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The pretense of the thread title is what I would call associative slander.
No offer of evidence has been provided that any denomination has claimed to be the " True church".
The divisive tact is very obvious.
A fundamental tenet of Mormonism is that it is “The one true church on the face of the earth.”
Mike555 pretty much has it covered.......the only "church" that counts doesn't have a building made with hands but gathered together by the Holy Spirit. Most aren't aware the real prince of this earth is the devil for a while longer and he has done one heck of a job blinding minds and twisting scripture in a thousand directions over the centuries. People want to work and pass up the neighbors in good deeds, so we have millions out there sending their "good works" selfies up to God who counts them as filthy rags. Pride has people looking in the mirror and hoping THEY are good enough, and almost no one looking at a loving SAVIOR WHO IS GOOD ENOUGH and DIED in their place so HE could give them a free gift.......an imputed righteousness which God looks on that person who believes as just like His only SON.........they are sealed for eternity and will live with Go forever. Unbelievers need not apply.......and God has never asked for all your good opinions..... ...NEVER .
Excellent post !!!!
Isaiah says it forcefully in ch. 69:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
If we do as the Pharisee in Luke 18 who boasted of all the good things he had done; but the publican said, "God be merciful to me a snner," and the latter went down to his house justified. If we truly have the Holy Spirit, it will bring forth good works in and through us, and we will have nothing of which we can boast.
But we will have to keep that Spirit to the end of our life. We can lose it if we willfully go back into our old sinful life. See Matt. 12:43-45.
Last edited by Robert M Prince; 10-20-2017 at 07:22 AM..
Mike555 pretty much has it covered.......the only "church" that counts doesn't have a building made with hands but gathered together by the Holy Spirit. Most aren't aware the real prince of this earth is the devil for a while longer and he has done one heck of a job blinding minds and twisting scripture in a thousand directions over the centuries. People want to work and pass up the neighbors in good deeds, so we have millions out there sending their "good works" selfies up to God who counts them as filthy rags. Pride has people looking in the mirror and hoping THEY are good enough, and almost no one looking at a loving SAVIOR WHO IS GOOD ENOUGH and DIED in their place so HE could give them a free gift.......an imputed righteousness which God looks on that person who believes as just like His only SON.........they are sealed for eternity and will live with God forever. Unbelievers need not apply.......and God has never asked for all your good opinions........NEVER
There is the problem.
1 Cor 1:10 tells us that the "gathering together" will be people of one mind and judgement, not 36,000 different ones.
1 Corinthians 1:10 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
The stupid united in essentials and divided in non essentials is one of Satan's ploys to keep people divided and not gathering together. NO DIVISIONS.
He could have said
1 Corinthians 1:12 12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Luther; and I of Wesley; and I of Joseph Smith; and I of the Pope.
Same problem then and now. Following men not Christ.
True believers gather together as one, not anywhere they like and with people who are divided from others.
The LDS church has always taught they are the one true church. The missionaries told me the same thing. One threatened me with "playing with fire" if I didn't join.
The founder , Joseph Smith, said he was searching for the "one true church" and decided to pray for the answer. Jesus and God appeared to him, he says, and announced, "they're all wrong." Then they proceeded in telling him how to find out the truth.
They'd prefer to brush that one under the rug at this point.
When you stop to think about it, it's only logical that any Christian would want to seek out the denomination he or she believes to be teaching true doctrines. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventists all make a claim to be "the only true Church." Well over half of the Christians in the world belong to one of these denominations. Since no two groups that do not agree on 100% of Christian doctrines cannot both be be 100% true, I think the claim to be "the only true church" is at least logical. Of course, it is entirely possible that there is no "true Church" around. What I don't understand is why someone wouldn't at least care whether their Church was "true" or not. Most Protestants seem to think it really doesn't matter which Church you affiliate with as long as it's not Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Mormonism, the Seventh Day Adventists or the Jehovah's Witnesses. I actually admire people who do care, as long as they don't condemn everybody who believes differently. After all, believing that you belong to the "true Church" doesn't have to mean, "I'm better than you." It simply means you believe you've made the right choice, and there's nothing wrong with that.
That said, I really do think that when it comes to truth, there was a lot of it in Mike555's post #2. In other words, all Christians who are sincere in their love for Christ and for their fellow men are part of the body of Christ. And that, IMO, is more important than being a member of "the only true Church."
Do you believe, you are a member of the true church or body of Christ?
I'm a member of the universal church, as described in Acts and the epistles. It is the body of Christ.
I'm a member, specifically of a Baptist church, but that church is no more the "ONLY" true church than the "Christian Church" down the street is the ONLY true church.
I'm a member, specifically of a Baptist church, but that church is no more the "ONLY" true church than the "Christian Church" down the street is the ONLY true church.
So you chose the Baptist Church for what reason? It was closest to your house? The meeting times were more convenient for you? You like the pastor's personality? It's a nicer building and the pews are more comfortable than most? You fit in with the rest of the congregation better? They have better church socials?
Jesus told us how we could identify His followers by their fruits - love for one another. All the nonsense over church membership and the "precepts and doctrines of men" is the result of human vanity and hubris, period.
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