None of these things you list are Christian doctrines.
What is "doctrine," dear BTS (again, peace to you!)? Isn't it "beliefs" taught by a certain religion? And if, say, a minister or priest or elder or pope "teaches" that a congregation should accept/believe a certain thing, doesn't that make it "doctrine"? For millenia, many followed Paul's "doctrine" of "removing" folks from the congregation (and many still do!). Yet, Christ NEVER taught such a thing. But many consider it "christian" doctrine. What about women covering their heads and not teaching in public? And priests, etc., not being able to marry? All of those are "doctrines"... yet, Christ is never recorded to have mentioned a single one of them. What, may I ask, did he say as to homosexuals? All I can find "in the Bible" is him clarifying adultery... yet, forgiving a woman literally caught in the act. Paul said one thing, some in the Corinthian congregation (as well as the Apostles) believed another thing. Who was right? How do you know?
Christ also is recorded to have said he founded a church,
Would "build" a temple, yes... and he is. On what, though, did he say he would build it? On Peter... or Peter's grave? Or... on the "rock" that was the FAITH PETER SHOWED WHEN HE DECLARED HIM TO BE THE SON OF GOD? Now, be careful. You might want to take a moment and read the passage before you respond. You might also want to view who Paul said that "rock" was:
"They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."
and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.
Nor will it. There will be a resurrection: of the righteous and even of the UNrighteous. So, Sheol/Hades will not prevail against that church, that TEMPLE... because just as he was given authority (the keys to Hades) and so raised up the "temple" that was his own body... Christ... who now has ALL authority... will raise up the FULL temple of God: his Body.
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16) and...
"For through him we both (Israel and Gentile) have access to the Father by one spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined togetherand rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to becomea dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. (Ephesians 2:29-21, and again, note the ONLY word that has the word "holy" before it... is "temple").
The Apostles wrote that the church was Christ's body. How can you reject the body, and be a Christian?
The church IS Christ's Body; however, this is not speaking of the Catholic Church... no more than it's speaking of the WTBTS, dear one. I AM the church: a LIVING "stone"... in the temple of JAH. As such, I have a Head... Christ. A teacher... Christ. A leader... Christ. He, the Holy Spirit. From him I received the "promised holy spirit"... the blood, breath, semen, and lifeforce... of the MOST Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies... which was poured out from my Lord's innermost parts upon me. It became IN me fountain... bubbling up... so that I was BAPTIZED with it... and cleansed of my sins. As a result, I have become a NEW creation... one who has been conceived by holy spirit... by the Holy Spirit, who so conceived me, an insignificant seed [of the Woman, my "mother", Jerusalem Above]... and now await my birth... the event in which I will be born... AGAIN... not as a being of flesh, but one of spirit. Whether my flesh dies before that birth (in which case, it will be resurrected and changed to a spirit body)... or is living at the time (in which case, it will be merely be changed and so never die)... is irrelevant. Either way, I will put off corruption (flesh with ITS blood, and thus sin and death IN it)... and put on INcorruption (a spirit body that does not have sin and death in and so will NEVER die... but can only be destroyed by fire).
The church is not an institution, dear one - it is people: Christ, the Foundation Cornerstone (and thus, the Stone of Stumbling); the Apostles, the Foundation and Gates; the Prophets and Others, the Pillars... and all others, living stones. It is a building/temple which the Most Holy One of Israel will ultimately occupy... and dwell forever in. And that building, because of His occupancy... by means of His SPIRIT... will never be made to totter. It is being "built" by His SON... the Holy One of Israel... who is the HEAD of the Body/Church and the Temple High Priest.
None of the Christian Scriptures were written to isolated individuals, they were written to the church.
Ummmmm... really? What about Luke's two accounts? Neither were written for or TO the church... but to Theophilus, who commissioned them. The letters to "Timothy"? One person there, as no one else was named in the greeting of either of these. What about John the Elder's letter to the "chosen lady" and her children? One household, there. How about his letter to Gaius? True, these letters may have been shared with others (or not, but confiscated and used to prove them "christians" and subversives, then later considered useful...). Your statement is inaccurate, dear one, sorry.
from your own admission, I think you aren't a Christian.
Well, if your definition of "christian" is one who ascribes to the doctrines of "christianity," you may be right. But that is not the true definition of a "christian," dear one, and I am such by means of the true definition. While I realize that some believe it to mean "follower of Christ" (which is a "disciple", actually)... I have learned, from my Lord, that it means... "anointed/chosen" person. Christ-ian. In that light, I am certain a christian, by means of an anointing with holy spirit. Rather than lead me INTO a religion, however, through that anointing my Lord spoke to me... and led me OUT:
"The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."
True, my Lord referred to himself as the Gate; however, he also said:
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."
Jehovah's Witnesses aren't either, although they use the title.
Well, now wait... if you can say, with certainty, that THEY aren't (and they say that Catholics aren't)... why can't I say... with the same certainty... that NEITHER are? I mean, I certainly have "authority" to do so, as does any who belong to Christ... because as I posted above, the spirit searches into the deep things of God. Including putting those to the test who call themselves "Jews" (or "Israel" because that IS the Household of God)... but actually aren't.
Don't get me wrong, you are free to believe whatever you like, but I am free to label those beliefs as Christian or not, too.
And I take absolutely no issue with you doing so. Again, I am not trying to persuade you as to anything. I am only sharing the truth regarding these matters as I received the FROM the Truth, my Lord, the Holy One of Israel and Holy Spirit, JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH, who is the Son and Christ of the MOST Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies. Whether you hear... or refrain. Truly.
Again, I bid you peace!
YOUR servant and a slave of Christ... and not any religious institution (at least, not any longer),
SA
