General notes on Greek Orthodoxy

Some notes I jotted down listening to a Carl Trueman lecture on the Medieval Church:

Greek Orthodox/Eastern Orthodox:
- High view of the Trinity.
- Highly-elaborate ritual and liturgy.
- Importance placed on icons, with theological arguments made for why dieficiation is given to these (vs. perceiving them as graven images)
- To Eastern Orthodox, icons are an idealized, divinized portrait of what they represent, with a theosis present, or a taking of God's power.  With relics, there is something ontalogically transforming the item (similar to the human body of saints, hence why relics are important.)

Of course I disagree with their view of relics, but I did find it interesting to understand a little bit more of the background as to why they believe this.  I visited a Greek Orthodox church ages ago, and noticed the elaborate ritual.  I was impressed by the importance placed on head coverings, as this was something mandated for all women visiting, as the church adhered to a very high-view of I Cor. 11 (in many ways this was important for me in researching deeper into the head covering issue - that, and Sproul's comments on the topic.)

Acts 20:27, Westminster, and a Flyer in the mail from some local Woodlands church

I periodically get mailings from a fairly large, amusing Woodlands church that we visited once years ago, so I wanted to jot down a couple of thoughts about this church, because around the same time I ironically also received a copy of Westminster Today in the mail, and there couldn't be a more stark day-and-night difference between these two sources.  The Woodlands church that sent the flyer is an insanely massive Willow Creek-style establishment, and equally as shallow.  The pastors, husband and wife both, advertise various series on life issues and what not, and from our one visit there, it's a church clearly build around entertainment with very shallow teaching.  In fact, during our visit a majority of the service was taken up with parading children on the stage for them to donate money - not for the widows and orphans - but rather to finance some sort of structure for the church (the spirit of Tetzel is apparently alive and well...)

On the other side of the coin was the WTS magazine, that was a much more enriching read, particularly Dr. Carl Trueman's article on pg. 6 (the article can be read here.)  One the subject of large, shallow churches, I think that Trueman's comments, on the subject of declaring the whole counsel of God, are particularly appropriate in terms of the aforementioned flier:

This brings me finally to the question: how can I know that my church is teaching the whole counsel of God as Paul understood it? There are various tell-tale signs that such might not be the case: if your minister spends more time talking about politics than Jesus Christ; if he spends more time telling you what you need to do, rather than telling you what God in Christ has done; if he is always focusing on the latest cultural fad rather than upon the priorities of scripture—these are all indicative of a ministry that is probably not preaching the whole counsel of God, however wide-ranging the topics covered may be. It is not breadth of topic but rather narrowness of focus upon God and his revelation that is, paradoxically, a sign that more of the whole counsel is actually being covered.

Dr. Carl R. Trueman and Calvin