More about equal time fighting evil as promoting good. This reminds me of the asian concept of two equal but opposite forces in balance; Yin and Yang.
How many gods are there?
by jgnat 85 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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ixthis
The Bible is inconsistent with good science and reason.
That could equally read:
... bad science and reason is inconsistent with the Bible
?
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godrulz
Good and evil are not two equal, opposite forces. God and good are far greater than evil and bad. yin is eastern false philosophy suitable for sci-fi Star Wars, not a credible world view.
jgnat, there is some wisdom in your comments. Thx.
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ixthis
Chariklo, I hope you are well.
"However, although that event caused the Great Schism a thousand years ago, the two branches of the church are sufficiently close to be in communion with each other, i.e. Catholics and Anglicans (Episcopalians) can and do take Holy Communion in Orthodox churches, and vice versa." - Quotes by Chariklo, 5/31/2011.
I'm afraid one thousand years have passed since the Great Schism and where we are now, in 2011, their are massive differences between the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox church.
The things the Pope declares about himself at the First Vatican Council are not "semantics", they are huge whopping claims of spiritual authority and power. Please read them but if you really do accept what the Pope says about himself and his successors in this council then so be it; but such claims will never, ever, be accepted by the Orthodox Faith. The Papal church is a self-styled "Ecumenical Council", where does that leave the Catholic church if they find themselves having to repudiate such a council?
It is impossible for Jesus' Church to function with only one lung. Ergo, it doesn't.
The RC and the Orthodox are not in communion, and the only true sign that they will be in communion is when they share the same altar, worshiping together in truth and love. Until that time you owe it to yourself to be in communion with the Body you know are most faithfully holding on to Christ's teachings.
And yet you do not enter communion with the Church despite knowing they most faithfully preserved the Christian Faith* but partake of the Sacred Mystery which is the Body and Blood of Christ without fear and trembling. If you died without ever seeing true union then what could you say before the Judgment Seat? You knew where the Truth was, to enter it was available to you, yet due to trusting on fallible old men you hung back from partaking of the Mystery in the canonical manner.What can you say in response?
In peace of Christ, V.
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*Of course, if you do not believe this then it is not a relevant argument.
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jgnat
Fellow believers, I am reminded of a story from my old pastor. He had begun participating in an interfaith prayer group for Edmonton. The pastors from many different churches found they had so much more in common; issues in their respective churches, concerns for the city, and so on. After a year of brotherly fellowship, they talked of perhaps hosting a joint event; communion perhaps.
Then the differences came out.
One denomination participated in communion weekly. Another on Easter only. Yet another on any day BUT Easter.
Then there were the various forms and prayers.
They could not come to consensus.
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PSacramento
Fellow believers, I am reminded of a story from my old pastor. He had begun participating in an interfaith prayer group for Edmonton. The pastors from many different churches found they had so much more in common; issues in their respective churches, concerns for the city, and so on. After a year of brotherly fellowship, they talked of perhaps hosting a joint event; communion perhaps.
Then the differences came out.
One denomination participated in communion weekly. Another on Easter only. Yet another on any day BUT Easter.
Then there were the various forms and prayers.
They could not come to consensus.
The concenus is that they ALL took communion in one way or another.
The fact that they decided to focus on what they DON'T do is actually quite sad to see though.
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jgnat
What I found sad is that they could pray together, commiserate together, but could not gather together because of their differences in form. It was over minutae.
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godrulz
If it was a one time communion, I don't see why it would matter if one did it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. A Billy Graham crusade could bring together hundreds of denominations centered around the gospel/Christ, so it is petty that form would preclude unity for one meeting.
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jgnat
Godrulz, look over the exceptions. Some did it ONLY on Easter. Another did it any day OTHER THAN Easter. Standstill. There is no day in common.
The Billy Graham crusades can pull together many churches of various denominations, but I can guarantee that the denominations that ONLY observe communion on Easter would be obliged to pass.
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/240-the-weekly-observance-of-the-lords-supper
http://graceandknowledge.faithweb.com/kiddush.html
http://newleaven.com/2011/04/23/a-case-for-the-lords-supper-on-easter-sunday/
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godrulz
The only group I am aware of that partakes once/year are JWs and their memorial sham. The vast majority of Christian churches do it monthly with a few weekly. Regardless, it is not a salvation issue so should never divide us.
We should not minimize the differences between cults and Christianity nor should we over-exaggerate the differences between credible Christian denominations that have much more in common than a few pet differences that are not salvific.