Featured Doctrine, and church membership

Could you be a member of a church, or financially support a church, with which you had a serious disagreement on one major doctrine?

 

The doctrine in question, for me, is the Atonement. And it's a big deal with me. Coming from an Orthodox background, it's the doctrine I'm having the most trouble with in my "conversion" to Protestantism and specifically to the Southern Baptists.

 

I know what you're saying. But I must point out that the Protestant doctrines of atonement are essentially the Roman Catholic doctrine made worse. The Satisfaction view is abhorrent to me, too.

I don't object to diversity of opinion, but I have difficulty supporting a church, or a denomination, which teaches what I consider to be a false major doctrine. I don't know what percentage of the local SBC church teaches PSA, or what percentage of the SBC does, but I believe it is a large percentage. My local church pastor holds to it. Aside form the Covid situation, this is the one thing that makes me hesitant to join a local SBC church. I was close last Spring before Covid hit. I was looking to join and be baptized on Easter Sunday. But I think the time of reflection I've had since then has been good and necessary.

Of course, in considering a Protestant church or denomination, I don't know of any who teach only the original Atonement doctrine of the first century church. And yet, I cannot now return to Orthodoxy, for several reasons. Even if I wanted to, I now live too far away, and besides that, Orthodoxy holds to things which I can no longer accept, in light of Scripture.

But being a convert to the RCC, which I have learned you are from reading this forum, I think you might have an idea of the situation I find myself in.

 

Yes, I'll try. I don't believe that any view originating in Protestantism is Biblical or held by the early church. I think they all misrepresent who God is and what He requires for salvation. I know that the Atonement doctrine which Orthodoxy holds is also held in Protestantism, but I don't know of any denomination in which it is the only atonement doctrine held, or in which it is a majority doctrine. For instance, (correct me if I am wrong), PSA is the dominant doctrine in Reformed circles, while the Governmental view is dominant in Arminian/Wesleyan groups. I can't even describe how PSA turns me away, and the Governmental views is, to me, only slightly less objectionable. To me, these doctrines are not the Gospel, and I cannot support presenting them as "Good News" since, in my estimation, they distort who God is.

So, I don't see how I'm going to be a part of any Protestant church, and yet I do not wish to be a solitary Christian. I'd like to think there is an answer for me, but I honestly don't see one at this point. I welcome any and all thoughts, advice, opinions, etc. And I do mean that, whatever they are.

 

The problem is I don't know if there is any place I fit in. I have a few friends who hold my atonement views. Most are in the Orthodox Church.

 

I'm not the only one who believes it. The early church did, and the Orthodox Church has believed it from the start. Many Protestants do, but they are not the majority in their respective denominations.

 

Sounds reasonable.

 

If I said exactly how I feel about it, I could get banned. I think it is a gross misrepresentation of who God is and how He provides for our salvation.

 

The biggest stumbling block is the doctrine of the atonement, not justification by faith or the "sacraments".

 

I don't see PSA in any of those scriptures. And neither did the early church.