You can have "diversity" of faith when you take them all equally unseriously. Unity can only be in God, yes, but God is the Truth. God invites all, but not all accept the invitation to repent and believe the Gospel. Only right belief-- Orthodoxy-- in the Savior is the faith which saves. Read the ancient fathers of the church. You will be shocked to find that they sound nothing like you, Fr. Matthew. They believed very specifically and came to define that faith in the ecumenical councils.
I'm a very fallen Catholic(agnostic). I like most of the things about the Episcopal church, such as letting people think for themselves.The service resembles what I know, and as an openly gay person, like the inclusiveness. The things that I have a problem with is the Eucharist(I know I agnostic), but it is something that I was taught one way and in your church, there are a range of opinions.I f I were to choose a church, it'd be yours. Don't want to be a protestant, though.
@HailZeon57 you cant have any interprutation of scriptures because this implies that your understanding of the scriptures is better than gods as you chose what to do with his commands. Its ALL or nothing for the literalist, the moment you chose anything at all, you are saying you know better than the book and it is stripped of all authority. Belief is about YOUR journey through life, stop picking through the details and live your life.
People should know that there are other faiths and denominations. I've seen the Mormons put commercials on the T.V. a few times now, I think it would be a good idea for other churches. Again, this isn't anti-atheist, I just think that churches should react to this trend of losing members. This is a little long, sorry.
This is a good way to preach and spread the Christian faith. I'm not an anti-atheist, but I think that atheism comes about(people abandoning religion to become atheists) as a result of people losing their faith, not just in God, but in other things and in general. I think it happens as a result of giving up. I don't think there are that many happy atheists. I think it also happens often as a result of people losing faith in Allah, Buddha, etc.
i'm curious i recently got received into the episcopal church. can an episcopal priest marry a person from another denomination? is it a requirement or is it seen as appropriate for both spouses to be episcopalian?
Remember Christians, the will of God is no Catholic, Protestant,Orthodox, Penticostal, Adventist, JW, Etc. NO DIVISION, Only Christians, holy, helping and sharing instead of buying and selling.
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17:9-21)
"did you come by this information through studying the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts or did a Catholic Priest tell you" - No, Christ founded only one Church, and all must belong to it for salvation, yes the Scriptures testify to this, becuase they were written & complied by the Church - They do not give authority to the Church - Christ does!
What you need to see are Schori's Parabola interview and her remarks around the time she was first consecrated as PB. Yes, she is more or less denying the resurrection, by saying it's not important, and Christ's divinity is re-interpreted to mean something like a "higher consciousness."
Keep your own teaching good, and resist the Schori stuff. Yes, there will always be people with loopy beliefs in the church, thank God for them! but the teaching of the church needs to stay good.
There's hard evidence proving Bible is accurate like video "Revealing God's Treasure - Red Sea Crossing" here on You Tube, but knowledge of this data is required to know, by this data, God exists.
The only thing known at all times in life is yourself. This data on yourself can only drive you to the correct religion if your thinking of this knowledge is accurate & that being Psalms 51:17 as any works based religion takes initial data & disregards it.
3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Proof of the belief in Christianity is through the basis of the bible. The bible is proven through the many of its old testimonials about many things that we could not have figured out till later on the road with technology. Einstein agrees.
Actually sacrifical system was begun by God in Garden of Eden, but does that mean without Bible we would not have Christianity? I suppose anything gets lost in thousands of yrs without stimulus to bring it back or keep it.
Killing of animals & walking between them was not merely a behavior of Abraham. It was a way of saying I will do my part of this negotiation or kill me like these animals. Note that promise is made & that animals are killed.
There's hard evidence proving Bible is accurate like video "Revealing God's Treasure - Red Sea Crossing" here on You Tube, but knowledge of this data is required to know, by this data, God exists.
The only thing known at all times in life is yourself. This data on yourself can only drive you to the correct religion if your thinking of this knowledge is accurate & that being Psalms 51:17 as any works based religion takes initial data & disregards it.
I don't think anyone is ignoring passages, just having different interpretations based on reality. Is Scripture your basis for gender theory (what men and women can and can't do)? Is your stand on abortion and euthenasia the basis for Christian community? What happens if you put Christ at the center of your life, rather than a certain interpretation of the Bible that helps you to separate yourself from people different from you, even fellow Christians? Axe to grind? Try the love of God.
The reason there are these "interpretations" these days is because issues like gay rights are getting into the church. If there are hypocrites in the church who support something like this, then wouldn't you think they would twist God's Word to justify what they're supporting? That's certainly what Gene Robinson does. Bishop Schori said in a video I saw that people like tha Dalai Lama produce "fruits of the Spirit". This is no interpretation, this is plain Christian teaching being twisted.
All sin is given the consequence of death (OT) and the consequence of God leaving them to their sin (NT), but is that a consistency for God if He is one?
Not really. In the OT God mostly let sin go to it's logical conclusion as in NT, but keep in mind that in both NT and OT God is the one who is judging sin. No one seems to escape death.
This will be true in resurrection too for Luke 12:5 is explained by Matthew 10:28 so I ask do you believe in Psalms 51:17?
Father Matthew - Perhaps, it would help some understand what our Church has done with the text if, someone explained to them that the Catholic church in fact, did several re-writes to the Bible in the 300, 400, 600 and even 1400's. Including writing out women in the early church, an female apostle and, adding a lot in that was not originally there.
WE as a Church are not picking and choosing. We are trying to get back to the original as much as we can.
And, I would like to add that the Catholics are also trying to get back to the original text as well. Least someone think I am pointing fingers... Religion changes and is shaped by culture. As culture changes so does the Church. Would you sacrifice animals at the altar? NO! Well, that is not OUR culture. It was meant to be dynamic with common roots.
As a person who truly doesn't know what to believe, I have to say I am tired of being threatened and pushed around and discounted. Your videos greatly encourage me that there are people who can embrace those of us with questions.
Oh, and the chupacabra comment was made of awesome.
Father Matthew, one of Jesus' body part that I see most often forgotten is his Judaism. I sent you a video titled, "Jesus, tell us about your Judaism." I hope you enjoy it.
wow......wow......Father Matthew, you are truly a gift! THANKS for these videos! Whether folks agree or disagree, it's so exciting to see people in dialogue about their faith...and using such a modern means to do it!
Orthodoxy (right belief) or Orthopraxis (right action), which is more important? I think Jesus was about action more than about being right. That's how I read it.
We are all worshiping the same God if we believe in a LOVING God. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus,etc. all believe in the same God if we believe in a God of love. Even atheists (even though they may not consciously realize it) believe in the same God if they believe in love. Christ=Love God=Love
No, Christians don't worship "LOVE", any more than we worship Eros or Cupid. We worship God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Muslims have an entirely different conception of God incompatable with Christianity, and the Hindus are poyltheistic. None of these views are compatable.
I wanted to stop by and thank you for these video's. They are wonderful! You managed to get my adolescent's attention and thought engaged. They are now asking me questions...Hmm...and I make them go look it up. *smile*.
Weeel... I don't know. There is some things that are true and some which are not. Now, noone but yourself alone can distance you from God. Still, I can't say anything should be permitted. It can't. Church is a teacher, and as such, must help people with confusion. That doesen't allways call fro blind faith, but it should be a trustworthy guide.
Also, there are some fundamental things that just cannot be set aside one way or another, and that is why, for example, we cannot call Jehova's witnesses Christians. Unity - of course. But not at any cost. I hope you agree.
Sure, there are always going to be people who doubt or aren't completely "orthodox" but do you really think that changes our sincerity as followers of Jesus? We should still include and welcome ALL people, regardless of how strong their faith is or what they do or don't believe (Romans 14).
Everyone should be welcome into the Church, but it is the resposiblity of the Church to teach Right Faith an Right Action. The purpose Great Commision wasn't to go out into the world and tell them "You're cool, keep doing what you've been doing". Otherwise we would still be worshiping Jupiter and having orgies at religious festivals.
I can't say that I agree with everything you've said, but all people do need to be Christians. (When you say, "evangelical," does that include "conservatives"?)
Coldplay sucks but The Bad Plus is amazing. Your taste in music has proven and yet disproven the existence of God. If there is a God, why Coldplay? If there isn't an God, why The Bad Plus?
I think many Anglicans have made a false idol of "diversity" The idea, for example, that in one US diocese a gay couple can have their marriage blessed but in another can't makes a total mockery of any notion of objective truth and the universal demands of God's law (which presumably supersedes diocesan boundaries). But hey as long as we are diverse, then everything is cool.
Either God has taught us objective truth or He hasn't. Either His revelation or His demands for morality are true or they are not. While there is room for discussion, the basic essentials of Christian belief and morality that are under attack in say the Anglican Communion goes beyond the pale
Thus one can say there is "rightness" and "wrongness" in religion. In fact, orthopraxis (right action) flows from orthodoxy (right belief). Look to radical segments of Islam to see what happens when one has a wrong understanding of God. Such a wrong understanding leads to wrong actions such as suicide bombings in his name.
The reason why the Samaritan's response is considered good is because his actions were in alignment with what is objectively good and true. His right actions flowed from his right faith in God and morality. He was right, the others were wrong.
I think Fr. Matthew's juggling said it all...too many balls in the air and they eventually get dropped and then their is a huge mess to clean up. Not only that people can trip and fall on the mess and get really hurt. How many souls are hurt by the Anglican Church's tolerance of error and false teaching in the name of "diversity"?
Almost everyone thinks that faith involves believing the right thing. Jesus' questioner was a lawyer, one who made his living by defining his terms. He must have thought that faith was like everything else in his life, a matter of getting it right: the right answer, the right conduct, the right opinion. Tell me what's right. I want to know.
The problem is that, as the 39 Articles remind us, we can't take parts of scripture in isolation and make them the whole Bible. Jesus didn't tell his Apostles to go out into the world and tell them "we respect your spiritual journey". The Episcopal Church has come up with the most remarkable program of shrinking churches ever invented.
But no. It turns out that faith not a secret code of rightness that will unlock the treasure of eternal life. It turns out that faith is a relationship with God and with the world, and that the name of this relationship is love. Again, a lawyer would be frustrated here: Well, what is love? A feeling? An obligation? A decision? He would need some specificity, he felt, in order to understand.
A quote by Edward Norman. Former rector of York Minster, former Anglican priest (now Catholic) and Oxford professor..."The future of the Church seems to be entrusted to the southern hemisphere, and its orthodoxy of teaching is guaranteed for so long as Rome itself retains centralised authority. The Anglican Communion, in contrast, is nothing more than a periodic conference of once like-minded individual Churches who have little in common now, but a colonial past."
No further explanation was forthcoming. Instead, a story: a man is in serious need of help, and a stranger whose people are at odds with the injured man's people helps him, when his own religious authorities won't. The two are brought together in the story for a moment and then we hear no more -- nothing about eternity, no angels, no voices complimenting the Samaritan on his good behavior. He goes on his way with a promise to come and finish his good work, if need be.
The Anglican Church is dying. Sure liturgical diversity is one thing, disagreement on basic morality and Christian belief is another. Read Anglican Difficulties: A New Syllabus of Errors by former rector of York Minster. It shows quite clearly how Anglicanism has always lacked the characteristics of a true Church. The Anglican Church has become a total joke (i.e. Bishop Spong). That is why I left 10 years ago and never looked back.
It turns out there's no secret code, no hidden key. There's no need of one: eternal life isn't locked. Anybody can live as a lover of God and neighbor, just by walking out his front door and looking around at what needs to be done. And then doing the first thing that presents itself. And then another. And another. As many as you want -- they're all your neighbors. And the Christ who lives in you also lives in each of them.
I seem to recall something about a narrow path instead of wide road, but that's from the Bible and the Anglicans have already used Reason to conclude that the Bible is just a bunch of nice stories that we can pick and choice from will, instead of being the authentic record of Divine Revelation.
There is nothing in the Bible about the Church providing a Via Media. I know of no serious Episcopal theologian who 'picks and chooses' from the Bible. That's the territory of 'biblical legalists' to take items from the Bible out of context. The narrow path reminds us that it is only through grace and Christ's leadership that we can get to heaven.
I have to admit that I am confused - by the historic priesthood do you mean Roman Catholic? What church doctrine? Which ones?
We seem to be talking past each other. It seems to me that the Episcopal Church, a province of the Anglican Communion has chosen through duly elected deputies and bishops (honoring by the way the priesthood and episcopate) to make some changes to how we view church.
And as there always are, some have disagreed, many as vociferously as you clearly do, with those changes. This doesn't mean that anyone had given up rights to worship in whatever way brings them closest to God. In my congregation we have a sanctus bell, prayers for healing, children's sermons, and continue to use both Rite I and II of the BCP. This has happened in order to try to create a liturgy in which all can find some way of drawing closer to God.
I would hope that in any church I serve, conservatives and liberal alike (both theological and political) can find some sense of unity around worship of the one triune God. If we say there is only one way, aren't we limiting that which is limitless?
I am sorry for your anger and any feelings of abandonment by the church you belonged to, and hope you can find a congregation that allows you the freedom to sense God's presence in your worship, and most of all I hope that God gives you peace as you continue on his path until that day you are at God's table as part of the heavenly banquet.
Well, seeing how the liberals are engaged in activly denying the one triune God, everytime they mock Incarnation, Trinity, Holy Scripture as Divine Revelation, saying that other religions that deny the Trinity have equal validity to Christianity... What divides Anglicans right now is bigger then sanctus bells. It is the very nature of God.
Yes, but with all due respect, the Anglican communion is currently in the midst of of a schism regarding gay ordination, and thus not immune from the same problems of inclusion/exclusion that other churches are.
True, it isn't immune. Despite the best of intentions, our church is human with all the politics and garbage that comes from being made up of people (see Matthew's video from the tower). So we constantly have these issues. But the very fact that we are on the forefront of the debate, the first to take it up of all denominations, shows how seriously we take the importance of welcoming all; even as we risk our very unity to do so. It is both a troublesome and exciting time to be an Episcopalian.
No doubt about it. Christ's work is being done in the Episcopal Church. Those members who focus on the work of Christ will hold the Church together, in spite of our differences of opinion (and even in what we firmly believe is right), those who allow those differences to blind themselves from Christ's mission will go away.
I'm confused, whose rights are being violated? The whole idea of welcoming all means people are welcomed no matter how they wish to worship.
Also - Bishop Jefferts-Schori has never taken legal action to my knowledge. Couldn't the question also be asked is it Christ's work to walk out on a church when the going gets hard?
The rights of Orthodox Anglicans. Take Forward in Faith, for example: This group is near breaking point. The liberals are trying to marginalize, or simply squeeze them out. I don't see how they can continue on in the Anglican Communion without gaining their own province within the Communion.
But in what way are their rights being violated? They are leaving of their own accord, not being squeezed. Their views are, on the whole, being listened to if not agreed with, and they are welcome as are all people to stay in communion with those who disagree, which is the whole point of via media. There are many conservatives who thing this is more important than a single issue and choose to stay.
Not if that is how they see it. They should continue to come to the table and present their views. If they find themselves unwilling to worship with those they disagree with, then there are many other denominations to choose from. One of the core values of the Anglican Tradition has always been coming to the table together no matter how much we argue. My personal belief is that remembering this is the only way that the communion can stay an international communion.
Orthodox Anglicans have no rights at all -- only the right to be politically correct. Feminists don't want to provide an alternative. They wish to destroy the traditional priesthood and they want to throw out unwanted baggage (the Gospel, church doctrine). It is the mania of unity at all costs that does harm. If they the feminists and others wish to start their own denominations, they have every right to do that. But they should not deny others their right to traditional worship.
Schori has insisted that Bishops sue any departing congregations that see to retain property to which they LEGALLY have the title? When the going gets hard? How about when the church becomes apostate? The Bible comands us to flee from false teachers.
The Presiding Bishop is both a temporal AND spiritual leader. Spiritually, her job is to help us do Christ's work. Legally, her responsibility is to assert illegal to steal property belongin to the Church. This has ALWAYS been understood by real Episcopalians that the Church is NOT congregational(though if a person wants that, he or she can easily join one of the multitudes) its a single entity. Illegal to take real estate from the Church. It is held in trust by the congregation.
Yeah, Mother Jesus is giving birth to a new thing... or so I'm told. Sorry, but these issues were taken up quite some time ago, and the Council of Jerusalem and the Epistles stamped "settled" on that debate a long time ago.
Yeah, you've also got the suicide bomber appeasers, of the like I see every time I enter an Anglican church here in its home nation. Good old rainbow flags (pacifist - don't stand up to evil; pro gay - ummm kinda tricky one I guess for the modern CofE; anti nasty old Israel, poor old terrorists from Palestine). With such profuse drivel no wonder your church is falling apart.
in countries that could already be called post-religious most people believe that all religions are wrong. so the people are more or less unified in atheism. this will probarbly be the future: value of religious faith will drop in some countries, and churches will never come back once there are no believers left.
Something worth consideration: people have been making predictions like this for 2000 or so years. Funnily enough, the Bible and Christians are still here. In another 2000 years...well I wouldn't be counting my atheistic chickens just yet. :)
lankalot1: this should be depressive for you if you know the truth about religion. look at the violence religion causes simply because it seperates us, and because it promises heaven even to mass-murderers (christianity also does this, not just islam!).
religions seperate people, and they are simply wrong. you believe your religion is right and other religions are wrong, we just add one more religion to the wrong-list.
Glad you understood I was referring to your post-religious comment and not the movie kurtilein3. I didn't make that very clear. (Oops!)
You're right: I do find religion-driven violence disappointing. But that's not the point I was making. My point was simply that given the consistent ability of Christianity to change people's lives worldwide for the better, describing a country as post-religious is a bit presumptuous.
Yep, and as long as you have churches that insist on telling people "do whatever you want, believe whatever you want, its all good" then there is no ground upon which you can attack atheism. Such "mainline" churches give no motivation to join them, and people wonder why they shrink and fraction.
One of the most important messages from the Episcopal Church today. One of several denominations actually working to achieve Christ's mission instead of impede it! Great work!
You must be kidding. Many people today are wondering if the Episcopal Church actually has a future in the Anglican Communion. If not, it may end up falling into an apostate heap. Lets hope and pray that doesn't happen.
I know and understand that opinion well. There is no nose-thumbing, although it is being sadly twisted that way to fit Akinola's Papal aspirations. There are people on both sides hurt by this and neither side of the opinion is more hurt than the other. When the focus s refined to Christ's mission and relationship and REAL communication among the faithful Church will be unified. Until then, it's all politics.
Sadly, there are too many people who give this sort of blythe and cavalier response to a serious issue threatening not just Anglicanism, but Christianity itself. There are too many who work toward divisiveness instead doing Christ's work.
Jefferts-Schori is working for Christ. Akinola is working for Akinola (although, I recognize his Christianity and have no doubt he is a man of faith.))
Schori is actively attempting to intimidate dioceses that wish to go their own way. Schori nixed Bishop Lee's attempt to come to an amicable solution with his departing congregations and ordered him to take them to court. How his her obsession with retaining property whose title is legally held by the individual parishes working for love? How is her unwillingess to tolerate another Anglican presence in America embracing diversity?
Liberals pride themselves on embracing other ethnic groups, but when American Church (which remains dominated by WASPs) decided to do its own thing and the rest of the Christian world said "NO", well, it must be the white, rich, educated Americans that are right and not all those Africans or uneducated Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists, Eastern Orthodox...
Who has Papal aspirations? The Diocese of Ft Worth has a clause in its Consitution saying "The Church in this Diocese accedes to the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, and recognizes the authority of the General Convention of said Church provided that no action of General Convention which is contrary to Holy Scripture and the Apostolic Teaching of the Church shall be of any force or effect in this Diocese."
Um... A constitution is a constitution, and can not have papal aspirations. The Episcopal Church is a single entity, not a 'Congregational' church. Historically, those who disagree with this have left the Church (as they are free to do) without stealing property from it. We hold our parishes in trust from the Church. Churches don't 'join' and 'disconnect' willy-nilly.
The confiscatory canon that claims that parishes hold their property in trust from TEC wasn't passed until 1979, almost 200 years after the individual parishes formed the churches. Title to property is held by the parishes, and in some cases (Falls Church, for example) has been held long before the PECUSA was formed. VA law allows congregations to vote themselves out of a church and take their own property with them. How the courts will rule remains to be seen.
The concept pre-dated the canon. Only as congregationalists became active in the Episcopal Church was such a written declaration needed. It is truly sad that it is necessary now.
The presiding bishop and her lawyers are insiting that the Diocese of Ft Worth change its constitution so that the authority of Scripture is no longer supreme over the decission of the national church. The Executive Council (and therefore Schori) has attempted to declare void the consitutions of entire diocese, which it has no authority to do so.
Huh? "Apostacy" has been tossed about so much lately it has become meaningless drivel from people who simply don't want to use the Bible to learn the lessons God and Christ teach us. There's more to it than just reading the words. All humans have God-given capability to understand the Bible on a deeper level. Unfortunately, few attmept to understand biblical authority within its full context rather than just in snippets.
Sola Scriptura is a pernacious heresy, and the reason you have thousands of competing churches but I'm willing to buy into the idea if it provides one less reason for joining a church that no longer really has a message. Of course, those that subscribe to the idea always manage to act as if their own interpetation is the only possible interpetation. Besides, modern Anglicanism tells me Islam and Budism is just as good, so why bother with the Bible?
What I describe is decidedly not SOLA SCRIPTORA. Few who see the Bible as truly from God and see its message of humanity's constant and unsuccessful attempt to reach God and only accepting God's reaching out to us can save us, see only a single 'right' interpretation of individual passages except within the context of that message. Sadly, too many wish to use isolated passages to put forth their own agenda.
Apostasy: For staters, how about bishops that are unable to even unequivacably state of Jesus is God the Son Incarnate, instead of just some good prophet? How about bishops that see no problem with their priestesses claiming to be Islamic and Christian at the same time, ignoring the fact that Islam requires denying Christ?
Yes, but has the otherwise admirable ecumenism of the Episcopal Church become closer and closer to Univeralism, to the point that church publications and the High Priestess of the ECUSA are even begining to challenge the necessity of Christ, one wonders why one should even bother with an Anglican tradition founded in Common Prayer, Creeds, and Articles of Faith, or if one should just save yourself a lot of structure the bishops don't seem to believe in anyway and just convert to neo-paganism.
It is dangerous to challenge Christianity with neo-paganism. We don't need the hatred the Christians have sought upon us in the past. It is common knowledge that neo-paganism has an even stronger opposing will than atheism, against the Church. Instead, quote passages from St. Thomas, as it is the most condemning text of all.
Fascinating 'post-modern' understanding of the Church and the gospel. Long on impressions, short on ideas. So helpful in understanding what's going on, I've posted it to others.
i had to watch it twice; the first time around i was focused on the acoustic Aphex Twin (did you do that?). any who, the subject of the blog is very important; keep up the good work there!
Very good points. I've known a lot of blessing through being a member of a Christian Union whilst in University. It is always good to see unity even within differences of oppinion on some minor issues. God bless you
You can have "diversity" of faith when you take them all equally unseriously. Unity can only be in God, yes, but God is the Truth. God invites all, but not all accept the invitation to repent and believe the Gospel. Only right belief-- Orthodoxy-- in the Savior is the faith which saves. Read the ancient fathers of the church. You will be shocked to find that they sound nothing like you, Fr. Matthew. They believed very specifically and came to define that faith in the ecumenical councils.
isaakios 1 week ago
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brockwarren 3 months ago
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brockwarren 3 months ago
I love the big umbrella of the Episcopal Church.
earlofca 4 months ago
Chupacabra!! LOL
katiewoz 8 months ago
Thanks Fr. Matthew,
I'm a very fallen Catholic(agnostic). I like most of the things about the Episcopal church, such as letting people think for themselves.The service resembles what I know, and as an openly gay person, like the inclusiveness. The things that I have a problem with is the Eucharist(I know I agnostic), but it is something that I was taught one way and in your church, there are a range of opinions.I f I were to choose a church, it'd be yours. Don't want to be a protestant, though.
Lepewhi 9 months ago
@HailZeon57 you cant have any interprutation of scriptures because this implies that your understanding of the scriptures is better than gods as you chose what to do with his commands. Its ALL or nothing for the literalist, the moment you chose anything at all, you are saying you know better than the book and it is stripped of all authority. Belief is about YOUR journey through life, stop picking through the details and live your life.
TheCaptainLulz 9 months ago
People should know that there are other faiths and denominations. I've seen the Mormons put commercials on the T.V. a few times now, I think it would be a good idea for other churches. Again, this isn't anti-atheist, I just think that churches should react to this trend of losing members. This is a little long, sorry.
lilgunner94 9 months ago
This is a good way to preach and spread the Christian faith. I'm not an anti-atheist, but I think that atheism comes about(people abandoning religion to become atheists) as a result of people losing their faith, not just in God, but in other things and in general. I think it happens as a result of giving up. I don't think there are that many happy atheists. I think it also happens often as a result of people losing faith in Allah, Buddha, etc.
lilgunner94 9 months ago
i'm curious i recently got received into the episcopal church. can an episcopal priest marry a person from another denomination? is it a requirement or is it seen as appropriate for both spouses to be episcopalian?
chevelle357m 1 year ago
Col. 2:8-12
Truthseeker424 1 year ago
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Truthseeker424 1 year ago
Col.2:8-12...
Truthseeker424 1 year ago
I LOVE GOD! :)
kyleryan2000 2 years ago
this is a pretty darn good video!
redneckmarine87 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
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Remember Christians, the will of God is no Catholic, Protestant,Orthodox, Penticostal, Adventist, JW, Etc. NO DIVISION, Only Christians, holy, helping and sharing instead of buying and selling.
"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17:9-21)
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conceil8 2 years ago
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Spiritualawaken 2 years ago
I Cor 12:4 There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit
12:6 There are diversities of occupations...
It sounds like you are scolding me! Well, include Paul in your scolding...
FatherMatthew 2 years ago
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Spiritualawaken 2 years ago
"did you come by this information through studying the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts or did a Catholic Priest tell you" - No, Christ founded only one Church, and all must belong to it for salvation, yes the Scriptures testify to this, becuase they were written & complied by the Church - They do not give authority to the Church - Christ does!
iotaunam1 2 years ago 2
True religious unity is only to be found in the one Catholic Church which Christ established.
iotaunam1 2 years ago
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Spiritualawaken 2 years ago
only religious unity will bring global peace
petewrightrecords 2 years ago
and the deists and the pagans, hindu, islam, believe in zeus, horus, hotep, baal? drink coffee? like toast?
we'll take anyone, we've become desperate!!
KempsGrl 2 years ago
What you need to see are Schori's Parabola interview and her remarks around the time she was first consecrated as PB. Yes, she is more or less denying the resurrection, by saying it's not important, and Christ's divinity is re-interpreted to mean something like a "higher consciousness."
Keep your own teaching good, and resist the Schori stuff. Yes, there will always be people with loopy beliefs in the church, thank God for them! but the teaching of the church needs to stay good.
minckminck 3 years ago
There's hard evidence proving Bible is accurate like video "Revealing God's Treasure - Red Sea Crossing" here on You Tube, but knowledge of this data is required to know, by this data, God exists.
The only thing known at all times in life is yourself. This data on yourself can only drive you to the correct religion if your thinking of this knowledge is accurate & that being Psalms 51:17 as any works based religion takes initial data & disregards it.
SELAH - talk with God
SHALOM - peace
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (New International Version)
3Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness[a] is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Hebrews 12:9 (New International Version)
9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!
Cycofoo 3 years ago
All sin so end the end there is only sinners and a God who loves them.
Pretty broad sweeping brush, but God pushed up on nails to breath so that He could say, "God forgive them for they know not what they do."
I just find it amazing that Saul sat at His feet spitting and cursing. The intellectual without God is pretty scary.
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
Proof of the belief in Christianity is through the basis of the bible. The bible is proven through the many of its old testimonials about many things that we could not have figured out till later on the road with technology. Einstein agrees.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Actually sacrifical system was begun by God in Garden of Eden, but does that mean without Bible we would not have Christianity? I suppose anything gets lost in thousands of yrs without stimulus to bring it back or keep it.
Killing of animals & walking between them was not merely a behavior of Abraham. It was a way of saying I will do my part of this negotiation or kill me like these animals. Note that promise is made & that animals are killed.
That is behavior of God originally conditioned.
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
with all due respect,
are you an atheist?
You're saying that God was very HUMAN?
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Jesus was a human and a man. New thought there, huh?
Adam walked with God.
I can walk with a deer once my whole life in the woods, but often I walk with people.
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
haha we both believe the same if you're referring to the ONE TRUE GOD doctrine.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Well you see,
God didn't really WALK literally with Adam for God does not have flesh and bones.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Did God wrestly with Jacob?
Did He walk with Enoch when Enoch was translated?
When Elijah was translated did he do it by himself?
Did Jesus translate physically away from the Earth?
Did Jesus have flesh and bones?
Questions that obviously can have different answers for some. Shalom.
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
Confusingisnt it? So many churches out there that interpret the bible in so many ways.
seek the true Church of Christ. Only they will be revealed the true bible
Cycofoo 3 years ago
cookoo, cookoo, cycofoo.
There is one God.
The Old Testament can be summed up in one word, "Christ."
The New Testament can be summed up in one word, "Jesus."
The Bible can be summed up as "Jesus is the Christ."
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
I'm sorry but you're assuming that I believe in the trinity?
sike.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
There's hard evidence proving Bible is accurate like video "Revealing God's Treasure - Red Sea Crossing" here on You Tube, but knowledge of this data is required to know, by this data, God exists.
The only thing known at all times in life is yourself. This data on yourself can only drive you to the correct religion if your thinking of this knowledge is accurate & that being Psalms 51:17 as any works based religion takes initial data & disregards it.
SELAH - talk with God
SHALOM - peace
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
I don't think anyone is ignoring passages, just having different interpretations based on reality. Is Scripture your basis for gender theory (what men and women can and can't do)? Is your stand on abortion and euthenasia the basis for Christian community? What happens if you put Christ at the center of your life, rather than a certain interpretation of the Bible that helps you to separate yourself from people different from you, even fellow Christians? Axe to grind? Try the love of God.
FatherMatthew 3 years ago 5
The reason there are these "interpretations" these days is because issues like gay rights are getting into the church. If there are hypocrites in the church who support something like this, then wouldn't you think they would twist God's Word to justify what they're supporting? That's certainly what Gene Robinson does. Bishop Schori said in a video I saw that people like tha Dalai Lama produce "fruits of the Spirit". This is no interpretation, this is plain Christian teaching being twisted.
HailZeon57 3 years ago
All sin is given the consequence of death (OT) and the consequence of God leaving them to their sin (NT), but is that a consistency for God if He is one?
Not really. In the OT God mostly let sin go to it's logical conclusion as in NT, but keep in mind that in both NT and OT God is the one who is judging sin. No one seems to escape death.
This will be true in resurrection too for Luke 12:5 is explained by Matthew 10:28 so I ask do you believe in Psalms 51:17?
ABAisSCIENCE 3 years ago
Mr. Matthew
Matthew 23:9
9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.
Cycofoo 3 years ago
Father Matthew - Perhaps, it would help some understand what our Church has done with the text if, someone explained to them that the Catholic church in fact, did several re-writes to the Bible in the 300, 400, 600 and even 1400's. Including writing out women in the early church, an female apostle and, adding a lot in that was not originally there.
WE as a Church are not picking and choosing. We are trying to get back to the original as much as we can.
Puffywaunwaun 2 years ago
And, I would like to add that the Catholics are also trying to get back to the original text as well. Least someone think I am pointing fingers... Religion changes and is shaped by culture. As culture changes so does the Church. Would you sacrifice animals at the altar? NO! Well, that is not OUR culture. It was meant to be dynamic with common roots.
Puffywaunwaun 2 years ago
Flim! Yeah. Go Bad plus! You have good music in all of your vlogs. I like your approach to everything as well.
Beardestroyer13 3 years ago
Including Baptists? (totally kidding) I love the Baptists
kbpipes 3 years ago
Father Matthew,
As a person who truly doesn't know what to believe, I have to say I am tired of being threatened and pushed around and discounted. Your videos greatly encourage me that there are people who can embrace those of us with questions.
Oh, and the chupacabra comment was made of awesome.
logos47 3 years ago
Father Matthew, one of Jesus' body part that I see most often forgotten is his Judaism. I sent you a video titled, "Jesus, tell us about your Judaism." I hope you enjoy it.
ClaraMariaGoldstein 4 years ago
wow......wow......Father Matthew, you are truly a gift! THANKS for these videos! Whether folks agree or disagree, it's so exciting to see people in dialogue about their faith...and using such a modern means to do it!
teapartyco2 4 years ago
I'm glad there are Christians like Father Matthew.
MusclecarsMeditation 4 years ago 9
A BIG WASTE OF TIME, this guy is working for the secret services:-)
jardinnoel 4 years ago
Is that aphex twin playing in the background? :)
deBeuk 4 years ago
yes.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
"yes."
Father Matthew, you're awesome.
deBeuk 4 years ago
GO MATTHEW, GO !!! Good stuff buddy. Read "A generous Orthodoxy" by Brian McLaren. Keep W - I - D - E .
jollyvicar 4 years ago
Orthodoxy (right belief) or Orthopraxis (right action), which is more important? I think Jesus was about action more than about being right. That's how I read it.
ppearson 4 years ago
We are all worshiping the same God if we believe in a LOVING God. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus,etc. all believe in the same God if we believe in a God of love. Even atheists (even though they may not consciously realize it) believe in the same God if they believe in love. Christ=Love God=Love
chrisu336 4 years ago
No, Christians don't worship "LOVE", any more than we worship Eros or Cupid. We worship God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Muslims have an entirely different conception of God incompatable with Christianity, and the Hindus are poyltheistic. None of these views are compatable.
RyanControl 4 years ago 4
are you and protestant, let me know,
fenians1798 4 years ago
Yes. Anglicans are protestants. But they also are "catholic" in the sense of being part of the universal church.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
I wanted to stop by and thank you for these video's. They are wonderful! You managed to get my adolescent's attention and thought engaged. They are now asking me questions...Hmm...and I make them go look it up. *smile*.
Puffywaunwaun 2 years ago
Weeel... I don't know. There is some things that are true and some which are not. Now, noone but yourself alone can distance you from God. Still, I can't say anything should be permitted. It can't. Church is a teacher, and as such, must help people with confusion. That doesen't allways call fro blind faith, but it should be a trustworthy guide.
paxcoder 4 years ago
Also, there are some fundamental things that just cannot be set aside one way or another, and that is why, for example, we cannot call Jehova's witnesses Christians. Unity - of course. But not at any cost. I hope you agree.
paxcoder 4 years ago 2
Unity at the expense of what? I know many Episcopalians who don't even believe
Jesus rose from the dead and who don't confess that Jesus is God. They quote
the creeds every Sunday but don't believe in them or in what the Bible teaches.
kathleeneuropa 4 years ago
Sure, there are always going to be people who doubt or aren't completely "orthodox" but do you really think that changes our sincerity as followers of Jesus? We should still include and welcome ALL people, regardless of how strong their faith is or what they do or don't believe (Romans 14).
baronsabato 4 years ago
Everyone should be welcome into the Church, but it is the resposiblity of the Church to teach Right Faith an Right Action. The purpose Great Commision wasn't to go out into the world and tell them "You're cool, keep doing what you've been doing". Otherwise we would still be worshiping Jupiter and having orgies at religious festivals.
RyanControl 4 years ago
I can't say that I agree with everything you've said, but all people do need to be Christians. (When you say, "evangelical," does that include "conservatives"?)
AnHonestChristian 4 years ago
And that is why I'm catholic. : )
crazzykitty2001 4 years ago
lol
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
well crazzykitty2001 read ACTS 10:34, Father has and is doing a fantastic job. I am a Catholic too.
Curtisfred 4 years ago
Fr. Matthew, what is your take on diversity and the recent placement of homosexual clergy?
Akathist 4 years ago
Coldplay sucks but The Bad Plus is amazing. Your taste in music has proven and yet disproven the existence of God. If there is a God, why Coldplay? If there isn't an God, why The Bad Plus?
Akathist 4 years ago
lol
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
You say that faith unlocks eternal life. I ask you...faith in what? It's how you answer that question that makes all the difference.
JP2gr8 4 years ago 2
I think many Anglicans have made a false idol of "diversity" The idea, for example, that in one US diocese a gay couple can have their marriage blessed but in another can't makes a total mockery of any notion of objective truth and the universal demands of God's law (which presumably supersedes diocesan boundaries). But hey as long as we are diverse, then everything is cool.
JP2gr8 4 years ago
Either God has taught us objective truth or He hasn't. Either His revelation or His demands for morality are true or they are not. While there is room for discussion, the basic essentials of Christian belief and morality that are under attack in say the Anglican Communion goes beyond the pale
JP2gr8 4 years ago
Thus one can say there is "rightness" and "wrongness" in religion. In fact, orthopraxis (right action) flows from orthodoxy (right belief). Look to radical segments of Islam to see what happens when one has a wrong understanding of God. Such a wrong understanding leads to wrong actions such as suicide bombings in his name.
JP2gr8 4 years ago
The reason why the Samaritan's response is considered good is because his actions were in alignment with what is objectively good and true. His right actions flowed from his right faith in God and morality. He was right, the others were wrong.
JP2gr8 4 years ago
I think Fr. Matthew's juggling said it all...too many balls in the air and they eventually get dropped and then their is a huge mess to clean up. Not only that people can trip and fall on the mess and get really hurt. How many souls are hurt by the Anglican Church's tolerance of error and false teaching in the name of "diversity"?
JP2gr8 4 years ago
Almost everyone thinks that faith involves believing the right thing. Jesus' questioner was a lawyer, one who made his living by defining his terms. He must have thought that faith was like everything else in his life, a matter of getting it right: the right answer, the right conduct, the right opinion. Tell me what's right. I want to know.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
The problem is that, as the 39 Articles remind us, we can't take parts of scripture in isolation and make them the whole Bible. Jesus didn't tell his Apostles to go out into the world and tell them "we respect your spiritual journey". The Episcopal Church has come up with the most remarkable program of shrinking churches ever invented.
RyanControl 4 years ago
"There is a big hole at the centre of Anglicanism - its authority. I don't think it's a Church; it's more of a religious society." - Edward Norman
JP2gr8 4 years ago
But no. It turns out that faith not a secret code of rightness that will unlock the treasure of eternal life. It turns out that faith is a relationship with God and with the world, and that the name of this relationship is love. Again, a lawyer would be frustrated here: Well, what is love? A feeling? An obligation? A decision? He would need some specificity, he felt, in order to understand.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
A quote by Edward Norman. Former rector of York Minster, former Anglican priest (now Catholic) and Oxford professor..."The future of the Church seems to be entrusted to the southern hemisphere, and its orthodoxy of teaching is guaranteed for so long as Rome itself retains centralised authority. The Anglican Communion, in contrast, is nothing more than a periodic conference of once like-minded individual Churches who have little in common now, but a colonial past."
JP2gr8 4 years ago
No further explanation was forthcoming. Instead, a story: a man is in serious need of help, and a stranger whose people are at odds with the injured man's people helps him, when his own religious authorities won't. The two are brought together in the story for a moment and then we hear no more -- nothing about eternity, no angels, no voices complimenting the Samaritan on his good behavior. He goes on his way with a promise to come and finish his good work, if need be.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
The Anglican Church is dying. Sure liturgical diversity is one thing, disagreement on basic morality and Christian belief is another. Read Anglican Difficulties: A New Syllabus of Errors by former rector of York Minster. It shows quite clearly how Anglicanism has always lacked the characteristics of a true Church. The Anglican Church has become a total joke (i.e. Bishop Spong). That is why I left 10 years ago and never looked back.
JP2gr8 4 years ago 2
It turns out there's no secret code, no hidden key. There's no need of one: eternal life isn't locked. Anybody can live as a lover of God and neighbor, just by walking out his front door and looking around at what needs to be done. And then doing the first thing that presents itself. And then another. And another. As many as you want -- they're all your neighbors. And the Christ who lives in you also lives in each of them.
FatherMatthew 4 years ago
I seem to recall something about a narrow path instead of wide road, but that's from the Bible and the Anglicans have already used Reason to conclude that the Bible is just a bunch of nice stories that we can pick and choice from will, instead of being the authentic record of Divine Revelation.
RyanControl 4 years ago
There is nothing in the Bible about the Church providing a Via Media. I know of no serious Episcopal theologian who 'picks and chooses' from the Bible. That's the territory of 'biblical legalists' to take items from the Bible out of context. The narrow path reminds us that it is only through grace and Christ's leadership that we can get to heaven.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
They can start 'The Egalitarian Episcopal Church', if they wish.
Luzern76 4 years ago
I have to admit that I am confused - by the historic priesthood do you mean Roman Catholic? What church doctrine? Which ones?
We seem to be talking past each other. It seems to me that the Episcopal Church, a province of the Anglican Communion has chosen through duly elected deputies and bishops (honoring by the way the priesthood and episcopate) to make some changes to how we view church.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
And as there always are, some have disagreed, many as vociferously as you clearly do, with those changes. This doesn't mean that anyone had given up rights to worship in whatever way brings them closest to God. In my congregation we have a sanctus bell, prayers for healing, children's sermons, and continue to use both Rite I and II of the BCP. This has happened in order to try to create a liturgy in which all can find some way of drawing closer to God.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
I would hope that in any church I serve, conservatives and liberal alike (both theological and political) can find some sense of unity around worship of the one triune God. If we say there is only one way, aren't we limiting that which is limitless?
hoovmeister 4 years ago
I am sorry for your anger and any feelings of abandonment by the church you belonged to, and hope you can find a congregation that allows you the freedom to sense God's presence in your worship, and most of all I hope that God gives you peace as you continue on his path until that day you are at God's table as part of the heavenly banquet.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
Well, seeing how the liberals are engaged in activly denying the one triune God, everytime they mock Incarnation, Trinity, Holy Scripture as Divine Revelation, saying that other religions that deny the Trinity have equal validity to Christianity... What divides Anglicans right now is bigger then sanctus bells. It is the very nature of God.
RyanControl 4 years ago
Yes, but with all due respect, the Anglican communion is currently in the midst of of a schism regarding gay ordination, and thus not immune from the same problems of inclusion/exclusion that other churches are.
FranklyMisterShankly 4 years ago
True, it isn't immune. Despite the best of intentions, our church is human with all the politics and garbage that comes from being made up of people (see Matthew's video from the tower). So we constantly have these issues. But the very fact that we are on the forefront of the debate, the first to take it up of all denominations, shows how seriously we take the importance of welcoming all; even as we risk our very unity to do so. It is both a troublesome and exciting time to be an Episcopalian.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
No doubt about it. Christ's work is being done in the Episcopal Church. Those members who focus on the work of Christ will hold the Church together, in spite of our differences of opinion (and even in what we firmly believe is right), those who allow those differences to blind themselves from Christ's mission will go away.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Is the decision to take legal action on property disputes Mrs. Schori's idea of doing Christ's work?
Luzern76 4 years ago
I'm confused, whose rights are being violated? The whole idea of welcoming all means people are welcomed no matter how they wish to worship.
Also - Bishop Jefferts-Schori has never taken legal action to my knowledge. Couldn't the question also be asked is it Christ's work to walk out on a church when the going gets hard?
hoovmeister 4 years ago
The rights of Orthodox Anglicans. Take Forward in Faith, for example: This group is near breaking point. The liberals are trying to marginalize, or simply squeeze them out. I don't see how they can continue on in the Anglican Communion without gaining their own province within the Communion.
Luzern76 4 years ago
But in what way are their rights being violated? They are leaving of their own accord, not being squeezed. Their views are, on the whole, being listened to if not agreed with, and they are welcome as are all people to stay in communion with those who disagree, which is the whole point of via media. There are many conservatives who thing this is more important than a single issue and choose to stay.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
So they should accept the ECUSA's apostasy?
Luzern76 4 years ago
Not if that is how they see it. They should continue to come to the table and present their views. If they find themselves unwilling to worship with those they disagree with, then there are many other denominations to choose from. One of the core values of the Anglican Tradition has always been coming to the table together no matter how much we argue. My personal belief is that remembering this is the only way that the communion can stay an international communion.
hoovmeister 4 years ago
Orthodox Anglicans have no rights at all -- only the right to be politically correct. Feminists don't want to provide an alternative. They wish to destroy the traditional priesthood and they want to throw out unwanted baggage (the Gospel, church doctrine). It is the mania of unity at all costs that does harm. If they the feminists and others wish to start their own denominations, they have every right to do that. But they should not deny others their right to traditional worship.
Luzern76 4 years ago
Schori has insisted that Bishops sue any departing congregations that see to retain property to which they LEGALLY have the title? When the going gets hard? How about when the church becomes apostate? The Bible comands us to flee from false teachers.
RyanControl 4 years ago
The Presiding Bishop is both a temporal AND spiritual leader. Spiritually, her job is to help us do Christ's work. Legally, her responsibility is to assert illegal to steal property belongin to the Church. This has ALWAYS been understood by real Episcopalians that the Church is NOT congregational(though if a person wants that, he or she can easily join one of the multitudes) its a single entity. Illegal to take real estate from the Church. It is held in trust by the congregation.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
hoovmeister -- But at what cost? Is violating the right to traditional worship the way of going about it?
Luzern76 4 years ago
Yeah, Mother Jesus is giving birth to a new thing... or so I'm told. Sorry, but these issues were taken up quite some time ago, and the Council of Jerusalem and the Epistles stamped "settled" on that debate a long time ago.
RyanControl 4 years ago
My response was to michaelkhoffman.
Luzern76 4 years ago
Yeah, you've also got the suicide bomber appeasers, of the like I see every time I enter an Anglican church here in its home nation. Good old rainbow flags (pacifist - don't stand up to evil; pro gay - ummm kinda tricky one I guess for the modern CofE; anti nasty old Israel, poor old terrorists from Palestine). With such profuse drivel no wonder your church is falling apart.
malsun74 4 years ago
Excellent! Better than most sermons I've ever heard.
Keep it up, Padre!!
wingoyoutwo 4 years ago
in countries that could already be called post-religious most people believe that all religions are wrong. so the people are more or less unified in atheism. this will probarbly be the future: value of religious faith will drop in some countries, and churches will never come back once there are no believers left.
kurtilein3 4 years ago
Something worth consideration: people have been making predictions like this for 2000 or so years. Funnily enough, the Bible and Christians are still here. In another 2000 years...well I wouldn't be counting my atheistic chickens just yet. :)
lankalot1 4 years ago
lankalot1: this should be depressive for you if you know the truth about religion. look at the violence religion causes simply because it seperates us, and because it promises heaven even to mass-murderers (christianity also does this, not just islam!).
religions seperate people, and they are simply wrong. you believe your religion is right and other religions are wrong, we just add one more religion to the wrong-list.
kurtilein3 4 years ago
Glad you understood I was referring to your post-religious comment and not the movie kurtilein3. I didn't make that very clear. (Oops!)
You're right: I do find religion-driven violence disappointing. But that's not the point I was making. My point was simply that given the consistent ability of Christianity to change people's lives worldwide for the better, describing a country as post-religious is a bit presumptuous.
lankalot1 4 years ago
Yep, and as long as you have churches that insist on telling people "do whatever you want, believe whatever you want, its all good" then there is no ground upon which you can attack atheism. Such "mainline" churches give no motivation to join them, and people wonder why they shrink and fraction.
RyanControl 4 years ago
One of the most important messages from the Episcopal Church today. One of several denominations actually working to achieve Christ's mission instead of impede it! Great work!
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
You must be kidding. Many people today are wondering if the Episcopal Church actually has a future in the Anglican Communion. If not, it may end up falling into an apostate heap. Lets hope and pray that doesn't happen.
Luzern76 4 years ago
Won't happen. The Episcopal Church is doing Christ's work... few others really are.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Well, the Global South doesn't think so...
ECUSA is thumbing its nose at Canterbury and alienating the rest of the Communion.
Luzern76 4 years ago
I know and understand that opinion well. There is no nose-thumbing, although it is being sadly twisted that way to fit Akinola's Papal aspirations. There are people on both sides hurt by this and neither side of the opinion is more hurt than the other. When the focus s refined to Christ's mission and relationship and REAL communication among the faithful Church will be unified. Until then, it's all politics.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
From Sept. 30 to Lambeth...when the dust finally settles...tally-ho! God Bless Forward in Faith and long live Global Orthodox Anglicanism!! Heheh...
Luzern76 4 years ago
Sadly, there are too many people who give this sort of blythe and cavalier response to a serious issue threatening not just Anglicanism, but Christianity itself. There are too many who work toward divisiveness instead doing Christ's work.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Tell that to Mrs. Schori.
Luzern76 4 years ago
Jefferts-Schori is working for Christ. Akinola is working for Akinola (although, I recognize his Christianity and have no doubt he is a man of faith.))
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Schori is actively attempting to intimidate dioceses that wish to go their own way. Schori nixed Bishop Lee's attempt to come to an amicable solution with his departing congregations and ordered him to take them to court. How his her obsession with retaining property whose title is legally held by the individual parishes working for love? How is her unwillingess to tolerate another Anglican presence in America embracing diversity?
RyanControl 4 years ago
Liberals pride themselves on embracing other ethnic groups, but when American Church (which remains dominated by WASPs) decided to do its own thing and the rest of the Christian world said "NO", well, it must be the white, rich, educated Americans that are right and not all those Africans or uneducated Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists, Eastern Orthodox...
RyanControl 4 years ago
Who has Papal aspirations? The Diocese of Ft Worth has a clause in its Consitution saying "The Church in this Diocese accedes to the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church, and recognizes the authority of the General Convention of said Church provided that no action of General Convention which is contrary to Holy Scripture and the Apostolic Teaching of the Church shall be of any force or effect in this Diocese."
RyanControl 4 years ago
Um... A constitution is a constitution, and can not have papal aspirations. The Episcopal Church is a single entity, not a 'Congregational' church. Historically, those who disagree with this have left the Church (as they are free to do) without stealing property from it. We hold our parishes in trust from the Church. Churches don't 'join' and 'disconnect' willy-nilly.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
The confiscatory canon that claims that parishes hold their property in trust from TEC wasn't passed until 1979, almost 200 years after the individual parishes formed the churches. Title to property is held by the parishes, and in some cases (Falls Church, for example) has been held long before the PECUSA was formed. VA law allows congregations to vote themselves out of a church and take their own property with them. How the courts will rule remains to be seen.
RyanControl 4 years ago
The concept pre-dated the canon. Only as congregationalists became active in the Episcopal Church was such a written declaration needed. It is truly sad that it is necessary now.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
The presiding bishop and her lawyers are insiting that the Diocese of Ft Worth change its constitution so that the authority of Scripture is no longer supreme over the decission of the national church. The Executive Council (and therefore Schori) has attempted to declare void the consitutions of entire diocese, which it has no authority to do so.
RyanControl 4 years ago
Huh? "Apostacy" has been tossed about so much lately it has become meaningless drivel from people who simply don't want to use the Bible to learn the lessons God and Christ teach us. There's more to it than just reading the words. All humans have God-given capability to understand the Bible on a deeper level. Unfortunately, few attmept to understand biblical authority within its full context rather than just in snippets.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Sola Scriptura is a pernacious heresy, and the reason you have thousands of competing churches but I'm willing to buy into the idea if it provides one less reason for joining a church that no longer really has a message. Of course, those that subscribe to the idea always manage to act as if their own interpetation is the only possible interpetation. Besides, modern Anglicanism tells me Islam and Budism is just as good, so why bother with the Bible?
RyanControl 4 years ago
However, Holy Scripture taken in the context of Holy Tradition still categorizes many of the acts and teachings of TEC as dubious at best.
RyanControl 4 years ago
What I describe is decidedly not SOLA SCRIPTORA. Few who see the Bible as truly from God and see its message of humanity's constant and unsuccessful attempt to reach God and only accepting God's reaching out to us can save us, see only a single 'right' interpretation of individual passages except within the context of that message. Sadly, too many wish to use isolated passages to put forth their own agenda.
michaelkhoffman 4 years ago
Apostasy: For staters, how about bishops that are unable to even unequivacably state of Jesus is God the Son Incarnate, instead of just some good prophet? How about bishops that see no problem with their priestesses claiming to be Islamic and Christian at the same time, ignoring the fact that Islam requires denying Christ?
RyanControl 4 years ago
Very good :I
MicMa2 4 years ago
Interesting, refreshing
SadieDammit 4 years ago
Yes, but has the otherwise admirable ecumenism of the Episcopal Church become closer and closer to Univeralism, to the point that church publications and the High Priestess of the ECUSA are even begining to challenge the necessity of Christ, one wonders why one should even bother with an Anglican tradition founded in Common Prayer, Creeds, and Articles of Faith, or if one should just save yourself a lot of structure the bishops don't seem to believe in anyway and just convert to neo-paganism.
RyanControl 4 years ago
It is dangerous to challenge Christianity with neo-paganism. We don't need the hatred the Christians have sought upon us in the past. It is common knowledge that neo-paganism has an even stronger opposing will than atheism, against the Church. Instead, quote passages from St. Thomas, as it is the most condemning text of all.
vegetarian2000 4 years ago
really challenging thought to make the church so includive, but is it at the cost of fidelity tothe gospel? just a thought I puzzle over ...
27may1972 5 years ago
I think if I ever find myself in New York I'll visit your church.
bloodyinkpen 5 years ago
Fr Matthew, you are a gift from God! Keep up the good work.
jaccusse 5 years ago
Fascinating 'post-modern' understanding of the Church and the gospel. Long on impressions, short on ideas. So helpful in understanding what's going on, I've posted it to others.
ugleyvicar 5 years ago
Nice video. Visit Washington National Cathedral if you've never been there.
ArsenalLasagneChef 5 years ago
scapegoat- hilarious! keep on rockin in yonkers!
cartercomedy 5 years ago
Father M
This is marvellous!! Especially in the context of the Primates Meeting. Can you teach Abp Rowan to juggle?? ;-)
Chris
CJCarnall 5 years ago
I KNEW you could get that juggling in somewhere! Great vlog posting!
I am noticing you are getting more and more folks watching you!
catnipper56 5 years ago
i had to watch it twice; the first time around i was focused on the acoustic Aphex Twin (did you do that?). any who, the subject of the blog is very important; keep up the good work there!
quaternio 5 years ago
The Acoustic version of Aphex Twin's "Flim" is performed by the Bad Plus.
FatherMatthew 5 years ago
very cool - as always :-+ (Jim)
JStrader 5 years ago
Well done, bro!
PadreWayne 5 years ago
Very well done. Do I detect a little James Alison back there somewhere? ;) Keep up the good work. You're doing the Church proud.
glamazares 5 years ago
Alison and Girard both. Good eye.
FatherMatthew 5 years ago
Bién hecho mi hijo, bién hecho.
SeatleSue 5 years ago
You have a beautiful vision for the Church, Father Matthew. Great video.
ZacharyDBrooks 5 years ago
pretty cool, father.
princehumperdinck 5 years ago
Thank you for this -- I wish we could all watch this together and then look at one another in the eyes.
You've done our church great honor with this video.
Tom Woodward
Retired Episcopal Priest
Santa Fe, NM
TBWSantaFe 5 years ago
Good stuff...now if only my Baptist brothers and sisters could figure it out...
brandonlstewart 5 years ago
Father (although you're young enough to be my son), since this is your first vid on controversy, I'll ask:
1. I found, by Googling your full name, that you're from Georgia. Is your congregation there different than in NY?
2. Does the church still require congregants to recite the Nicene creed?
Trailbzr 5 years ago
To answer your questions:
1. Yes. Delightfully so.
2. Yes. It's part of many standard services.
FatherMatthew 5 years ago
Very good points. I've known a lot of blessing through being a member of a Christian Union whilst in University. It is always good to see unity even within differences of oppinion on some minor issues. God bless you
extremeorigami 5 years ago
Nice reflection.
brdrew 5 years ago