God's Opportunity - Revised and Expanded Edition: How God Is Pouring Out His Holy Spirit, Reuniting His Church, Evangelizing the World, and Showing Forth Israel, the Root

By Hampton Scott Tonk

It is said that man's extremity is God's opportunity. Christianity, at root, at its finest moments, in the finest sense of the word, is Evangelical, what I call "straight-Gospel Christianity." Straight-Gospel Christians - whether straight-Gospel Protestants or straight-Gospel Catholics or straight-Gospel Anglicans or straight-Gospel Orthodox - c

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Jun 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648953057

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Contents

Thankful Acknowledgements and Recognitions

Introduction

Motto, Mission Statement, and Dedication

PART I: GOD CALLING

Does God Still Speak to His People?

Introduction

+ I am going to restore My people and reunite them. I am going to restore to My people the Glory that is Mine … so that the world might know that I am God and King and that I have come to redeem them and to save this earth … (Message One)

+ Because I love you, I want to show you what I am doing in the world today. I want to prepare you for what is to come…. A time of darkness is coming on the world, but a time of Glory is coming for My Church … I will prepare you for a time of evangelism that the world has never seen … (Message Two)

+ Prepare, for I proclaim a new Day, a Day of victory and triumph for your God. (End of Message Three)

+ Look about you, son of man. When you see it all shut down, when you see everything removed which has been taken for granted, and when you are prepared to live without those things, then you will know that I am making ready. (Last sentence of Message Four)

+ Do not miss the desperation of the times." (Message Five)

+ Therefore, you can know in joy that My Holy Spirit is upon you, and that My Presence is with you in the time of testing that lies ahead … (Message Six)

+ Yes, I will prune My Church and take away that which is dead so that which has life can grow and bear greater fruit. (Last paragraph of Message Seven)

+ Mourn and weep, for the Body of My Son is broken. (Message Eight)

+ If you are a bishop or a superintendent or a supervisor or an overseer or the head of a Christian movement or organization, this Word is for you…. You are all guilty in My eyes for the condition of My people, who are weak and divided and unprepared. (Message Nine)

+ Stand in unity with one another, and let nothing tear you apart, and by no means separate from one another … [for] I am Jesus, the Victor-King. (Message 10)

+ Who will answer My call? (Message 11)

Hymn: Dear Lord and Father of Mankind 60

For Further Reading

APPENDIX TO PART I: WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT REVIVAL?

PART II: PROTESTANTISM, TAKE A BOW

Reverence for the Word of God

Answers

Disclaimer

Justification

Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

Faith Alone (Sola Fide)

Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)

Love of the Lord

The Love of and Life of Prayer

Love of the Bible and Its Message

Zeal for the Kingdom

Spiritual Power

Revival of Spiritually Dead Churches

Holiness

Zeal for Conversions

True Discipleship

Love of the Brethren and the Sisters

Great Preaching

Evangelical Influences on the Catholic Church

Hymnody—the Praise of God

Greater Devotion to the Word of God

Evangelical and Missionary Zeal

The Salvation of Souls

Social Services and Corporal Works of Mercy

Great Christian Scholars and Leaders

The Movement for Christian Unity

Great Institutions of Higher Learning

A Powerful Witness

Questions

Unresolved Questions

The Catholicity of Protestantism?

Either-Or or Both-And?

Is Protestantism Catholic Enough?

Hymn: The Church’s One Foundation

For Further Reading

PART III: THE WITNESS OF THE EASTERN CHURCHES

Right Glory and Suffering

Blessed Is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Now and Ever and unto the Ages of Ages

Light from the East

What Is the Eastern Church?

Western Orthodoxy

Theology: The Contemplation of the Holy Trinity

O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth…

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—the Holy Trinity One in Essence and Undivided

Wisdom! Let Us Attend! The Eastern Churches and the Bible

Conciliarism—Sobornost

The Image of the Invisible God

The Warmth of Faith, Full of the Holy Spirit

We Have Seen the True Light, We Have Received the Heavenly Spirit, We Have Found the True Faith, We Worship the Invisible Trinity, for He Has Saved Us

Missionary Eastern Christianity

Becoming an Eastern Christian

What the Reunion of East and West Would Mean

The Holy See in the Holy City in the Holy Land

The End of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

The One Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ

The Eastern Churches as Orthodox Catholic Churches

Retention of All Orthodox Catholic Rites, East and West

The Translation of the Papacy (and the Primacy) from Rome to the Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem

The Bishop of Rome as Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of the West

The New Titles of the Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem

The Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem as the New Orthodox Catholic Ecumenical Patriarchate

One Bishop in One City: The Reorganization of Orthodox Catholic Dioceses and Eparchies

The Translation of the Roman Pastoral Administrative Apparatus to the Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem

The New Code of the Holy Canons for the Orthodox Catholic Church

Election of Successors to the Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Reorganization of the Former Roman Curia by the Orthodox Catholic Holy Synod of Jerusalem under the Leadership of the Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem

Assumption of Primatial Status by the Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of the Holy City Jerusalem as Ecumenical Patriarch, Pope and Pastor of the Universal Church

According the Orthodox Catholic Patriarchs of the Ancient Five Patriarchates (the Pentarchy) Their Proper Precedence and Honor

The Placing of All Parishes of the Latin Rite in Traditionally Orthodox Lands into the Pastoral Care of the Established Orthodox Catholic (formerly Orthodox) Bishops

The Elevation of the Patriarchate of Moscow and All the Russias to the Dignity, Status, Importance and Honor of the Patriarchates of the Ancient Pentarchy

The Return to the Ancient Roots of the Orthodox Catholic Church in the Holy City Jerusalem in the Holy Land: A New Relationship with God’s Beloved Chosen People Israel

The Establishment of the Holy See in the Holy City in the Holy Land and the Acceleration of the Return of Protestants and Anglicans to the One Holy Orthodox Catholic Church of Jesus Christ

Unresolved Issues in Orthodoxy

Hymn: Watch O’er Thy Church, O Lord, in Mercy

For Further Reading

Appendix to Part III:

A Proposal for a Great and Holy Council of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of East and West

Introduction

I: Christian Leadership of the One Church as One Communion in the One Faith in One Lord

II: The Most Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit

III: The Dogmatic Reconciliation of East and West

Pray for the Great and Holy Council

Pray for the Unity of God’s People in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

PART IV: WESTERN CATHOLICISM

The Wisdom of Catholicism

A Letter to My Mother

The Spiritual Blessings of Catholicism

What Is Catholicism?

The Symphony of Unity Given by the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit

The Church of Jesus Christ

The Church of Mission and Evangelism

The Church of Papa

The Church of Holy Monks and Holy Nuns and the Spiritual Life

A Communion of Churches

The Church of the Sacraments

Holy Baptism

Holy Confirmation

The Holy Eucharist

Confession, Penance, or the Reconciliation of Penitents

Holy Matrimony

Holy Order

The Anointing of the Sick or Holy Unction

A Vision of Christian Unity

The Church of the Good Shepherd

The Church of the Bible

The Church of the Great Tradition of the Christian Faith

The Church of the Fullness of the Faith

The Church of Truth

The Church of the Church Fathers and the Church Mothers

The Church of Pentecost

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints

The Church of Miracles

The Church of Love

Praise the Lord! Let us Pray Some More

A Sign for All Christians

The Church of Salvation

The Temporal Blessings of Catholicism

The Church of Due Process of Law

The Church of Subsidiarity

The Church of Social Righteousness (Social Doctrine)

The Church of Education

The Church of the Arts

The Church of the Sciences

The Church of Philosophy

Hymn: Wherefore, O Father

Conclusion of My Letter to My Mother

Hymn: Now, My Tongue, the Mystery Telling (Pange Lingua by St. Thomas Aquinas)

For Further Reading

PART V:

The Glory of God’s People Israel, Light to the Nations

By Hampton Scott Tonk with Rabbi Lawrence Dermer

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.

Genesis 12:1-3 (RSV 2nd Catholic Edition Revised)

WHY I WROTE THIS PART OF MY BOOK by Hampton S. Tonk

RABBI LAWRENCE DERMER, MY COLLABORATOR AND CONSULTANT

FORWARD BY RABBI LAWRENCE DERMER

God’s Chosen People the Root (Shoresh) of Christianity

One Covenant

Note on Replacement or Supersession Theology

Notes on Mashiach and Torah, Grace and Law

The New Testament (B’rit Chadashah) is Jewish!

The Importance of Judaism – and God’s People Israel – for Christians

Judaism as a Way of Life

Shabbat – The Sabbath

Teshuvah – Repentance

Tikkun Olam – The Healing of the World

Tzedakah – Righteousness, Justice, and Holiness

Torah – Law or Instruction

Mitzvah – Commandment

Shekhinah – The Presence of God

The Afterlife in Judaism – Olam Ha-Ba – The World-to-Come

The Jewish Intellectual and Cultural Heritage

Jewish Holidays and Their Significance – for Both Jews and Christians

The Synagogue as Shul and Place of Worship

Jewish Peoplehood (‘Am Yisroel) and its Significance for Christians

Zion, the Holy City Jerusalem, and the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisroel)

Judaism and the Messianic Hope

TYPICAL JEWISH SONGS AND PRAYERS

The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55 – Compare the Song of Hannah in I Samuel 2:1-10 or the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:1-18) – and Havah Nagilah

For Further Reading

PART VI:

THE TRADITION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

INTRODUCTION

The Deconstruction of Holy Scripture as Merely Secular Literature Apart from God – and Why Such an Approach Leads to a Lack of Comprehension of the Meaning and Message of Holy Scripture

Holy Scripture and the Church

What Is Meant by Holy Scripture? – Why the Question of the Canon Is So Important

Criteria for Admission into the Biblical Canon

The Old Testament or Tanakh

The New Testament

Oral Tradition

Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical Books

Ancient Writings That Never Made It into the Bible

Traditio or Paradosis: The Handing on of the Word of God

The Inspiration of the Holy Scripture as God-Breathed

The Impact of the Reformation Doctrine of Sola Scriptura – The Idea that Holy Scripture Alone is Normative for Christian Faith, Life, Practice, and Worship Apart from Both the Church and the History of the Great Christian Tradition

The Word of God as the Fullness of God’s Self-Revelation

The Word of God Incarnate

The Word of God Written

The Word of God as Torah

The Infallibility of the Word of God: Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism, and Judaism

The Concept of Scriptural Inerrancy

Reading and Studying the Bible

HYMN: O Word of God Incarnate, O Wisdom from on High

For Further Reading

PART VII:

Ideological Stresses and Theological Strains

Postmodernism

Modernism

Indifferentism

Poor Catechization of the Faithful

Rebellion against Moral Standards

Relativism

Radical Feminism

The Worship of Death

Political Correctness

Generalized Sexual Confusion

CONCLUSION: GOD’S OPPORTUNITY

About the Author

Thankful Recognitions

Family

This book is dedicated first of all to my mother, Jean Sutton Wagoner Tonk Peacock, to whom I originally wrote the letter that is the basis for part I of this manuscript (and who gave me permission to edit it for inclusion in this book). She went to be with the Lord in 2018. May her soul, by the Grace of God, rest in peace.

I also wish to recognize Sandi Reichling, to whose brilliance I am indebted for the title of this book.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to my sons Seth and Noah, who have never ceased to challenge me intellectually.

I also owe a debt of gratitude to my father, Hampton Edward Tonk, who went to be with the Lord in 1995. When I was much younger, I knew everything, so I did not pay a great deal of attention to his wisdom and understanding. But as I grew older, I saw in his fatherhood the very image of the Fatherhood of God. He introduced me to the mysteries of God. I not only respect him. I revere him. May his soul, by the grace of God, rest in peace.

I also want to dedicate this little booklet to my late stepfather, Henry Peacock. Henry was not only a devout Catholic but a saintly Catholic. Wherever he went, he spread the fragrance of Christ.

I also want to thank my sister Donelia, who blessed me in many ways as she embarked on a similar journey.

I also want to recognize my late devout and God-fearing Protestant grandmother (my mother’s mother), Donelia Sutton Wagoner Ramsay, who fell asleep in the Lord in the 1990s. I can still remember her singing those classic hymns with great gusto. She loved Jesus and the Word of God, and she instilled in me that same love. She was a sainted woman and a great blessing. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful, rest in peace.

I also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my late uncle, Walter D. Wagoner, a minister of the United Church of Christ. He was a delegate to the Evanston Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1954, served as executive director of the Fund for Theological Education of the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation from 1955 to 1967, served as academic dean of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, from 1967 to 1968, and served as executive director of the Boston Theological Union from 1968 to 1973. He also organized an international summer school for pastors in New York, Geneva, Edinburgh, and Rome. He authored several books, among them the landmark and groundbreaking Bachelor of Divinity,in which he maintained that the first graduate theological degree should not be a bachelor’s degree but a master’s degree. His other landmark groundbreaking book was The Seminary: Protestant and Catholic,in which he advocated ecumenical consortia of Protestant, Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox theological seminaries anchored by a major university or two. He served two pastorates, one at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut, and his final one at the Round Hill Community Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. Throughout it all, he was humble and self-effacing. He had a love of the ministry and for the Christian people, an abiding love for Jesus Christ his Savior, a broad knowledge of the Christian Church in all its manifestations, and a long-standing and passionate commitment to Christian Unity. It was he who introduced me to the Catholic Church and to some amazing Catholics. Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ

I also owe a like debt of gratitude to Evangelical Protestantism and to all my Evangelical Protestant friends. They have loved me, nurtured me, were kind and generous to me, taught me love of the Word of God, and led me to embrace Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior on August 9, 1955, in a church camp in Sawyer, Michigan, when I was only eleven years old—and I have loved them back.

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my twenty-six years in the Anglican Communion in the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Episcopal Church and to my Episcopalian friends, from whom I learned the Catholic Tradition and the Catholic dimensions of my Christian faith. Everything I have said about my Evangelical Protestant friends I can say about them. What wonderful friends they have been!

I also want to recognize with great thanks Orthodoxy and all my Orthodox friends who have been so kind and generous and loving and welcoming me in Christ’s Name. In the twenty-two years I was in the Orthodox Church, I learned about the Creeds and the Church Fathers and the Holy Tradition of the Eastern Church that also belongs to the Western Church as well. I love all those wonderful Orthodox people.

I am particularly indebted to all the Catholics I have met, both priests and laity, over the last fifty-three or so years. They have likewise been kind and generous and gentle and loving with me. Their witness has been wonderful.

God’s Beloved Chosen People

There is one other important group that I must mention for whose life and witness I am and remain most grateful. That group is the Jews. Pope John Paul II addressed the Jews of Rome as my beloved elders in the Faith, thereby acknowledging with love both the ancient God-given heritage of the Jewish people and the fact that Christianity is organically the offspring of Judaism. For over fifty years, I have prayed with them, laughed with them, studied with them, and fellowshipped with them. From them I have been absolutely delighted to learn more than I have expected about Judaism and the rabbinical basis of the New Testament and about how the New Testament cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of Judaism—the ancient Hebraic faith through its development and growth into contemporary Judaism—and the rich and ancient tradition and teaching of the rabbis. In fact, at one point in my varied career, I worked for a company owned by four people of Israeli origin in a department that was filled with Jews. I took such a respectful interest in them and in their Judaism that they invited me again and again to their synagogues and ended up calling me an honorary Jew. I considered that status a great honor and privilege back then, and I still consider it a great honor and privilege. Thank God for the Jews! I love those people. My only regret is that I never studied Hebrew.

My Parish

I am also greatly indebted to many other people, including all of the wonderful friends—people and pastors—whom I have met in all of the congregations of which I have been privileged to be a member: St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Fort Myers, Florida; St. Katherine Drexel Catholic Church in Cape Coral, Florida; Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church, also in Fort Myers, Florida; Corpus Christi Chapel, a Latin Mass congregation that meets in the chapel of the Church of the Resurrection in Fort Myers, Florida; Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Fort Myers, Florida; Living Faith Church (Church of the Lutheran Brethren) in Cape Coral, Florida; St. Michael Lutheran Church (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) in Fort Myers, Florida; All Saints Byzantine Catholic Church in North Fort Myers, Florida; St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Fort Myers, Florida; Faith Assembly of God in North Fort Myers, Florida; First Assembly Ministries in Fort Myers, Florida; as well as congregations in the Chicago area, particularly the Northfield Community Church and St. James the Less Episcopal Church, both in Northfield, Illinois; Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview, Illinois; All Saints Orthodox Church in Chicago; St. Michael’s Orthodox Church in Niles, Illinois; the Church of the Mediator in Lakeside, Michigan; and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and St. Martin’s Episcopal Churches in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with a related mission, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Lanesboro, Massachusetts. It has been such a joy to be a part of these and other Christian congregations.

My Gratitude to the Blessed Trinity

Finally, and most importantly, I am most grateful to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit, who has saved me in His Holy Church.

A Personal Testimony

If anyone should ever tell you that the Christian life is boring, do not listen to him. When you give your life to Jesus Christ, I can personally testify that it is ANYTHING but boring and that God will give you the ride of your life.

The Great Team at Stratton Press

Finally, I wish to recognize with thanks the great people at Stratton Press with whom I worked very closely to get this book project written and perfected:

Kaye Silva, Marketing Specialist. Although that’s her official title, in my mind she is Director of Marketing. She is a true marketing genius – and a treasure. She not only has a great present but a great future. Stratton Press should promote her and give her a raise.

Mary Jones, Senior Acquisitions Editor. I owe her a debt of gratitude for her continuing encourage throughout the process of writing and perfecting my book. She is a wonderful lady who is likewise a genius – and a true asset to Stratton Press.

Jerry Thompson, Director of Editorial Services, Production, and Manufacturing. Whether this is his exact title or not I do not know – but he has magnificently executed all of those duties.

Richard Zakka, Vice President of Marketing and Operations. To him Kaye, Mary, and Jerry all report. He was enormously helpful in supervising this project – and he was a great encouragement throughout.

The entire Stratton Press team, all of whom performed magnificently.

I am particularly grateful for all the ideas these people shared with me, how they encouraged me along the way, and for their patience, as most of the delays in completing this project were mine and mine alone. I even told them that they should not be so nice to me but rather put pressure on me to complete this book – but they never put any pressure on me whatsoever. Instead they continually patted me on the back throughout while I was the one who put the pressure on myself – and it was that pressure that I put on myself – and my short deadlines (If you want to get something done, put short deadlines on yourself rather than long deadlines. If you put long deadlines on yourself, you will simply laze about and accomplish very little) which finally enabled me to finish this work – of which I can only hope to be worthy.

Kudos to them all!

I have failed Him a thousand times, but He has never failed me once. Not once.

To Him be the glory forever!

A percentage of the royalties from the sales of this book will go to my beloved Christian charities, a list of which may be obtained by e-mailing me at [e-mail].

With Affection to My Brothers and Sisters in Christ

In Christ our Lord, Who is truly God’s opportunity for the whole world and Whom I love with love undying,

Hampton Scott Tonk

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

MARANATHA! Come, Lord Jesus! AMEN.

GOD’S OPPORTUNITY

It’s God’s Time … It’s Kingdom Time …

It’s the Fullness of Time …

It’s God’s Opportunity

Mottos

To Know Christ and to Make Him Known

To Attain to the Kingdom of Heaven and to Bring as Many as Possible with Me

Mission Statement

This is Eternal Life:

That they know You, the only true God,

And Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.

(St. John 17:3, capitalizations added)

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO

THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD

AND

THE REUNION OF CHRISTENDOM.

Introduction

Please be aware that this book is not a book of systematic theology—although this book does in fact presuppose certain doctrinal and dogmatic assumptions that are contained in the articles of faith in the baptismal Apostles’ Creed and in the ecumenical Nicene Creed. This book also presupposes a common acceptance of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as expounded in the Athanasian Creed. There are plenty of works of systematic theology and dogmatics already available.

Nor is it a work on historical theology. There are also plenty of works available on that subject.

Nor is it a work on pastoral theology—at least not strictly speaking—although the things written in this book do have pastoral implications.

Nor is this a work on church history—although in dealing with the subject of this book, which has to do with Christian unity and the evangelization of the world, some mention of the history of the Church of God is inevitable.

Nor is this a work on homiletics, although it is my sincere and fervent hope that those who read it may well be inspired to write and deliver powerful messages on the Gospel of the Lord.

Nor is my book about liturgics or ways of worship—even though it is inevitable to touch upon those areas when discussing the various Christian traditions.

Nor is my book intended to be specifically on the message and content of the Bible, although as I wrote it, I had to make it a deeply Scripture-centered book if it was going to be at all a Christ-centered and God-centered book. There are plenty of works available specifically dealing with the Bible and with biblical scholarship.

Nor does my book fall into the usual conventional bailiwicks of what is usually called ecumenics or ecumenical theology. Rather, it seeks to explore the various Christian traditions and to discover what is truly Christian in each of them according to the Scriptures so as to discover, consequently, what each Christian tradition, as it were, brings to the table—and ultimately to the Table of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist for full pulpit and Altar fellowship. Therefore, my book is not polemical (argumentative) in tone but irenic (peacemaking) in tone.

You should also know that when I first wrote it, I was going through my Roman Catholic period (2011–2014) and therefore wrote it from a Roman Catholic perspective. But when I became a Lutheran, while my viewpoint thereby changed, I discovered, strikingly enough, that I had to make very few—mostly very minor—changes in this book. My return to Orthodoxy also affected this book not at all!

And then on December 8, 2017, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of our beloved Lady Mary Ever-Virgin, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Patron Saint of the United States of America, I was received into the Catholic Church upon Profession of Faith.

Why?

Because, except for my purely Protestant period (1943–1962), I have been, in the very broadest sense, a Catholic. In the Episcopal (Anglican) Church, I was an Anglo-Catholic (1962–1985 and 2008–2011). In the Orthodox Church (1984–2006), I was an Orthodox Catholic. Finally, in the Roman Catholic Church (2011–2014 and 2017 onwards) I have been a Roman Catholic. And when I was a Protestant, I was in what has been called that most Catholic of Protestant churches, the Lutheran Church, and, while a Lutheran, I aligned myself with the Evangelical Catholic Lutherans.

Since words and their meanings are important, I must now explain my terms.

To be Catholic means not just universal but to have embraced a full-orbed Christian faith and practice. It means having embraced the Christian faith in all its fullness. It is NOT a cafeteria type of Christianity in which one picks and chooses what he does like and avoids