Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells
Overview
This best-selling book is designed to help Orthodox readers more deeply appreciate their faith and give Protestant readers a more thorough understanding of the Orthodox Church. Beginning in the street ministry days of the Jesus Movement, Matthew Gallatin devoted more than 20 years to evangelical Christian ministry. He was a singer/songwriter, worship leader, youth leader, and Calvary Chapel pastor. Nevertheless, he eventually accepted a painful reality: no matter how hard he tried, he was never able to experience the God whom he longed to know. In encountering Orthodox Christianity, he finally found the fullness of the faith. In Thirsting for God, Gallatin expresses many of the struggles Protestants commonly encounter in coming face to face with Orthodoxy: such things as Protestant relativism, rationalism versus the Orthodox sacramental path to God, and the unity of Scripture and tradition. He also discusses praying with icons, praying formal prayers, and many other Orthodox traditions.
Key Features
- Provides a comprehensive introduction to Orthodox Christianity
- Explains key ideas about the Orthodox Church
- Presents insights into the journey of faith
Contents
- The Heart of the Matter
- Looking for the Truth
- Warning Signs
- Gods of the Scriptures
- Sola Scriptura: The Heart of the Matter
- Faith and History
- Truth Is a Promise
- Rite and Wrong
- Love Beyond Reason
- A Living Salvation
- The Right Ritual
- “Just Jesus and Me”
- The Light and the Path
- The Way of Love
- It’s Not Just for Grown-Ups Anymore!
- The Eucharist
- Liturgy
- Formal Prayer
- Mary, the Theotokos
- The Saints
- To Be Orthodox
Top Highlights
“When they go to church, they never hear the pastor just read the Scriptures aloud for forty minutes. He spends most of his time explaining what they mean. Why? The reason is that to teach us, to influence us, to reveal God to us, the Scriptures must be interpreted. That is why we pray that the one who preaches is ‘rightly dividing the word of truth’ (2 Timothy 2:15). So what’s important to a Protestant believer is not just ‘the Scriptures alone.’ What he actually puts his faith and trust in is his interpretation of ‘the Scriptures alone.’” (Page 42)
“For its first thousand years, I read, the Christian Church did not teach that the sacrifice of Christ was an attempt to satisfy the honor of God. Instead, it taught that Jesus’ death was the costly ransom paid voluntarily by the Son of God to rescue the creatures He loves from the inescapable power of death. By Christ’s sacrifice, believers are freed from death’s demands and from all accusations of the devil.” (Pages 51–52)
“Eventually, my inability to help either myself or anyone else deal with these issues overwhelmed me. I left the ministry. For years, I moved from church to church, hoping someone else had found the elusive answers. There were occasional signs of life in places; but all too soon, these would fizzle out.” (Page 23)
“Salvation cannot be merely some prize that I attained through making a commitment to Christ at church camp twenty years ago. It is not a contract to which I can point and declare, ‘Hey, I’ve got my salvation!’ Rather, it is the ongoing and living process of losing myself in the life of Christ in His Church. Unless I am willing to commit myself to that kind of vital experience with Him, I cannot effectively be His follower.” (Pages 82–83)
- Title: Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells
- Author: Matthew Gallatin
- Publisher: Ancient Faith
- Print Publication Date: 2002
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 192
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Orthodox Eastern Church › Apologetic works; Protestantism › Controversial literature
- ISBNs: 9781888212280, 1888212284
- Resource ID: LLS:THRSTNGGDSHWLLS
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:01:48Z