Why Are Evangelicals Bailing Out on Evangelicalism?

White Horse Inn producer Shane Rosenthal, addresses this important question with Todd Wilken

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Comments

[Lloyd I. Cadle]

I listened to the interview and really enjoyed it. I believe that God will use Shane in a tremendous way to reach the Jewish people with the Gospel. Shane talks about his Calvary Chapel start and I can relate to it as I graduated from their Bible College many years ago before I became Reformed and I am now a confessional Lutheran.

Not mentioned in the interview however, is how many evangelicals, Lutherans and Reformed are flocking to the Orthodox traditon (be it Greek, Russian Coptic etc.). This tradition is now the fastest growing tradition in the United States. The Orthodox are not "seeker churches" and they don't even care if visitors like it or not. But they are growing more than any other tradition.

I did a several month study on their tradition and theology and don't have the time to explain it all. In a nut shell, they have a doctrine of theosis where they mix justification and santification. They don't have a doctrine of "forensic justification" (even though St. Paul taught it), and they view this as a new teaching.

Quickly, folks are flocking to this tradition because it is very, very liturgical (far more than either Reformed or Lutheran). If you go to an Orthodox service, (whether you agree with it or not), you have a distinct feeling that you are leaving the world and entering a service right out of the Book of Revelation. They don't seek to reach the world as their services haven't changed in two thousand years. That is why folks are flocking to it in record numbers.

In the end, the church rises and falls on the doctrine of justification. But, it is interesting to see the trend of many flocking to the Orthodox tradition because folks are looking for substance and not fuzzy feelings.

[Orthodox guy]

Where was the authentic church from 90AD to the 16th century?
Can you point to it in 350ad? 450ad? 750ad?
(Please be specific- names and locations)