LMAO @ logical
False Religion
by UnDisfellowshipped 13 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Gig
Obviously mankind can't agree on everything, that's when the one true religion kicks in. No self-professing Christian should allow themselves to judge others. If they don't like how some people praise and worship, then they shouldn't attend there. But they certainly shouldn't go around saying those people aren't saved or are bad unchristian people. The Bible emphasizes love above all things. It hopes and endures all things. I personally believe any sectarian (we're saved - you're not) churches are wrong to believe and teach that, so that's why I don't go there. Still should love them, even if they are our enemies.
Look at it this way, if everybody just did the same thing...then how would we ever improve? It takes differences to realize the importance of the Christian common ground.
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UnDisfellowshipped
Gig said:
No self-professing Christian should allow themselves to judge others. If they don't like how some people praise and worship, then they shouldn't attend there.
I agree.
But they certainly shouldn't go around saying those people aren't saved or are bad unchristian people.
I did not state anywhere in this Thread whether or not anyone was saved.
The Bible emphasizes love above all things.
Yes, but love without truth?
Still should love them, even if they are our enemies.
I agree completely. I have love for everyone.
If a certain Church or Organization teaches variations on minor issues, I have no problem.
However, the Bible teaches that Christians are to warn others about people who teach things which contradict the essential Biblical Truths.
Do you agree that it is a good idea to warn people about the Jehovah's Witnesses?
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barry
Many of the confessions of faith held by various segments of the Christian community have described the true church in the language of the Nicene Creed [fourth century] as the 'one , holy,catholic and apostolic church'. The attributes of the church presented in this formula are biblical concepts.
During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, controversy arose over the identity of Gods true church. One of the papacys major arguements against the Reformers was that the Church of Rome was the one, holy, catholicand apostolic church. Protestants ,of course denied Rome's claim. But how could one test the claims of opposing religious bodies to be the 'true church'?
Rome for example, interpreted these attributes in institutional terms. 'Unity meant lockstep conformity to the wishes of the hierarchical Roman structure. 'Catholicity' meant the propagation and maintenance of a formal, worldwide organization. 'Holicity' was defined as submission to the teaching of a succession of Roman bishops who claimed to wear the mantle of Peter.
The Reformers , however contended that the attributes of the church could not be properly understood apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church's real unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity, they said, were all rooted in Gods great saving act on Calvary. Therefore, the identity of the true church could be judged by whether or not the marks of the pure preaching of the gospel and the proper administration of baptism and the lords supper [by which the gospel is portrayed] were present in the community. This gospel alone would produce the attributes by which the true church can be known.
The Reformers had recovered a vital truth . The New Testament teaches that the attributes of the true church are soteriological rather than institutional. The church is one because the atonement of Christ has broken down the wall that once separated human beings according to class, race and sex. The church is holy because Christs death has purchased and set apart those who beleive the Gospel, to be Gods chosen people. The church is catholic [ie. universal] because Christs blood has washed away the sins of the whole world and because this gospel is now preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The church is apostolic because its faith and life are grounded soley on the testimony of the apostleswhom Christ appointed to witness and proclaim his saving work