I thought I'd offer my take on the recent incident of a fellow Apostolic Chrtistian engaging with the well known Cliffe Knechtle on a topic that was existential to all Christians for the first 1500 years of Christianity; The Eucharist. I plan on writing another post about what the Christian belief is on the Eucharist, and how some Christians in the last 500 years have been getting it wrong. When I do complete that I'll put a link to it below. So, I won't get to much into that here. For now I'd like to talk about Cliffe's response to said conversation. Let me begin by explaining who Cliffe Knechtle is. Cliffe Knechtle is a well-known Christian apologist and pastor who’s spent decades engaging with students on college campuses. He holds a B.A. from Davidson College and a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Cliffe is known for his calm demeanor and willingness to field tough questions about the Christian faith, often in front of live audiences. His ministry is refreshing in a world where respectful, rational dialogue is increasingly rare. And I have a lot of respect for what he does.
Cliffe and Cliffe's son were recently approached by Ethiopian Orthodox Deacon Mihret Melaku on the subject of the Eucharist. And I think Deacon Mihret did an excellent job of explaining the historic, Apostolic understanding of the Eucharist. What I didn't like about the discussion was Cliffe's son cut off Deacon Mihret a few times, and showed him disrespect in not understanding what type of Apostolic Christian he is. But the main point I wanted to get into here was Cliffe's response to the initial discourse. He said that it's most important that all Christians understand the two natures of Christ, His death was for the salvation of souls, and His Bodily Resurrection. While these things are essential to Christianity, and the fundamental aspects of the Faith, they are not all. I've heard people say to just lead people to Christ and not a specific "denomination." Firstly, what a lot of Christians may not understand is Catholic and Orthodox are not denominations. They are the original Church founded by Jesus Christ. Sadly, one thousand years after He founded His Church, the Church split. Thankfully a lot of them reunited, but some are still not united. The subject of the Skizum will probably be a talk for another time. But fifteen hundred years after the Resurrection people started making their own churches. These are denominations. Just because people decided to protest against the original Church doesn't make the originals "denominations." Anyway, leading people to Jesus is absolutely wonderful. This is something we should all do. But to "just lead them to Jesus" is calling people to disunity. I know from personal experience that believing in Jesus without the historical, traditional foundation can lead people to a loose faith feeling detached from God. While thats not everyone, that was my experience, and I'm sure it has been for others. Our Lord wanted us to he One (John 17:21) And St. Paul echos this in many of his episles, like in his first letter to the church in Corinth; "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." (1 Corinthians 1:10) But Paul also says that we are united though the Holy Eucharist (1 Corinthians 10:16–17) Also, St. Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of the Apostle John reminded the church in Philadelphia that we are united under one Bishop, one alter and one Eucharist; "Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: For there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His Blood... one altar, as there is one bishop." (Letter to the Philadelphians, 4)
So, while I am grateful that all Christians united in their love for Christ, I pray Orthodox and catholics would reunite and protestants would convert so that all Christians would once again be One as God intended.
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