What is the one true Church?

[Taken]

You see, that's where my issue lies. That little seemingly innocuous phrase, adherence to the church. The question is, are we to adhere to the teachings of the church of said church no longer teaches truth according to scripture? Catholics would say yes, because tradition, when the Pope approves, trumps scripture. So then we have a while different paradigm... We have catholicism. Do we have Christianity? Now there's the rub.

Seemingly innocuous … spot on!
Scripturally it’s called; The Ear Tickle.
* Sounds good to the Ears,
* But in Doing, it contrasts with Gods Word.

Using “words of art”, “art, trinkets, gestures, repetitive chants, rituals”…
as Guise To keep in remembrance The Lord God…
Quickly turns into congregational participation of Object Worship.

Saying is one thing.
Doing is another thing.

 

[Jim B]

Oh,
I own many, but I can't read any. The one I have in LARGE PRINT is packed away somewhere in oblivion.
I use Blueletterbible.org for my reading. I can enlarge the text on that. And I use Youtube to listen to the entire Bible every night.
Sometimes I listen to Psalms, or Isaiah, The Gospels, Revelation. It's on a loop so it plays continueously.
My typing is getting rough. I have to proofread everything, which is why sometimes it takes me awhile to respond.

Bible Search and Study Tools - Blue Letter Bible

Read and study God's Word with Bible study software that has in-depth resources such as commentaries, Greek and Hebrew word tools, concordances, and more.

www.blueletterbible.org

Hugs

I have the same problem. I use a Kindle e-reader very often. You can make the font very large. The books are inexpensive. I believe you can buy a KJV (with references) for $1.95.

 

[Webers_Home]

.

As an allegory, the brazen serpent indicates that Christ's crucifixion for the
sins of the world is the only God-given rescue from the wrath of God

FAQ: If so; then how would someone go about appropriating the cross?

REPLY: By speaking up with a very simple prayer like the one below.

"God I know I'm a sinner who fully deserves retribution, and on track to get
it. I would like to take advantage of your son's death; if I may."
_

 

[Ziggy]

The cross. The crossroad.

To me the cross has many meanings.
It is the dying to the Old Covenant to Israel and the beginning of a new Life under a New Covenant with many people. Not just one race of people.
It is the humility and humbleness in which he showed the world he loved them by giving his own life for his friends.
It is the place we come to leave our old lives and ways behind and walk in newness of life in His Spirit.
It is the place we go to when we are burdened and heavy laden with this world, and we lay our cares at his feet and trust him to see us through and give us rest.
It is the hope and faith we share that after we leave this earth, our spirits will continue on and be with him where he is.. always and forever.
It is the very demonstration of how we should also love one another.

Jhn 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Hugs

The term "take advantage of" doesn't sit right with me.
It is we who humble ourselves to His Grace and Mercy bestowed upon us.

 

[BreadOfLife]

And some ya make up?
Well I got ta tell ya, I don't usually imply the word holy to people....but if I were to it would be mothers and they are not celibate. Not having sex improves nothing....it does not make ya holy and having sex does not make you less holy....same before and after....just avoid the wet spot.

I know PLENTY of mothers that couldn’t be considered “holy”. Having a child doesn’t make you “holy” in and of itself. Being holy is ALL about serving the LORD.

The Manson girls were ALL mothers. Were they “Holy”??
Every woman who kills her baby through Abortion is a mother. Are they “Holy” because if it?
THINK before you speak . . .

Paul says that a believing spouse SANCTIFIES their spouse by virtue of their marriage.
He goes on to say that a celibate person service God does BETTER.

Even a kid in 2md grade knows that “better” means BETTER.
You can’t be this dense . . .

I think it is butter! That way you can concentrate on what you are doing because all the blood leaves your brain! Ok, moms send your kids to the horny priest!

Or the horny, married Protestant minister . . .
How Protestant Churches Hid Sexual Abuse ...
Blogger Who Exposed Protestant Sex Abuse Cover Up Sued By Her Pastor
Denial About Sexual Abuse In Evangelical Churches
Southern Baptists Apologize For Sex Abuse Coverups
Confronting Evangelical Enabling of Sexual Abuse
Bombshell: sex abuse, coverup in America's largest Protestant ...
Southern Baptist leaders covered up sex abuse, kept secret ...
Clergy Abuse Coverup within the Protestant Church

Because celibacy does not sanctify anything.....same before....same after......the only difference is if the Priest falls off his celibacy wagon the only thing that gets molested in a hollow chocolate bunny!

And the Bible DISAGREES with you . . .
1 Cor. 7:38

Like I said before when you set up institutionalized celibacy you set things in motion and get people thinking like I said in post #917. Celibacy makes ya holy! Having sex makes you dirty and evil! And then women are evil temptresses of the devil....next thing ya know you have priest stripping women and skinning them alive. The whole mentality makes evil things happen and we arrive in modern times with the Church having blood on its hands and apologizing for past atrocities and mothers afraid for their children to be alone with the priest and Church donations going to pay for settlements so the pedophile priests do not go to prison.

First of all – I said that celibacy in service to GOD makes you holy, according to Scripture (1 Cor. 7:38).

You’re LYING about what I said because you realize that you’ve LOST this argument purely in Scriptural grounds – and now, you’re trying to justify your lunacy.

As for the “pedophile priests” that need to go to prison – make sure you save a few extra cells for the MARRIED Protestant Ministers who are molesting kids in greater numbers, according to the book, Pedophiles and Priests by Protestant author, Philip Jenkins.

A History of Sex Abuse in the Protestant Imagination
FAQ: Sexual Abuse by Protestant Clergy - The Doan Law Firm
1 in 10 Young Protestants Have Left a Church Over Abuse
Evangelicals ‘worse’ than Catholics on sexual abuse
Evangelical Sex Abuse Record ‘Worse’ Than Catholic, Says Billy Graham’s Grandson
Protestants can no longer dismiss abuse as a ‘Catholic problem’
Child Sex Abuse More Prevalent Among Protestants Than Among Catholics
There Is More Sexual Abuse In The Protestant Churches Than Catholic
Catholic priests no guiltier of sex abuse than other clergy
Data Shed Light on Child Sexual Abuse by Protestant Clergy
Blogger Who Exposed Protestant Sex Abuse Cover Up Sued By Her Pastor

 

[BreadOfLife]

Guys, don't expect @BreadOfLife to argue against the Abrahamic venture in the middle east, BoL is a very good Catholic, dedicated, focused, single eyed and zealous for his faith. And what is taking place there is not outside of Catholic teaching and practise. So BoL will not criticize or denigrate the Pope in his efforts at uniting those faiths.
For almost 2000 years catholicism has demonstrated it's willingness to morph with other faiths, even pagan idolatrous faiths, so long as they agree with the one essential uniting criteria... And which will also be demonstrated in ecumenism... That criteria being submission to the Pope, whoever he may be, as head of the global religious community.

More of your idiotic, SDA bitterness.

It would be refreshing to read just ONE rand from an SDA that wasn’t filled with condemnation and self-righteousness..
BUT, going by the model of your false prophetess/founder – I guess it’s just par for the course . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

You are deaf and blind to what your pope is doing.

And YOU are living in a world of science fiction . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

No. Not all of those church leaders demand their followers obey him and not scripture. So they are not popes.

And if you DON’T comply – you simply break off and become youor OWN “Pope.”

This happens every day in Protestantism . . .

 

[BreadOfLife]

You need to read that in context. Paul, as all the other apostles and many church fathers, could not see a future of 2000 years until Christ returns. They all thought the second coming was imminent. In that context what Paul was saying makes sense... If you can remain single with sin and without putting to much pressure upon yourself, fine, but of not, them marry. Time is short and we all need to focus as best we can on the gospel because we live in perilous times and the end of all things is nigh ". That context cannot be made to fit into a general generic concept applicable to later periods. Time was not on the side of the church... Poor exegesis resulted in the very sin and attitude toward women that Paul warned about.

This is an illogical assumption.

FIRST of all – NONE of us knows when Christ will rerurm. The ONLY reason WE know that it has taken at least 20000 years uis because we live 2000 years AFTER the Apostles. We have the luxury of being Monday morning quarterbacks.

Paul’s advice to stay celibate for the service of God was NOT wo everyone. In fact, he qualifies his statement by saying that it is NOT for everyone. But, for those who can – it is a BETTER option.

Secondly – if Paul was giving this advice because he thought we were OUT of time – he would have admonished EVERYONE to stay celibate.

Your “Context” doesn’t make sense in the text given.

 

[BreadOfLife]

@BreadOfLife we are sanctified by God's word and the work of the holy Spirit in our lives. Set apart for holy use is not unique to single people. Married people, even the unbelieving partner, are sanctified by the other... How much more if both are believers.

@Illuminator said...its reliance on grace as on something which supplants man’s nature rather than penetrates it.
Absolutely. Sin brings death. Which is why God places us in His Son on the cross... We die to self, the old nature is buried and we are born again. We don't need crutches or small incisive operations... We need full heart transplants. The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23. Death is the ONLY antidote to sin.

Paul lays down the case FOR marriage.
He talks about how a husband and wife sanctify each other by virtue of their marriage.

THEN, he goes on to make the case FOR celibacy in service of God – and says it is BETTER.
What makes you think that if a married couple IS sanctified – but a celibate person in service to God is doing BETTER nut is NOT sanctified??
Do you really think Paul is that stupid? Or the Holy Spirit??

WHY is this so difficult for you guys to understand??
It’s because, ultimately, you’ll have to agree with the Catholic Church – and that is unthinkable . . .

 

[Taken]

And YOU are living in a world of science fiction . . .

Not Fictional.

Not my job to get you a q-tip and take your blinders off!

 

[RLT63]

Paul lays down the case FOR marriage.
He talks about how a husband and wife sanctify each other by virtue of their marriage.

THEN, he goes on to make the case FOR celibacy in service of God – and says it is BETTER.
What makes you think that if a married couple IS sanctified – but a celibate person in service to God is doing BETTER nut is NOT sanctified??
Do you really think Paul is that stupid? Or the Holy Spirit??

WHY is this so difficult for you guys to understand??
It’s because, ultimately, you’ll have to agree with the Catholic Church – and that is unthinkable . . .

Nice to meet you. You remind me of JWs on the forum, you are just the Catholic version

 

[Illuminator]

Pope Francis said Wednesday that everyone in the Church is equal in dignity,
thus a focus on hierarchical advancement is “pure paganism.”

“Within the framework of the unity of the mission, the diversity of charisms and ministries must not give rise, within the ecclesial body, to privileged categories,” the pope said at his March 15 general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“There is no promotion here, and when you conceive of the Christian life as an advancement, that the one above commands others, because he has succeeded in climbing, that is not Christianity,” he said. “That is pure paganism.”

At his weekly meeting with the public, Francis reflected on the call to apostleship as part of the larger theme of evangelization.

“What does it mean to be an apostle? It means being sent for a mission,” he said, adding that it is also a vocation.

Being an apostle of Christ is not just a matter for bishops or priests but the call of every baptized person, Pope Francis said.

“Who has more dignity in the Church? The bishops, the priests?” he said. “No. We are all Christians in service to others.”

He said a religious sister is just as an important for the Church as anyone else: the baptized, unbaptized, a child, a bishop.

“We are equal. And when one of the parts believes himself to be more important than the others, and he sticks his nose up like this, he errs,” he emphasized.

“The vocation that Jesus gives to everyone, and also to those who seem to be in the highest positions, is service.”

The pope said if you see someone in a “high” position in the Church who is vain, you should pray for “the poor guy,” because he has not understood his vocation.

“The vocation of God is adoration of the Father, love of the community, and service,” he added.
Pope Francis drew from documents of the Second Vatican Council to illustrate what it means to be an apostle today.

“The Council says: ‘The Christian vocation by its very nature is also a vocation to the apostolate,’” he said, quoting the decree on the apostolate of the laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem.

Quoting from Lumen Gentium, the dogmatic constitution on the Church, he said apostleship “is a calling that is common, just as ‘a common dignity [is shared] as members from their regeneration in Christ, having the same filial grace and the same vocation to perfection; possessing in common one salvation, one hope, and one undivided charity.’”

“It is a call that concerns both those who have received the sacrament of orders, consecrated persons, and all lay faithful, man or woman.”
Pope Francis addressed the crowd as he said “the laity — all of you, the majority of you are laypeople, all of you — likewise share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world (Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2).”

He encouraged Catholics to consider how they relate to others, both in and outside the Church, in light of apostleship.

“For example, are we aware of the fact that with our words we can undermine the dignity of people, thus ruining relationships? While we try to engage in dialogue with the world, do we also know how to dialogue among ourselves as believers?” he said.

“Listening, humbling one’s self, being at the service of others: This is serving,” he continued. “This is being Christian. This is being apostle.”

“Let us not be afraid to pose these questions to ourselves, to flee from vanity, the vanity of positions,” Pope Francis concluded.

“May these words help us to confirm the way in which we live our baptismal vocation, how we live our way of being apostles in a Church that is apostolic, that is at the service of others.”

Pope Francis: A Christian life based on achieving higher positions is ‘pure paganism’

“When you conceive of the Christian life as an advancement, that the one above commands others ... that is not Christianity,” Pope Francis said.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[Ziggy]

I thank God that I am saved by the Faith of Jesus. If I had to rely on my own faith, I would probably sink like Peter.
It is in the act of believing in which an unbelieving husband or wife is sanctified.
I don't think marruage itself has anything to do with it.
Lot of people in the world are married and they aren't sanctified in the Truth of Jesus Christ.

I believe Paul stayed unattched, unmarried, because he wanted to concentrate himself totally to the Lord and the ministry.
There is no commandement in the bible to remain unmarried. It simply says it's better if one wants to dedicate his/her life to the Lord, and not be distracted with the worries that comes from divided attention.

Just my thoughts
Hugs

 

[Ziggy]

Being an apostle of Christ is not just a matter for bishops or priests but the call of every baptized person, Pope Francis said.

“Who has more dignity in the Church? The bishops, the priests?” he said. “No. We are all Christians in service to others.”

I seem to remember saying something similar a few posts back.
Just sayin...
Hugs

 

[BreadOfLife]

Nice to meet you. You remind me of JWs on the forum, you are just the Catholic version

Sooooo - instead simply posting a cowardly hit-and-run comment with NO context - why don't you explain?
That's what people do on a discussion forum . . .

 

[Taken]

Pope Francis said Wednesday that everyone in the Church is equal in dignity, thus a focus on hierarchical advancement is “pure paganism.”

He said a religious sister is just as an important for the Church as anyone else: the baptized, unbaptized, a child, a bishop.


“We are equal. And when one of the parts believes himself to be more important than the others, and he sticks his nose up like this, he errs,” he emphasized.

Disagree.
No we are not all Equal.
Jesus caused a Division among People.
With or Without Him.
Us With Him, Them without Him.

However, with the popes collaboration with Islam, his speech is not a surprise.

 

[Taken]

Sooooo - instead simply posting a cowardly hit-and-run comment with NO context - why don't you explain?
That's what people do on a discussion forum . . .

LOL that’s a laugh.

 

[BreadOfLife]

LOL that’s a laugh.

I can ALWAYS count on YOU for a nervous "LOL" when you have NO answers.
NONE of you can refute Paul's words in 1 Cor. 7 regarding the holiness of celibacy in service to God .

ALL I' get are cowardly hit-and-run posts and nervous "LOLs" . . . . .

 

[RLT63]

Sooooo - instead simply posting a cowardly hit-and-run comment with NO context - why don't you explain?
That's what people do on a discussion forum . . .

No need in arguing with you. You believe you have found the one true religion. There’s nothing I could say that would change your mind about anything.