dear Tammy...
you said:
"a) the great apostasy already happened; so why would I listen to men who profess to be the 'church' instead of Christ who is the head of the church?
b) what universal church are you speaking of?"...
where do you get your information that the "great" apostasy had happened...and what time are you refering to exactly?...by AD325 all the bishops of the church were called to settle the matter of who Jesus Christ was according to the teaching of the apostles, written documents and theological arguements...are you saying that the apostates won the day?...that God Almighty was so easily thwarted by man?...or is it more likely that God holds the destiny of the church in His hand and the Holy Spirit was present at that council and the intentions of God were carried out...that the one foundational DOGMA of the early church...who Jesus Christ IS was proclaimed by official creed...He is the FOUNDATION of THE faith.
having said that, it is apparent who the universal church is by looking at the witness of history, Tammy. With all its human problems it still has the seal of the Living God.
you said: "Yes, the nicene creed, which changed the apostles creed, added to it, and was politically motivated and voted upon"...and you, no doubt, suspect that it was added to to deceive the masses...no thought of articulating the teaching and witness of Jesus Christ or how the ONE God of creation could be extrapolated from OT books and the written accounts of the early church to a cohesive unity in order to help clarify for followers who God is? These men were servants to the most High God it was their task to serve the needs of the growing church...why the objection to "voting"?...isn't it true that reaching a concensus is a mark of unity?
you said: "if it is the spirit of love, compassion, mercy, faith, forgiveness, that dwells within you and that you act upon... then good for you. He who is not against you is for you."...as a matter of fact there are "groups" that live by this ideology who are not and will not call themselves christian, is it your stance that they are for Jesus Christ then?...against their stated beliefs you call the shots and they are indeed His?...interesting...please elaborate on that scripture. do you try at all to cast out demons, or even doctrines of demons, Tammy?...or do you welcome them, in all their guises, into fellowship with you? if you are following Jesus...WWJD?
you said: "We have learned that the answer (the TRUTH) is in Christ and so go to Him. His sheep hear HIS voice... not His sheep hear the voice of others who hear His voice."...His sheep heard His voice in the teaching of the apostles did they not? Jesus founded His church by the teaching of the Holy Spirit through peter and the apostles did He not?...the boreans checked the hebrew scriptures to see that what the apostles taught was true did they not?...are all these not His sheep because they didn't audibly hear His voice?...or maybe they just didn't have YOUR faith to hear His voice?
you said: "To tell people about Him, yes... but they were NOT to be called teachers (that is the teaching of Christ)... and they did not have nearly the amount of doctrines or creeds that are around today."...by your reasoning why wouldn't they just go to Him and get the information...why bother with instituting the church?...there aren't that many creeds and doctrines are culled from the written work contained in the bible, they most often have relevence to the orderly worship of God...who is a God of order not chaos.
you said: "Well, we can look to Christ. HE is the one who knows what is truth or not; or what He taught or not."...john 8:24, mark 9:42-48
you said: "Did Christ hand anyone over to Satan, btw? Did he give up on them like that? Perhaps He handed them over to GOD... to handle as God saw fit. Then on the cross, recall that Christ still asked forgiveness for all those who had sinned against Him, denied Him, etc. It is his example that we are to follow."...Jesus called some people sons of their father, satan...and said that they wouldn't enter the kingdom...they would therefore be cast out to be with satan. On the cross Jesus asked the Father to forgive the people there because they knew not what they did, earlier He wasn't so forgiving to those people who He called sons of their father, satan. do you think that we should draw a line of distinction between forgiving those who know not what they do and those who know they are enemies of Christ?
you said: "Paul also wrote, when this began to happen (and still happens today... much of the church is built upon the teachings of paul, even if those go against the teachings of christ), that NONE should be following him, or Peter, or Appollos. Only Christ."
...in response to: "I get the impression that these were in the position of being able to convince others in the congregation of something that could literally lead them into grave apostasy. the apostle paul was caring for the rest of the congregation who were entrusted into his care...he wasn't just being mean and unloving to these ones he let loose (1 timothy 1:18-20)...you can also read 1 timothy 1:12-17 to hear how much Jesus' trust meant to paul and how seriously he took that responsibility to teach those in his charge...he called them his dear children."...paul was saying that the church "bishops"were in agreement on important matters of the faith and therefore there was no call for picking one preacher over another. this scripture I quoted relates to those who he thought were in a position to deceive the congregation by teaching something otherthan what the church taught...and because he did remove them from the congregation and deliver them to satan it would have been for something important like an anti-christ teaching...a dogma...not a doctrine, or a mere opinion they held contrary to the teaching of the church.
you said: "See now the difference here, that you are convinced of... is that denying Christ does not = denying his nature of God the Son."...well, if you deny that Jesus Christ is God the Son then you are indeed denying the fulness of His very person, the Christ.
you said: "Michelle, John says exactly what he means. No need to be 'convinced' of something else. He says it plain. .That there are some of those who go so far as to deny that Jesus is the Christ. They denied that He was the messiah. This does not translate into what you translated."
... 1 john 2:18-23, the criteria for the anti-christ(s) are those who deny Jesus is the Christ; they deny the essential unity of the Father and Son "relationship" in the Godhead...see my response above...if the teaching of the Father and Son that was taught by the apostles abides in you the Holy Spirit abides in you as well...you are anointed from the Holy ONE.
love michelle