ORTHODOX SALVATION
ORTHODOX SALVATION
1) They believe Jesus is a Semi Saviour who only helps you to be saved. They have 3 Saviours
i) Jesus
ii) Salvation by your own works.
iii) Salvation through the Sacraments (sacerdotalism) administered by priestcraft.
by preaching their false gospel they make priests, bishops and themselves into "Co-Saviours" and reduce Jesus to a Semi Saviour.
If the Orthodox Church preaches the Evangelical style "Jesus Saves" Gospel, when was the big doctrinal bust up in history between them and the Pope over it? And why was it not part of the Great Schism? Because such a division NEVER happened between Rome and Orthodoxy over this that is why, because they both preach a similar "plus works and plus priestcraft" false gospel. In the Reformation the great debate over "salvation by grace through Faith alone" would be an ancient familiar dispute, not some new earthshaking controversy.
The Greeks, Russians, and the Orthodox Faith in general, contributed precisely nothing to the Reformation. Why? Because the Roman Catholics and Orthodoxy believed the complete opposite to the core centre doctrine of the Reformation, bringing the truth back to the people that salvation is found in Christ alone, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, and priestcraft saves no man.
No church can save you! Only Jesus!
Eastern Orthodox people do not "believe in" Jesus. To believe in means in Greek "to trust in and rely upon" Jesus. To add sacerdotalism and your own works means you do not trust in and rely upon Jesus, but other things too.
Orthodox and Roman Catholic style salvation is an insult to God, because they say finite human works can be involved in the infinite salvation of everlasting life in paradise with God himself. They often describe salvation itself as a "process of salvation" and a "synergy".
Grace versus Works
One extra proof of Orthodoxy preaching salvation by your own works, and by their bogus sacraments, is that the belief has never appeared in the list of doctrines that has cause The Great Schism with "The Holy Mother Church" of the Whore of Rome. For instance
The King James Bible says quote.
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." Romans 11:6
This verse teaches us so clearly that grace (unmerited favour) and works are contrary, one to another, and polar opposites. But in their Latin bible the Roman Catholics have removed part of the bible verse from their scriptures, and it reads instead:
"And if by grace, it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace." Romans 11:6 (Douay Version)
totally removing the last part of the bible verse from the word of God, something the Greeks and Orthodox believers do not do. The footnote in the Douay Version then says:
[6] It is not now by works: If salvation were to come by works, done by nature, without faith and grace, salvation would not be a grace or favour, but a debt; but such dead works are indeed of no value in the sight of God towards salvation. It is not the same with regard to works done with, and by, God's grace; for to such works as these, he has promised eternal salvation. (Douay Bible Version footnote to Romans 11:6) This is yet another proof Catholics think they save their own souls like Orthodoxy does, and make priests into their co-saviours.
Anyone who has read the history of the Reformation knows full well it was fought partly indeed largely over the issue of salvation by the sacraments, and salvation by human works. Sophisms and oxymoronic ideas like "being saved by works by grace" are the stock and store of both the RC and O religions, and the issue of salvation being rendered no more a gift, has never been an issue of dispute between Rome and Othodoxy. They both teach the same thing.
The so called Christian Orthodox Religions, are masters of sophist and oxymoronic speech to cloak their deceptions, and I think also diversion will be a tactic they use. For instance, Rome and Orthodoxy do not teach the identical same thing on the subject of works of supererogation, that lead to indulgences. (see also "the treasury of saints"). Orthodoxy may use that as a diversion from their own works salvation and sacramental salvation (?). Works of supererogation is defined in the OED as
supererogation |ˌsuːpərɛrəˈgeɪʃ(ə)nˌsjuː-|noun [ mass noun ]
the performance of more work than duty requires.
works of supererogation (in the Roman Catholic Church) actions believed to form a reserve fund of merit that can be drawn on by prayer in favour of sinners.
By this the Popes claimed that by "The Power of the Keys of Saint Peter" they had the power to release works over and above that required for salvation, such as works performed by Mary the Mother of Jesus, which for the right price could be used to release people from Purgatory, defrauding millions of their gullible followers, and bringing about the phrase "The moment the coin falls into the coffer the soul leaps from Purgatory!" As Orthodoxy flatly deny that the Catholic idea of Purgatory exists, they may divert you from the central issue that both of them nevertheless believe in salvation via the sacraments and your works. If so, please do not be so unalert as to fall for such a ploy. If the Catholics and Orthodox disagreed on the subject of salvation via the Sacraments and works, it would have been the central issue of the Schism of 1054.
Synergy Salvation & the salvation "process"
The ROOT vesus the FRUIT
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10
Bi-synergism and Tri-synergism
In my opinion the concept of synergism should be qualified by the prefixes bi and tri. Bi-Synergism should be those who believe their works help save their souls. Tri-Synergism should be Catholics and Orthodox who believe in Jesus only helping to save them, and their salvation is completed by their own works, and those of priestcraft by the administration of sacraments (or so called ones) through priests and bishops, also called sacerdotalism. The Calvinist use of the word to falsely imply accepting a free gift makes the Evangelical gospel no longer free, and is therefore synergism not mono-salvation (God alone), is a demonic distortion of the concept, and is a sophist use of the word.
Calvinists use dangerous sophisticated arguments to trick people into believing monergism is impossible unless it is imposed, and acceptance of Christ is therefore always synergism, but that leads to the illogical conclusion that God must therefore not be omnipotent, as if he cannot create a free gift of salvation that cannot be accepted without rendering it no longer free, then he is no longer omnipotent. On the contrary Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that salvation is a gift, and accepting such a gift does not render it no longer free and that is therefore mono-salvation. That man has free will to accept or reject the advances of God to convert the soul is one thing both Evangelical Christians, Roman Catholics and Orthodox believers all agree upon. Calvinists are always the fly in the ointment mixing up theological definitions and standing in the way of the salvation of people trapped in the false theology of Orthodoxy.
The Orthodox church repeatedly says in its theology salvation is a "synergy". Saying "salvation is a process" deceives people into believing works are involved in salvation itself, a complete insult to God, as being with him forever in the Kingdom cannot be earned at all. If you worked for a hundred and fifty thousand million billion years, you could not earn two seconds in Paradise with God, or contribute to it. Frankly their theologists use these terms to divert their congregation, that consists mainly of people indoctrinated from childhood, from the "root versus the fruit" central issue, of their clash with Evangelical, born again Christian, and Protestant theology. Something that mixes up the minds of ordinary Joe Orthodox believers when they finally find out about this issue however, is that a lot of the works of Orthodoxy are man made works, rendering them sin from the start. Triple (???) infant (???) baptism is a double sin, as both things are contrary to God's word, that is baptizing babies who dont yet believe and doing this 3 times, then adding chrismation, another bogus practice. Or "doing a penance" given by a priest, the concept of which is in itself sinful, as is the whole idea of confessing your sins (instead of your faults) to a priest (instead of one another). Keep this in mind.
The "root versus the fruit" theology clash is that born again Christians say your good works are simply the fruit of salvation and true repentance, quote "every tree is known by his fruit" (Matthew 7) and not "every tree is saved by his fruit". Thus to a true evangelical Christian works will inevitably follow salvation in abundance, but they do not save, and in a simlar way sanctification, or winning the battle with sin described in Romans 7 will follow. This so refutes the Roman Catholic and Orthodox theology that a way must be found by them to the muddy the waters to stop you converting to becoming a true believer by rejecting works and the sacraments as a root of salvation.
Their deception processes are mentioned by Jesus in the Parable of the Sower. One great deception of Orthodoxy is to take advantage of the fact that a totally false gospel is preached by cetain heretical false Evangelicals and Protestants, called "Once Saved Always Saved" but with the addition of the concept of "no matter what you do". This vile false gospel is repudiated in Romans 3:8 and the Epistle of Jude. Orthodox preachers like to persuade their followers this is the basic Evangelical or Protestant gospel, and if it was I agree it would be simply anathema. Thus they persuade their churches, if works are not included in salvation, and the sacraments also, THAT is what it leads to, THE "certificate to sin" false gospel of the born again Christians, when in fact the Antinomianist style false gospel is as anathema to real born again Christians as it is to Orthodoxy.
The simple fact is Orthodoxy and the Catholics have made the cataclysmic doctrinal error of including works (their own and that of priests) into the ROOT of salvation, instead of it being the FRUIT of salvation, and thus they have a completely false gospel. Their eror in this respect is so glaring and easy to prove, that more and more they are trying to adopt Evangelical and Protestant terminology to make it sound as if works and the sacraments have only ever been taught by them as a fruuit not a root of salvation, as if the whole Reformation Era was one long never ending misunderstanding and they were in fact almost identical all along but never realised it, that is apart from the cannibal mass/eucharist issue and manner of baptism, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is their whole bogus false gospel is now simply beginning to be shaken apart in public for all to see, whereas Rome used to hide it all by forbidding to read the bible in your mother tongue, and performing the mass in Latin, as the terible death of Joan Waste in Foxes Book of Martyres proves! (Lord let her bravery be forever remembered!) who was burnt alive by Bloody Mary for paying for the bible to be read to her in English (she was a blind girl who spent her pittance of pay to hear the word of God.)
The Evangelical Straw Man Gospel
Face facts. Only complete renegades would preach a gospel that says you are saved in a moment in time and then add to this that the definition of that salvation is that you can commit long term serious sin, never repent, and do almost nothing for anyone anywhere, and you are "saved". That is not the true Evangelical gospel, it is a straw man to justify Orthodoxy adding works and the sacraments into salvation itself. The fact that such heretics exist among false brethren in the USA does not mean it is the gospel of Protestants or born again Christians, any more than the fact Rasputin preached the same kind of thing proves Russian Orthodox Christians believe it, or the fact that Joseph Stalin trained to be an Orthodox priest means they are responsible for his deeds. They also love to misrepresent the word "Protestant" constantly inferring it means "to protest" and their false logic is, as the Orthodox religion was there, before the "protests" began, it is a self defeating name. However the word Protestant means "for a testimony".
Proving it by their own bitter criticisms of the "Jesus Saves" Gospel.
A big proof Orthodoxy does not preach the same gospel as Evangelicals, is quite simply when they hear the Evangelical gospel of Luke 24:44-48, 1 Cor 15:1-4 and indeed John 3:16, they launch into a tirade of criticism of it, declaring "the process of salvation" over many years is not there. There is a big difference between helping to save your own soul with works, and salvation via sacraments, and throwing away salvation earned by Jesus in his death and resurrection. If it really is true that all believers will - by some happy event - manage to repent before they die of long term unrepentant sin, all well and good. Loss of salvation would become a moot point. However too many bible verses seem to warn us that imaginery happy state of affairs will not occur in real time, in everyday reality, and some will be damned. How can you be "in danger of Hell fire", for instance, if you cannot go there in the first place? A free will ability to fall away into sin and be damned does not turn salvation into a process. If Orthodoxy was preaching the same gospel as Evangelicals they would say when we preach it "That is our gospel by which we are saved too!" but of course they do not. Stop inferring you preach our gospel if everytime you hear it you lambast it. Evangelicals and Orthodoxy peach a distinctly different "gospel by which we are saved" two gospels, one of which must be ANATHEMA (Gal 1:6-9). You cannot have two goospels that saved, not even if an angel from heaven floats down to deliver the "alternative one".
Salvation in the old testament
Mankind has never been saved by works at any time in history, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." but in the new and better covenant the outworking of Faith is not to obey the old draconian Law of Moses with all its enslaving, clockwork, ritualistic demands, and harsh punishments, "a yoke .......... which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." Acts 15:10. In Christ we have more freedom to live our lives without carrying a religious boulder on our shoulders. You cannot mow the lawn or washes the dishes on Saturday or you will be stoned to death is not everyone's idea of a happy weekend. That does not mean we are now lawless, there is in the new testament, quote "the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2) a distinct new covenant law, though we are saved by grace, and if you choose to ignore his new law your house is built on sand. As previously explained, the Evangelical gospel of Christ crucified, buried and resurrected is not a licence to sin.
The true born again Christian gospel says, just as Orthodoxy and Catholics say, that long term, serious unrepentant sin will lead to damnation, but it does not include obedience as a root of salvation, only a fruit of salvation. We are not on a ladder to heaven. There is, with the Evangelical good news, always hope for the Prodigal son. Paul says we are saved by the gospel "unless you have believed in vain" (1 Cor 15:1-4) and Jesus mentions repentance (Luke 24:44-48) step outside repentance into long tem unrepentant sin and you will be damned, but that does not mean works save you, it means dont cast off your first Faith. Frankly, what kind of dreamer thinks he can live like a demon, die like a demon, and float to heaven like an angel? With no repentance! Preposterous! "By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." (2 Peter 2:2) In the new covenant of Jesus we have grace upon grace however and it is far better to live in the new covenant than in the old.
This is mentioned as Orthodoxy seeks to set up a slavish calendar and plethora of man made traditional rituals in order to imitate the old covenant law, and self-style themselves after the Mosaic priesthood, replacing the sacrifices with "feeding Jesus to people" in order to fabricate a comparable priesthood in themselves. They dress up in ornate gold plated uniforms that mesmerise their indoctrinated victims with some false idea of power, but just look like religious clowns doing a performance to Evangelicals, swinging their bags of incence. To this fantastic formula they add real sacraments and warp them, add bogus sacraments, add an avalanche of traditions, rites and ceremonies, then make it all methodical with a claustrophobically complex calendar of human origin and a swamp of counterfeit liturgies. Then they add an idea found nowhere in the old testament, that salvation is not obtained by grace through Faith alone but by works also, and priestcraft via sacraments. It never was. Jesus said I AM THE WAY. The reality is that not even under Moses was anyone ever saved by works, The Orthodox religion goes totally outside of the bible by teaching that salvation (yes actual salvation) is a "process" and a "synergy" of works and Faith. It never has been and it never will be. They tried to re-invent the old covenant priesthood in a new covenant disguise and flunked it, but their added deadly weapon of indoctrination from babyhood has made a great "success" of their ficticious Faith.
Notes
is as dumb as saying "Your mother giving birth to you was synergism" or "the Romans helped save our souls by crucifying Jesus" or "The Jews saved us by demanding the murder of Jesus" or "those who buried Jesus helped save our souls"