question...

by candidlynuts 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  NoMoreMeetings

  Last month I toured Israel with 250 Liberty University students.
  The dean of the seminary, Dr. Ergun Caner, left Islam as a teenager and accepted Christianity.
  He spoke one evening on how Christ came, not to establish religion, but to destroy it!

  Organized religion is not necessary for salvation, only faith in Jesus Christ.

  A church may accomplish good in the community on its own, but in order for a church to be under the authority of Jesus, the church needs to seek His will by prayer and study in the Bible. The church is directed by Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. A church will flourish when it recognizes this.

  Liturgy and ritual may aid worship for some, but it is not necessary for a person to have a personal relationship with God through Christ.

  Churches that are legalistic (like the WT), grieve the Holy Spirit and totally miss the point of serving God and Christ.

  To Jesus, there is one church, with one faith, and one hope. It doesn't matter what the name of the church is. Church could be as simple as two gathering together in Jesus' name.

  Associating with fellow believers keeps our faith strong, brings God's approval, and provides opportunity to meet the needs of others. (James 1:27)
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  greendawn

  It depends what you mean by catholic church, the original Christian church may have been called catholic but it is not the same as the Roman Catholic church, originally there was one church that split into two parts around 1000 AD: the Western Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox.
  
  As for Paul I believe that the churches he created were mainly gentile let's not forget at that time even Christian Jews did not see eye to eye with the idea that the mosaic law had become obsolete and they could not imagine life without it. Paul was saying that this same law was a curse for those putting their lives under its yoke.
  
  "Who (Christ) also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life." 2 Cor 3:6
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  Terry

  i was shocked recently when a friend of mine said the jews adopted yahweh from a group of gods that was worshipped? that he was a lesser god who had a wife.. and built monotheism on that?

  What you describe is Gnosticism. It was just one of many branches of competing sects within Judaism.

  Look at Christianity today. You have Lutherns, Methodists, Baptists, etc. They all stem from a kind of common basis; yet, they differ enough to regard themselves each as quite necessarily separate.

  It is like cell division. As a cell divides it differentiates.

  T.