Is the Greek Orthodox Church biblical? Are icons? Was John's Letter written to a woman? And should Christians judge?

But our first question comes from Elizabeth Alter from Gig Harbor in the United States, and this is a question about the Greek Orthodox Church.

This is what she asks.

She says, "Should I be concerned about Greek Orthodox faith? My in-laws invited my husband and I to go to church with them, and we went.

We weren't allowed to partake in communion because we were not Greek Orthodox.

This really bothered me because it doesn't say anything in the Bible about being a certain type of Christian in order to take communion.

The only requirement is that you believe in Jesus and you wanna follow his ways.

Ever since this negative experience, I've continued to feel hurt by and suspicious of the Greek Orthodox faith.

There are other practices that made me concerned, like the kissing of the priest's robes, calling the priest 'Father,' the displaying of icons and saints, which seems to take the focus away from Jesus and promotes an unhealthy reliance on humans rather than on Jesus himself.

Overall, this faith practice has felt legalistic and full of idols.

Am I right to be concerned, or can the Greek Orthodox faith actually be God-honoring and a healthy way to follow Jesus?" Now, Tom, this is, this is an interesting question.

It's, it's, it's like encountering a new world for the first time.

It's, it's like you, you're going from, uh, evangelical America and being dumped in the Greek Orthodox world, and they do things differently there.

Uh, Tom, do you have any major concerns about the Greek Orthodox Church? Have you kissed a lot of priest robes in your time? You know, h- have you ...

Do you have a office filled with icons of various Greek saints?

I, I, I don't have icons of Greek saints.

I do have an icon above my study door, which is an icon of the resurrection, because, uh, when I was writing my big book on the resurrection, I was in Jerusalem at one point and I bought an icon of the resurrection, which is Jesus raised from the dead and raising up Adam and Eve from the grave.

And I took it into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and I had, um, a Greek Orthodox priest say a prayer over it, a, a blessing if you like.

So maybe I am tainted with the same problem that your corres- our correspondent, uh, has.

But, uh, uh, I think what I'm hearing coming out of this question is a very typical, if I dare say so, Protestant, um, liberal ...

Well, m- m- American Pr- Protestant reaction to, um, not only Orthodoxy, but it would probably be the same with i, i- if this person had gone into a Roman Catholic, a traditional Roman Catholic setting.

With Greek Orthodox, um, these days it's, it's perhaps more obvious because they do more stuff.

There are more bells and whistles, literally and metaphorically.

Um, although some, uh, traditional Roman Catholics would still do quite a lot of things which would make the average Protestant's hair stand on end.

Um, I, I think the problem is that we've, we've allowed, um, different bits of the church to float free of one another, not to be in touch with one another, not to get to know one another, and this has happened over many centuries now.

And so, um, there is a sort of residual, um, sense of, "Oh, how, how, how on earth can they be proper Christians 'cause they do A, B, and C?" Whereas we do X, Y, and Z, or if you're American, Z.

But our first question comes from Elizabeth Alter from Gig Harbor in the United States, and this is a question about the Greek Orthodox Church.

This is what she asks.

She says, "Should I be concerned about Greek Orthodox faith? My in-laws invited my husband and I to go to church with them, and we went.

We weren't allowed to partake in communion because we were not Greek Orthodox.

This really bothered me because it doesn't say anything in the Bible about being a certain type of Christian in order to take communion.

The only requirement is that you believe in Jesus and you wanna follow his ways.

Ever since this negative experience, I've continued to feel hurt by and suspicious of the Greek Orthodox faith.

There are other practices that made me concerned, like the kissing of the priest's robes, calling the priest 'Father,' the displaying of icons and saints, which seems to take the focus away from Jesus and promotes an unhealthy reliance on humans rather than on Jesus himself.

Overall, this faith practice has felt legalistic and full of idols.

Am I right to be concerned, or can the Greek Orthodox faith actually be God-honoring and a healthy way to follow Jesus?" Now, Tom, this is, this is an interesting question.

It's, it's, it's like encountering a new world for the first time.

It's, it's like you, you're going from, uh, evangelical America and being dumped in the Greek Orthodox world, and they do things differently there.

Uh, Tom, do you have any major concerns about the Greek Orthodox Church? Have you kissed a lot of priest robes in your time? You know, h- have you ...

Do you have a office filled with icons of various Greek saints?

I, I, I don't have icons of Greek saints.

I do have an icon above my study door, which is an icon of the resurrection, because, uh, when I was writing my big book on the resurrection, I was in Jerusalem at one point and I bought an icon of the resurrection, which is Jesus raised from the dead and raising up Adam and Eve from the grave.

And I took it into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and I had, um, a Greek Orthodox priest say a prayer over it, a, a blessing if you like.

So maybe I am tainted with the same problem that your corres- our correspondent, uh, has.

But, uh, uh, I think what I'm hearing coming out of this question is a very typical, if I dare say so, Protestant, um, liberal ...

Well, m- m- American Pr- Protestant reaction to, um, not only Orthodoxy, but it would probably be the same with i, i- if this person had gone into a Roman Catholic, a traditional Roman Catholic setting.

With Greek Orthodox, um, these days it's, it's perhaps more obvious because they do more stuff.

There are more bells and whistles, literally and metaphorically.

Um, although some, uh, traditional Roman Catholics would still do quite a lot of things which would make the average Protestant's hair stand on end.

Um, I, I think the problem is that we've, we've allowed, um, different bits of the church to float free of one another, not to be in touch with one another, not to get to know one another, and this has happened over many centuries now.

And so, um, there is a sort of residual, um, sense of, "Oh, how, how, how on earth can they be proper Christians 'cause they do A, B, and C?" Whereas we do X, Y, and Z, or if you're American, Z.