Id: cPk7VHeVInk

Length: 8min 18sec (498 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 30 2020