February
1, 2002
There
is a church in Dallas (actually Farmer’s Branch) that I have seen for years.
The exterior of the church is somewhat contemporary and has a cross
steeple. The name of the church is
the Mar Thoma Church of Dallas.
Finally,
my curiosity got the better of me, so I went out to the Internet to see what I
could find out. Their web site is http://www.marthomachurchofdallasfb.org
.
Interestingly,
the namesake of the church is Saint Thomas; “Mar” (saint) “Thoma”
(Thomas) in Syrian. The church is
headquartered in Malankara near Malabar India.
(Malabar is famed for black pepper.)
Tradition holds that Saint Thomas (the “doubting” Thomas of the new
testament) ventured eastward after Pentecost.
The Christian churches in India claim their heritage from Saint Thomas
(circa 52 AD).
Although
this cannot be historically corroborated, there is no strong reason to dispute
the tradition.
Further,
the church is considered Syrian as it is said to be founded in the order of the
church of Antioch (in Syria). Some
of the Indian Mar Thoma church services are held in Syrian and Malayalam, the
native tongue of Kerala, India.
I
continued to read about this church. The
Mar Thoma church considers itself a protestant church (apart from the Eastern
Orthodox church). I found the
following information on the Mar Thoma web site (http://www.marthomachurch.com
).
Their
logo is a shield with the words “Lighted to Lighten”, drawing on Matthew
5:14:
(Matthew 5:14 KJV) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on
an hill cannot be hid.
Also
on the shield are the images of a cross with a wheel at the apex, a lamp, and a
lotus bloom. The cross, of course,
is reminiscent of Jesus death for our sins, the wheel (Ashoka Chakra) is meant
to indicate that the people of India are at the heart of God.
The Lamp indicates that “each believer is a lamp which is carried with
them, which gives light of salvation for others in their daily life.”
Finally, the lotus bloom is a traditional symbol of India.
The
doctrinal statements were of interest to me.
They advocate autonomy of the local congregation:
As
the Church is essentially indigenous it is self governing, self supporting and
self-propagating.
While they link to the
ancient Syrian Church of Malabar, they also have links to the reformation as
well as the Roman Catholic church. In
1936, they agreed to “formal occasional intercommunion” with the Anglican
church of India. They are careful
not to get caught up in sectarianism.
It is precisely this
attitude of tolerance which aroused my suspicion as to their focus of devotion.
But that issue was settled by the plain statement of faith in Jesus:
So
in conformity with the faith of the Christian Church it believes in Jesus Christ
and in the Triune God and accepts the Holy Bible as the basis for all matters of
doctrine and faith and Nicene Creed.
They
are mission minded as demonstrated by the following:
The
missionary impulse of the Church led her to organize different institutions,
conferences and camps to carry out missionary work among her own members and
among people who are outside the membership of the Church.
The hierarchy of the church sounds orthodox with terms like Bishop and
Diocese.
They observe seven sacraments:
Baptism
Confirmation
Confession
Holy
Communion
Marriage
Ordination
Unction
(anointing of the sick)
Baptism is held in such high regard that second or subsequent baptisms
are discouraged. They baptize
infants as a matter of practice, but will also baptize adult converts.
Confirmation is the second half of the salvation experience.
Confirmation is the anointing of oil signifying the invocation of the
Holy Spirit.
Confession and Holy Communion are expected of each believer.
Marriage is a sacrament but is optional.
It is considered a sacrament in that it is an institution blessed and
ordered by God.
Ordination is the calling out of individuals for a particular service to
God. And Unction is the anointing
of the sick.
In all, I found the basic principles of the Mar Thoma church to be in
fair congruity with the Baptist faith with the exception of infant baptism.
The Mar Thoma church of Dallas has approximately 1000 members and
features “Youth
Fellowship, Youth League, Women's Auxiliary, Parish Mission, Adult Choir and a
Youth Choir.”
From
everything that I could gather about the Mar Thoma Church, I have no issue with
their doctrine (aside from infant baptism).
They are mission minded, evangelical, and from all indications, truly
love the lord our God.
There are a lot of legends and traditions
about Thomas. There is an ancient document
called the Acts of Thomas which has the following account - the king of
India had requested a carpenter from Jerusalem
to build him a new palace. According
to the legend, the resurrected Jesus pretended to be Thomas’ master and sold
him to the Indian ambassador. This
is how Thomas made it to India.
Saint Thomas is the patron saint of the East Indies, Portugal, architects, builders, surveyors, masons, quarrymen and carpenters.[i]
It is from this document that some believe
Thomas, who is called Dydimus (twin), to be Jesus' twin. The document
mentions that Thomas was one of twins and that Jesus called him "brother."
If Thomas were indeed Jesus' twin, then he also would be the son of God.
“The Acts of Thomas” is described as Gnostic. There is another manuscript titled “The Gospel according to Thomas” which is attributed to Thomas. In fact, all writings attributed to Thomas have been used by Gnostics to support their doctrine.
Really, all we know about Thomas (with any certainty) is the little information recorded in the New Testament. But it is not unreasonable to believe that Thomas traveled to India or was martyred there.
[i] The Treasury of Saints and Martyrs. Margaret Mulvihill. Penguin Books Ltd. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. Page 19.