Out Of Captivity (5)

Syncretism Lent 2013

Great Lent 2013: Out of Captivity

① Superficial relationship with God

② Pizza Slice or Bicycle Hub

③ Selective hearing and selective reading

④ Dyparentification

⑤ Syncretism

(St. Augustine)

Reveal yourself to Him, who knows you; so that

He would reveal Himself to you, who do not know

Him

SyncretismSyncretism is “the attempted union or

reconciliation of diverse or opposite tenets or

practices, especially in philosophy or religion”

The world mind set

we live in a world that seeks conformity to

values dictated by the majority.

Yet

They feared the LORD, yet

served their own gods

according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried

away

2 kings 17:33

Majority is Death

There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end

thereof [are] the ways of death.

Proverbs 14:12, 16:25

The Inheritance

The righteous man walks in his integrity;

 His children are blessed after him.

Prov. 20:7

Herod’s Syncritism20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he

was a just and holy man, and he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly…

22 And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.” Mk 6:20,22

King Amaziah14 Now it was so, after Amaziah came from

the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them. 15 Therefore the anger of the Lord was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?” 2 Chr 25:14,15

The truth of the Gospel

11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. Gal 2:11,12

sermon of St. Athanasius

(Oratio de incarnatione Verbi, 10: PG 25, 111-114)

By His teaching he healed their ignorance, and by His power and

might he re-founded the whole of human nature.

Syncretistic Churches

Health and wealth Gospel

Sex before marriage

Omitting parts from the Bible

Abortion

Saint Ephrem This excerpt from a commentary on the Diatessaron by

Saint Ephrem (1, 18-19: SC 121, 52-53)

The word of God is a tree of life that offers us blessed fruit from each

of its branches. It is like that rock which was struck open in the

wilderness, from which all were offered spiritual drink. As the

Apostle says: They ate spiritual food and they drank spiritual drink.