Dueling with the Big Banana

Yesterday, I was a “guest” on The Danny Fontana Show which originates in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Plugging One Flew Over the Onion Dome has granted me several interviews with radios and newspapers; though, granted, I’d never heard of The Danny Fontana Show and, most likely, won’t again. Though when he quickly ended the interview, just before a break, he thanked me and said we’d do it again sometime.

Danny, playing to his audience, wanted to know …

How “Orthodox” differs from “Conservative”

If “Orthodox” believe in the inerrancy of Scripture

and …

Do I (as an “Orthodox”) believe that we are saved by works

In the process of answering him, I explained what the term Orthodox meant within a Church context … the Great Schism … Synergy & Theosis … Etc.

By now you, wise and patient reader, have figured out that I was wasting my time. No doubt. But it is one of the flaws of Orthodoxy, if you will, that our Faith cannot be explained in little sound bites.

The whole purpose, apparently, of the interview was to get me to admit that “works saves.” As Danny Fontana, the Big Banana, kept steering me in that direction, I stated:

You can’t have Fatih without Works. True Faith is always expressed in good works. You can’t have one without the other.

Danny: So, you would agree that you can be saved by works?

FrJ: No, works alone won’t save you.

Danny: But you believe that works are necessary for salvation?

FrJ: I believe that you can’t have one without the other. God is Love and love creates. Love always creates — love gushes forth in works and, as with True Faith, you can’t have one without the other.

Danny: Thank you! I’ve been trying to find the difference in what you believe and what I believe — And I think I just did!

* * Stinger! * *

And that was the end.

Oh! As I mentioned, he also asked if I believed in the inerrancy of Scripture. I stated that we believe in the inerrancy of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit guides the Church, the Church gave us the Scriptures … etc.

Danny: So you don’t believe in the inerrancy of Scripture?

Somewhere in there I told him that you would not find a church that uses more Scripture in its worship … and that the Orthodox use the whole Canon of Scripture, unedited by the Reformation.

None of this mattered as we raced toward the break.

Perhaps the strangest part of the interview was Danny Fontana’s question about the Enlightenment. He said something like, “Doesn’t it bother you that your church missed out on the Enlightenment?”

FrJ: What do you mean?

Danny: Well … you said that your church started in 1054 …

FrJ: No. I said the Roman Patriarchate and the other patriarchates split in 1054 …

Danny: Whatever … either way, there’s 800 years or so where you guys missed the whole Renaissance. Don’t you think that’s a problem?

FrJ: “Some would say it was a Godsend!”

Honestly, other than the time constraints of commercial radio, I believe this was a biggie for the Big Banana, Danny Fontana. The Orthodox missed out on the Enlightenment.

Enlightenment (or Age of Reason) – The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement which took place in the eighteenth century, representing a culmination of the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance (ca. 1350-1600) and the results of the scientific revolution which had begun with the work of Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon, and Newton. Essentially, for many thinkers, the Enlightenment represented a radical break from the medieval period (i.e. the Dark Ages) and ushered in a new age of reason. From the perspective of religion (especially Christianity), the Enlightenment accelerated the secularization of Western culture, liberating society from the firm authority of the Church and biblical concepts. Thus, reason became ascendant over the authority of revelation, and mankind was now moving away from Christian theism toward a new era of humanism.
Source

Did I miss something?