The Question I Had Before I Left Eastern Orthodoxy w/ Michael Lofton

Michael explains how the inconsistencies in doctrine and lack of authority structure led him back to Catholicism.

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[SaintCharbelMiracleworker]

I love our EO brothers and sisters. Pray for reunification. 🙏🏽

[yusukehanabishi]

And then a small peasant girl named Bernardette was told by Our Lady that she is the Immaculate Conception, that just shocked the prelates and the Bishop because that doctrine was very new and could not have been known by a poor and very young girl at that time.. That is why Lourdes is indeed an amazing apparition of the Virgin Mary..❤❤❤

[ic.xc.]

Let's pray for all churches. I am especially fond of the eastern orthodox church and their history. Their massive century long oppression under caliphates, war and destruction, still to this day.
Yet they are still there in the Middle East

[Seraphim]

I was Roman Catholic for 50 years and left 15 years ago to become Orthodox. I feel I am now at home and am very happy I left for the true, ancient faith.

[georgecoyoy]

the Orthodox in the replies making the tired criticism of western Christianity being "too intellectual" or whatever don't realize how that criticism falls flat to those of us who through our Catholic faith have had intense personal encounters with Christ though which His truth has been written on our hearts forever. Many of us have sat in adoration, or have received the Eucharist, or have read the Gospels, or have sat in prayer in a silent Church and have had encounters with our Lord that cannot be explained in words, a simple but powerful knowing in our hearts that the Gospel is true and that Christ loves us. Christ has revealed himself to us through the Catholic Church - why would we ever leave because some "orthodox" Christian on the internet says we can't know Christ unless we leave the Church through which Christ revealed himself to us? Why would we just take your word for it? You can throw out all the Greek words you want, but the fact is for many of us Catholic life and specifically western, Roman Catholic praxis has brought us to know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is also the fact that Christ has revealed himself to western people through centuries of Roman Catholic heritage - this church ministered to my ancestors, it has ministered to me, and through that ministry we have come to know Jesus. Again, I don't see why we would ever leave the church through which Christ has revealed himself to us. This truth makes that silly criticism - that Catholicism is "too rational" or "too intellectual" - fall on deaf ears.

[TheFreekg]

You really need to get an actual Orthodox person on the show at some point.

[justian]

To be charitable, I think Michael tries to apply scholastic legalism to Orthodoxy and fails to see the forest through the trees. This is true of many of his statements in this clip.

[matuskaandme]

For the folks who say us Orthodox are like Protestants, consider two things. First, Michael and other Catholic apologists aren't saying this at all. What they are saying is that they think we Orthodox have a deficiency in Ecclesiology. In other matters, they see us as having the same Faith. They don't see us as Protestants or like Protestants at all. Second, Orthodox have a unity of Faith and Worship. Deviation from that means being outside the Church (often referred to as non-canonic). In Orthodoxy, there isn't a way to hold different views on matters of Faith and theology and still be Orthodox.

[Jeem]

I would like to talk with one of you guys sometime, about the controversial subject of "Orthobros" and the increase of Orthodox popularity, particularly on the internet. Either way, God bless you and let's keep fruitful dialogue going

[Bznpb]

I'm ex orthodox and catholic convert aleluya

[rightly-ordered]

Finally!!! Very happy to see Michael on the show again!!

[tomn]

this is very sound reasoning, and this is what I've been looking for

[joshuahankey]

I definitely do not have the same level or area of education of orthodoxy to speak extensively into this, but the goal of objectively identifying what is right and wrong for things as peripheral as whether you should be baptized once or twice seems like flawed thinking. You could give someone a meal with the appearance of it being a good act, but inwardly have selfish motives making it actually an evil act. This to say, the idea that you can define what is explicitly right and wrong on such peripheral details outside the confines of what scripture directly communicates or indirectly implies, seems like a major stretch. Yes, you can create standards and authority holding the church accountable to those scripture-based standards is very important but trying to create such detailed rules serves what purpose?

[manny]

The funny thing, the authority structure he speaks of, every book from Acts until Revelation in the NT is stories and Epistles of the Church's authority structure imposing teaching on local Churches.
So any faith tradition that denies that a central authority is invalid, denies more than half of the New Testament.

[benedict]

I agree with him and I can make many more points as a former Eastern Orthodox

[charlesnunno]

This idol worship of "authority" is precisely what has caused so much abuse in my personal life. Authority-worship very quickly turns into mere Power-worship, and that's why you start abusing those under you.

[matthayes]

I am now curious, how the recent firing of Bishop Strickland affected Michael Lofton considering the points he was making in this video about how the catholic church has a prescribed way to handle ecumenical differences.

[christopherwatkins]

It raises the question!!! Begs the question is not asking a question, it’s making a circular argument.

[ilyamuromets]

Obviously, this guy is confused. What issues did Vatican II clarify? LOL 😂

[TheRomanOrthodox]

So, a few points:
(1) If the assertion of papal claims immediately struck most of the Church as new and extreme, then it is clear that it was not the tradition handed us by Christ.

(2) There is no need for confusion. If you have been received into the Orthodox Church by your bishop, there is no need for scrupulosity. Are you growing closer to Christ? If that is not a good enough answer for you, then are you sure that you are worshipping God and not an idol constructed out of your own rationality?

(3) Christ is not the author of any confusion in the Orthodox church, humans are. If we were all following the teachings of the Church, there would be no problems.

(4) You are thinking of Christ's Body like a Constitutional republic, with all powers allocated and everything certain; God does not promise us that. He promises himself, and God willing, we seek after that and see all difficulties settled. Look at the end of the Macedonian and Serbian schism; it is an example of what can happen when humility prevails and the desire for a true solution.