Bible Quiz 101

A fellow blogger has asked for a response to these rhetorical questions. Since they are so fundamental to the Orthodox Faith, I will respond, remembering that I am but a sinner.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

If the East had fallen...

I have some questions, if anyone would like to respond:

1. From whom did you receive the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the glory of your salvation and the doctrines of the Church? And from whom did that person hear it? And the person that told them? And the person that told them?

From the teachings of the Apostles, both by "word and letter" who gave such to living men who preserved and passed on the foundational truth by "word and letter".

2. Who put together and preserved the divine Scriptures that as a collected whole we call the Bible?

The Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Laymen of the Church, who were physically present at specific locations in Councils. We know their names. We have the written recordings of the meetings and the historical records of the actions taken, and the criteria used for their decisions in canonizing the scriptures. There was only ONE Church in deciding the canon-The Orthodox Church.

3. Was Jesus Christ the only one whom spilled his blood that you might know of your salvation?

There is no other name nor blood under heaven by which we can be saved and no human can be compared to the Christ, the Son of the Living God, however, many who were called of Him and part of his BODY also died martyrs deaths, via beheading, by the lions or other means. More recently some 8 million died in Russia during the Revolution, including the Tsar and his family who were taken into the forest and shot, and 80,000 Orthodox Priests.

4. Where are those blessed Saints of the Kingdom of Heaven that died before our time?

Around the throne of heaven worshiping Holy Trinity and praying for us.

5. Whom do you ask to pray for you: those of greater faith or those of lesser?

Both, but the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

6. Was Mary the mother of God?

Yes. The Church in council decided this matter long ago. Christ was both God and man. Mary is the mother of his incarnation and yet He was also God. She was not the instrument of his God essence but of his humanity, Since His two parts are indivisible, she is called the Mother of God. The term is to assure a full understanding that God became incarnate.

7. What do your Church Leaders do when they are confronted with a problem within the church?

Assume authority to make a decision. The question is: from where does their authority come? The answer: Holy Spirit.

8. Do you look to the elders and ministers of the Church to help you in your understanding of what you read in the Bible?

Only insomuch as they know what the Apostles and Fathers of the Church have said is truth. The criteria for understanding the Scriptures is to know "what was believed at all times buy all people in all places." This statement presumes that the Orthodox Church has always been the storehouse of THE truth.

9. Have you ever sinned? Did God utterly leave you and forsake you when you did?

Yes. No.

10. Do you lean upon your own understanding of the Gospel for your salvation?

No. My understanding as an individual is tenuous. Only in the West does an individual demand a right to individual interpretation of the scriptures. The Church is a body and in that body truth is revealed. Orthodox means "right teaching" or "right glory".

11. What did our Lord on the eve of his betrayal pray that we would be?

ONE.

12. And what did he say Eternal Life was?

"This is Eternal Life: to know thee and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."