Exploring Orthodoxy

» Adam74 - Concerning Iconography

Dear Mr. Hayes,

I received an e-mail that informed me of your Internet discussion forum on Orthodox Iconography. I would like to contribute to this discussion if I may...

I have been an Evangelical Protestant in the Wesleyan Tradition for over 12 years. In the last two years, I have been engaged in a rather intensive study of the Historical Christian Church and I am currently a Catechumen in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

There is no question that Orthodox Iconography is a matter that perplexes and bewilders many Protestants, as it did me. However, when I became perplexed and bewildered, I had two choices...1) to further explore and honestly examine this seemingly peculiar belief and practice or 2) to retreat and convenietly rule it out as something that is not Christian (or not Biblical).

I must add that, regardless of the issue that is being examined and discussed, one must be willing to lay his/her presuppositions out on the table and consider the possibility that he/she may be wrong. This is frightening territory for many. It is deeply unsettling for anyone (including myself) to learn that what one has been taught, or something that one sincerely believes, is false.

I believe that the one of the most widespread forms of idolatry in our time is for a person to allow his/her understanding of God to be as unchanging as God Himself! The United States and Western Europe (Professing Christians included) are societies of people who tend to think too highly of what little we actually know when it comes to the pursuit of God, Theology, and Church History.

I want to also point out that we are a culture of people (professing Christians included) who fail to the uttermost to 1) love God with all our mind (Mark 12:28); 2) to be transfromed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and to set our minds on things above (Col 3:2).

How does one love God with his/her whole mind? I do not have a complete answer to this question, but I tend to think that a good starting point of loving God with one's whole mind is Intellectual Honesty.

Is the Orthodox Veneration of Icons of form of Idolatry in the Historical Christian/Biblical sense? The answer is NO. There is sufficient basis in both Church History and in the Holy Scriptures for the veneration of Icons. To the sincere soul who believes otherwise, I respectfully challenge you and encourage you to explore Orthodox Iconography...moreover Church History...Why we as Orthodox worship the way we do...What our basis is for our beliefs and our practices...Who exactly was invloved in the formation of the New Testament Canon of 27 books 350 years after the ressurection and ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ--the very books that Protestants, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans hold sacred.

As a Protestant, not only was I marveled and terrified by my findings as a result of my search, but I was also amazed at what God was teaching me about myself in the process of exploring and researching.

A Former Protestant Walking East,

Adam

-- posted by Adam74

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