In a previous article I wrote that I was tired of David Patrick Harry, also known as Church of the Eternal Logos, because he misrepresents Orthodoxy and Christianity in general as a sober acid trip. However, I still listen to him because he discusses interesting topics and it is a good way to keep tabs on the Orthobro sphere.
In one livestream open call-in show the topic was Yuval Noah Harari's desire to rewrite the Bible using A.I. and ways to fight the World Economic Forum. One caller said the best way is to know the Scriptures. David Patrick Harry was having none of it. I am going to reprint the entire conversation below which shows definitively that David Patrick Harry has no love for the scriptures.
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| Open Panel: WEF Wants to Ban and Rewrite the Bible With A.I. |
1:02:10 Matt: Hey can I, um, jump in yeah?
DPH: What's up Matt?
Matt: Yeah you know this is, um, I just thought I'd mention about the whole Bible thing and this is why I have I, I you know I have an issue. I like watching Orthodox content but this is why I feel like you gotta be masters of the Bible, you know? I feel like the Orthodox, Catholic you know these Traditions kind of get in the way of of the pure...
DPH: This is dumb, okay. Matt come on who put the Bible together? Bro, like what are you talking about the pure Bible like who's interpretation?
Matt: Well, that's why you know in biblical hermeneutics we use something called, um, you know scripture interpreting scripture we never want to go outside of the scriptures.
DPH: Come on man, name a Protestant Nation that's still Protestant.
Matt: Technically America is supposed to be.
DPH: No. You're, you think America is mostly Christian based on its values?
Matt: Uh, it's definitely being warred against but specifically
DPH: Yeah, because protestantism is no Force against magic, bro. That's why if somebody's possessed they're not going to a, you know, Jim Bob at his Baptist Church. They're going to a priest because
Matt: I see a lot of demons being cast out on Tik Tok and other things and live streams and but, but that's kind of besides the point I wanted to get to, okay. Because how are we gonna argue you know, you know, um, don't change the Bible, AI all these different things when the Bible itself gives us the tools and, um, uh, the weapons to fight against these ideologies if you don't know the Bible ,if you can't quote more than just the Bible?
DPH: It's more than just the Bible man it's the sacraments of the church. It's the Eucharist, it's, it's, it's marriage within the church, it's all the sacraments.
Matt: Well, yeah you know me too
DPH: You're like out, again you're an atomized individual like fending off demons if you're only defense is the Bible. You're not part of a real community that is, again, protected by the body of Christ.
Matt: Well I wouldn't say it that way because what happened when when Christ died on the cross? What happened to the veil in the temple?
DPH: What does that have to do with protestantism?
Matt: Because you no longer have to go through a mediator you go straight straight to God through this
DPH: Yeah the church that he ordained exactly. The church you're right.
Ivan : God is the mediator that's why he incarnated that's the, that's why we're not gnostics. Like if you if you want to say that, uh, you don't need a mediator then why should God become incarnate man?
Matt: He came incarnate to save the world and this is what I was getting at
Ivan: What does that mean there is no sacramentality?
DPH Yeah what does that mean? We just make a proclamation of faith is what I guess it means, right?
Matt: Well Romans 10:9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe that God raises..
DPH: Does revelation talk about Saints, Matt? Are there Saints in Protestantism? Well, what's the role, what's the role of incense in scripture both New and Old Testament?
Matt: Well, in the New Testament there's no rules given for incense so therefore
DPH : It speaks specifically in the Book of Revelation. What's it say there? The incense is what?
Matt: It represents the prayer of the Saints so it's actually the prayer of the saints that is the answer.
DPH: Where's your saints bro? Where's your Saints? What are...you're in the wrong Church man?
Matt: No, no, no in Protestant theology everyone who's Christian is a saint.
DPH: Oh, come on bro
Matt: I mean come on guys let's let's keep it, you know.
Ivan: Okay, it's okay, it's okay, We, we don't wanna, we don't wanna...
DPH: Yeah, we don't need to get into this but, but you came on...
Matt: No, I just want to bring this up to you uh, uh David that in the Scripture it says all scripture is profitable for Doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction of righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished for every good work. So, knowing the scripture will give you the tools will give you the lifestyle will give you the ability...
DPH: So, people who don't know scripture are damned? They're doomed?
Matt: They certainly are not in a good position.
DPH: So when people are born with Down Syndrome they're they're unfortunately uh they're doomed...
Matt: No, no of course not.
DPH: ...because they can't they can't understand scripture the same way?
Matt: No, that's why the gospel is so simple that's the point I was getting at earlier
DPH: What if they can't what if they can't even understand the simpleness of that?
Matt: Of the Gospel? First Corinthians 15 1-4.
DPH: Yeah, I'm talking about somebody who's mentally, mentally impaired. Again the point is your whole thing's focused on rationalism and you're po, you're in a post, it's, it's, it's, theology man. It's an Enlightenment Theology and unfortunately that's why, that's why it's so dead. Like it's dying all over the world.
Matt: Well, according to Scripture what is the sword...
DPH: Except Korea. South Korea is quite, uh, quite growing in their in their Protestant Faith but that's because Christianity is so new there.
Matt: Well well according to the Scripture what is the sword of the spirit? What is our weapon? It's the scripture. It's not philosophy. It's not you know it's tradition
Ivan: It's the Holy Spirit, man.
Matt: It's not, it's not sacraments. No, it says the the Word of God is is the sword of the spirit. We have to know the word of God.
DPH: Okay but you don't even have all the books in your Bible. You, you got an Orthodox Bible? How many books you got in your Bible?
Matt: Do you have a King James Bible?
DPH: How many books do you got in your Bible?
Matt: Um, 66 I believe.DPH: RightMatt: So what?
DPH: I got 78.
Matt: Well, yeah this this is what I was getting at with the whole...
DPH: Okay who put who put the Bible together? Was it, was it John Calvin?
Matt: It's a, it's a Divine artifact. This is what I was talking to..
DPH: So who, who led those people, what led those people to make the right decision?
Matt: It wasn't, it wasn't a decision that that's my point.
DPH: It was. It was a council, synodal Council, led by the Holy Spirit which can convince, sixty percent of them were Aryans. Saint Athanasius, who's part of our church, was emphatic about the Incarnation of God being fully Divine, fully man and that's his rhetorical, uh, presentation of that at the First Council is why that became Dogma.
Matt: We, we wouldn't say so. We'd say the scriptures are very clear about...
DPH: Who's we? You can't represent all of Protestantism because you guys are all fractured. Who's we ?Your Church?
Matt: Anyone who affirms the five solos.
DPH: Yeah are those in Scripture?
Matt: Yes.
DPH: Sola scripture is in scripture?
Matt: Yeah.
DPH: No. I know you interpret it that way.
Matt: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, etc.
DPH: This is off topic bro. This is off topic. We're talking about the World Economic Forum and you want to come in here promoting Protestantism against Catholicism and Orthodoxy.
Matt: No, but what I was trying to encourage us to do as Christians is to know the Scripture that way we're not fooled by these different things and we can...
Ivan: First you have to be a Christian for that and I wouldn't say that you are from that point of view. I'd say you're a modernist. Like, your version of Truth is like a speech it's like a text that doesn't reflect reality. So, you deny mediation. Why does the Bible about mediation? The books themselves their mediation. So, how how do you deny mediation?
Matt: Well, let me just ask this one question: Is the Bible sufficient to make the man of God perfect thoroughly equipped for every good work yes or no?
DPH: No.
Ivan: No.
Matt: Well, but it says in the Bible it is.
Ivan: Where?
DPH: Wait, yeah, hold on this is totally off track Matt. I'm about to, uh, this isn't the point of this open Panel and nobody here is going to get into your Protestant BS, bro. Like, it's it's futile. It's, it's not,. it's not a defense against the evil present in this world. It's a, it's dying and Orthodoxy, I mean this we're explicit, Orthodoxy is the Church. That's the historical church. Anybody who studied church history knows that. If you're into, um, the idea that the church and faith has evolved and that somehow they finally got it with the five Solas then that's fine I'm not here to convince you but this isn't about protestantism versus the actual sacramental forms of Christianity that actually have a historical validity back to the apostles.
Matt: All right, well that's fair. You know what next time you have an Open Panel maybe you can open up for these discussions I think these are very important but I just want to encourage
DPH: We can. That's not a bad idea, that's not a bad idea. I can do that in the future and I and I'd be more than welcome for you to come on and we can then hash that out, uh, but this one is specifically focused on on, on the globalists and its relationship the, the forces that we face in its relationship to tradition and Orthodoxy, the Bible, scripture, um, all that so...
Matt: And, and that's my final point...
DPH: You're more than welcome to stay but let's just change the focus from promoting Protestantism to actually the threat to the world.
Matt: No, and you know what I'll leave with that but that was my final point is that the only firm tradition the only Firm Foundation we have is the scriptures. Everything else is futile
DPH: No, the church, it's the church that gave you the scriptures, Bro. You've totally missed missed the beginning point. It's the Apostles, it's Christ, it's the apostles and it's the church that they founded read the Epistles.
Matt: Yeah that's fair and, uh, hey thank you for letting me on and next time you have an open panel on solo scripture or Protestantism I'd love to come back.
DPH: Yeah I will thank you Matt and I appreciate you being respectful brother.
Matt: Alrighty brother God bless
DPH: God bless you
David: God bless.
This conversation is absolutely ridiculous and David Patrick Harry simply does not get it. The subject of the video is about the WEF rewriting the Bible using A.I. Matt calls in and says the way to not be fooled by all this is to know the scriptures because they are sufficient to thoroughly equip a man for every good work.
But DPH and Ivan both say this is wrong. The Scriptures are not sufficient, thus contradicting the very words of Scripture. Let's hear what John Chrysostom has to say about these verses.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.[R.V.: Every Scripture inspired of God is also profitable, etc.]Having offered much exhortation and consolation from other sources, he adds that which is more perfect, derived from the Scriptures; and he is reasonably full in offering consolation, because he has a great and sad thing to say. For if Elisha, ho was with his master to his last breath, when he saw him departing as it were in death, rent his garments for grief, what think you must this disciple suffer, so loving and so beloved, upon hearing that his master was about to die, and that he could not enjoy his company when he was near his death, which is above all things apt to be distressing? For we are less grateful for the past time, when we have been deprived of the more recent intercourse of those who are departed. For this reason when he had previously offered much consolation, he then discourses concerning his own death: and this in no ordinary way, but in words adapted to comfort him and fill him with joy; so as to have it considered as a sacrifice rather than a death; a migration, as in fact it was, and a removal to a better state.
For I am now ready to be offered up2 Timothy 4:6, he says. For this reason he writes:All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.All what Scripture? All that sacred writing, he means, of which I was speaking. This is said of what he was discoursing of; about which he said,From a child you have known the holy Scriptures.All such, then,is given by inspiration of God; therefore, he means, do not doubt; and it isprofitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
For doctrine.For thence we shall know, whether we ought to learn or to be ignorant of anything. And thence we may disprove what is false, thence we may be corrected and brought to a right mind, may be comforted and consoled, and if anything is deficient, we may have it added to us.
That the man of God may be perfect.For this is the exhortation of the Scripture given, that the man of God may be rendered perfect by it; without this therefore he cannot be perfect. You have the Scriptures, he says, in place of me. If you would learn anything, you may learn it from them. And if he thus wrote to Timothy, who was filled with the Spirit, how much more to us!
Thoroughly furnished unto all good works; not merely taking part in them, he means, butthoroughly furnished.
One would think that Christians of all stripes would agree that knowing the Scriptures is very important. But David Patrick Harry is a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church and they do not put a high value on Scripture. In fact the official, canonical Orthodox document The Confession of Dositheus forbids all laymen from reading the Bible and is quite explicit that the Bible cannot even be properly understood because it is not clear in its teaching which means it is impossible for the common man to grasp.
Question 1
Should the Divine Scriptures be read in the vulgar tongue [common language] by all Christians?
No. Because all Scripture is divinely-inspired and profitable {cf. 2 Timothy 3:16}, we know, and necessarily so, that without [Scripture] it is impossible to be Orthodox at all. Nevertheless they should not be read by all, but only by those who with fitting research have inquired into the deep things of the Spirit, and who know in what manner the Divine Scriptures ought to be searched, and taught, and finally read. But to those who are not so disciplined, or who cannot distinguish, or who understand only literally, or in any other way contrary to Orthodoxy what is contained in the Scriptures, the Catholic Church, knowing by experience the damage that can cause, forbids them to read [Scripture]. Indeed, it is permitted to every Orthodox to hear the Scriptures, that he may believe with the heart unto righteousness, and confess with the mouth unto salvation {Romans 10:10}. But to read some parts of the Scriptures, and especially of the Old [Testament], is forbidden for these and other similar reasons. For it is the same thing to prohibit undisciplined persons from reading all the Sacred Scriptures, as to require infants to abstain from strong meats.
Question 2
Are the Scriptures plain to all Christians that read them?
If the Divine Scriptures were plain to all Christians that read them, the Lord would not have commanded such as desired to obtain salvation to search them; {John 5:39} and Paul would have said without reason that God had placed the gift of teaching in the Church; {1 Corinthians 13:28} and Peter would not have said of the Epistles of Paul that they contained some things hard to be understood. {2 Peter 3:16} It is evident, therefore, that the Scriptures are very profound, and their sense lofty; and that they need learned and divine men to search out their true meaning, and a sense that is right, and agreeable to all Scripture, and to its author the Holy Spirit.
Certainly, those that are regenerated [in Baptism] must know the faith concerning the Trinity, the incarnation of the Son of God, His passion, resurrection, and ascension into the heavens. Yet what concerns regeneration and judgment — for which many have not hesitated to die — it is not necessary, indeed impossible, for them to know what the Holy Spirit has made apparent only to those who are disciplined in wisdom and holiness.
What makes this all the more ironic is that later in the stream a caller wants to "challenge some verses from the Bible" and David Patrick Harry refers him to the Orthodox Study Bible.
1:22:06 DPH: What's up Truth Finder? How you doing brother?
Truth Finder: Uh, what's going on? Hey I just wanted to challenge some verses in the Bible
DPH: Okay, you want to challenge some verses?
Truth Finder: Yeah.
DPH: No, that's not that's not what this is about, bro.
Truth Finder: Yeah, yeah well I want to know, I want I don't want to challenge it, I want to know the meaning of this verse. Can I tell you?
DPH: I mean...
Truth Finder: It's not a challenge I just want to know the meaning of it
DPH: Okay go get an Orthodox Study Bible and go look at the footnotes there you go.
Truth Finder: Well, yeah.
DPH: Go get an Orthodox Study Bible and look at the footnotes for that verse
Truth Finder: Okay
DPH: Go to your local Orthodox, go to your local Orthodox Church.
Is he unaware that the Orthodox Study Bible is the product of Protestants who converted to Orthodoxy? Specifically it is the project of Peter Gillquist. The translation of the New Testament in the OSB is the very Protestant New King James Version! The whole idea of a study Bible comes straight out of Calvin's Geneva where English refugees translated the Bible and added notes. The Geneva Bible is the world's first study Bible.
Let's take a look at one of the footnotes in the Orthodox Study Bible. This is a commentary on 2nd Ezra 5:1-17 and is found on page 542.
The appeal to search the king's treasure house to find the king's decree parallels the Church's readiness to search the Scriptures (Jn 5:39; Acts 17:11). Appealing to the Scriptures is how Jesus and His apostles demonstrated His genuine claim to be the Christ, the incarnate Son of God (Lk 24:27; Acts 17:2, 11; 18:28). Interestingly, the appeal to the Scriptures was also one of the ways Jesus' enemies tried to malign Him (Mt 4:6; Jn 7:52). In both cases, the reliability and authority of what has been written, accepted, and handed down as Holy Scripture is unquestioned.
"The reliability and authority of what has been written, accepted, and handed down as Holy Scripture is unquestioned." Does David Patrick Harry know about this footnote?
It's sad that David Patrick Harry is having a discussion about the WEF wanting to rewrite the Bible and he rejects the idea that Christians should actually know the Bible. However, when understood that ignorance and dismissal of the Scriptures is the fruit of Eastern Orthodoxy it all makes sense.
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