Jim, I'll tell you where I think you have gone wrong. To begin with, just because the "Orthodox" church and the "Roman Catholic" church can trace their histories back to the time of the apostles does not prove that either of these religious organizations is the same religious organization that was established by the apostles. Neither does it prove that either of these religious organizations would be approved of by the apostles, if the apostles were alive today. For instance, the Watchtower Society, as it exists today, can certainly trace its history back to the Watchtower Society that was established many years ago by Charles Russell. But is there any doubt that if Charles Russell was alive today that he would not even recognize today's Watchtower Society as being the same religious organization that he founded? And is there any doubt that if Charles Russell was alive today that he would view today's Watchtower Society as being an unholy perversion of the religious organization that he established? As you know, Christ prophesied that after He left this earth Satan would sew seeds of corruption throughout His church. (Matt. 13) And as you also know, the apostle Paul prophesied that after the apostles died, "Savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock." In fact, Paul said that the truly Christian religious order that he and his fellow apostles had worked so hard to establish would very soon become corrupted. For he told his contemporaries, "Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. " (Acts 20:29,30)
There is little doubt that Paul was referring to a coming corruption of organized Christianity in 2 Thess. chapter 2. There he said that a "lawless" "apostacy" was "already at work" within the true Christian religious order which the apostles had established. That being the case, the fact that a modern day church organization can trace its origins back to the days of the apostles does nothing to prove that it is now an uncorrupted continuation of the truly Christian religious order established by the apostles, for true Christian doctrines, traditions, and practices were already beginning to be corrupted during the lives of the apostles. Many of the teachings, practices, and traditions of the religious organizations which you seem to now be recommending to us here differ so greatly from the teachings of Christ and His apostles that I find it hard to believe that any well informed person of sound mind can believe that such an organization might now constitute "Christ's true church." ( I hope it's not necessary to actually innumerate all of these here for you. Many of the Roman Catholic Church's false teachings were discussed at length not too long ago on Channel C.) How anyone can say that the Roman Catholic church is now or was ever Christ's true church after reading Paul's prophecy in 1 Timothy 4 is beyond me. There Paul wrote, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.They will forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods." In my opinion, only the spiritually blind can fail to see this prophecy for what it was. Christians who for some reason find it necessary to identify some obviously highly corrupted church organization as "Christ's true church" and bow to their "Holy Fathers" remind me of the Israelites who insisted that they be given a visible human king. (1 Sam. 8) For some reason they found themselves unable to serve only the invisible King of Heaven, aided by His words found in the scriptures He had given them. Unlike those Israelites, the invisible King of Heaven, Jesus Christ, is the only king I need. Since leaving the JWs and becoming a Christian I have attended several churches. None of them has been anywhere near perfect. But by doing so I have been able to help my fellow Christians and they have been able to help me. In other words, I have been able to act as part of Christ's body, which has always been His only "true church." Jim, over the years I have followed your spiritual odyssey. I am now left wondering how it is that you now find yourself where you are. Maybe it is a result of your willingness to depart from the simple teachings of Christ. This is evidenced by your now praying to the Holy Spirit, while Christ instructed His followers to "Pray this way... our Father." For Christians to pray to Christ is understandable, since the Bible tells us that Christians would recognize Christ as their Father and call Him by that name. (Isa. 9:6) But prayer to the Holy Spirit was not taught by Christ or His apostles. Of course, neither was praying to long dead Catholic "Saints." I don't know if you are doing that yet. But if you are now looking to the Roman Catholic church for spiritual guidance you will probably be doing so soon. I can only suggest that you begin sticking closely to the teaching of Christ and His apostles as recorded in the scriptures, and stop paying so much attention to the teachings and traditions of corrupted, man made, religious organizations. Christ's true church does not exist today in the form of any religious organization. Rather you will find Christ's true church wherever two or three of His followers are gathered together in His name, in church buildings owned by all Christian denominations and in places which have no connection to any of them. I wish you the best in your continuing spiritual journey. Mike |