MichaelNZ
Puritan Board Freshman
Orthodox will argue that Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have more in common with each other than either does with Orthodoxy. Certainly Protestantism and Romanism favour scholasticism, while Orthodoxy doesn't try to explain certain things like the change of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist.
One problem with the Orthodox is that they deny that Christ died on the cross to pay our sin debt. They shy away from our use of a legal metaphor and instead focus on a medical one, that is, Christ came to heal humanity, and they point to the fact that the Greek word σῴζω (sozo) means both 'to save' and 'to heal'. This is from an Orthodox web site designed to introduce Orthodoxy to complete beginners: "God became Man to heal humanity. By taking our humanity to Himself in the Incarnation he entered a process of redemption which culminated in the resurrection, death being destroyed and the reign of sin ended, (St. Irenaeus). The goal of salvation is deification, union with God.
I would say ultimately that Roman Catholicism is worse than Orthodoxy as it specifically denies salvation by faith alone in the anathemas of the Council of Trent. The Orthodox church has never formally defined that salvation is not by faith alone, although they definitely teach and practice it. I remember listening to an Orthodox priest who was a former Protestant say that faith is a process that involves repenting and reception of the sacraments, thus redefining faith.
One problem with the Orthodox is that they deny that Christ died on the cross to pay our sin debt. They shy away from our use of a legal metaphor and instead focus on a medical one, that is, Christ came to heal humanity, and they point to the fact that the Greek word σῴζω (sozo) means both 'to save' and 'to heal'. This is from an Orthodox web site designed to introduce Orthodoxy to complete beginners: "God became Man to heal humanity. By taking our humanity to Himself in the Incarnation he entered a process of redemption which culminated in the resurrection, death being destroyed and the reign of sin ended, (St. Irenaeus). The goal of salvation is deification, union with God.
I would say ultimately that Roman Catholicism is worse than Orthodoxy as it specifically denies salvation by faith alone in the anathemas of the Council of Trent. The Orthodox church has never formally defined that salvation is not by faith alone, although they definitely teach and practice it. I remember listening to an Orthodox priest who was a former Protestant say that faith is a process that involves repenting and reception of the sacraments, thus redefining faith.