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I grew up Catholic, and I've been member of several different denominations. I trusted Christ while attending a large non-denominational church. I have attended for a time, an SBC, an E Free, a church in a small Bible church conference, a Baptist General, and American Baptist.
I've found the denomination frequently has less to do with the faithfulness of the local church as the pastor. All those denominations have good and bad churches.
Why do you take their word for it? Why do you believe the speak for Christians?
I don’t say they “speak “ for Christians. I point out that there are official type groups who have put in the time and done the research and came up with the numbers . You may choose to deny them if you wish . I’m not sure why you think they would lie .
I realize that. And with an absence of authority, one can simply decide whatever the truth they want to believe is. So truth has no meaning.
Since you claim to be Christian why is your authority the Bible and NOT Jesus Christ Himself? Jesus revealed the True Nature of God's Holy Spirit of agape love and forgiveness. He described and demonstrated the truth of it unambiguously on the Cross so there should have been no confusion about it.
Unfortunately, our primitive ancestors were so indoctrinated to a wrathful and vengeful God by Moses and the OT that they simply could not believe what Jesus showed them. They misinterpreted it in accord with their beliefs about a wrathful War God.
I don’t say they “speak “ for Christians. I point out that there are official type groups who have put in the time and done the research and came up with the numbers . You may choose to deny them if you wish . I’m not sure why you think they would lie .
I will clarify my statement a little, as I got lazy with a term. I should have said that some list 33,000 Christian sects, not just Protestant sects. This would include Catholics, EO, and OO , which was not my intention to include. The term Protestant is also wrong, and where I got lazy. My meaning was non Ancient Faith churches, ie not the RCC, EO and OO, but those that left and make their way by their own reading of the Bible. The numbers given would also include a small number of sects like the Mormons, JW, Christian Science, Theosophy, and a few other fringe types that might get classified as Christian but are not properly Protestant. The number of these sects is not great, but nonetheless do increase the non RCC type churches marginally.
I personally think the true number of strictly true Protestant sects is more around 20,000 , maybe even down closer to 10,000 . Which is why I used the conservative 10,000 number . But really my main point WOULD include all the non Catholic/EO types, including the JW and Mormon, because my point was about the number of sects formed outside the ones started by the Apostles.
Regardless of how we split hairs, the Christian faith has fractured enormously once people left the original churches to make their way based solely on their own personal reading of the Bible.
If you are referring to me , that’s not quite correct. I have stated that the Apostles taught the churches, and their successors kept up the teaching. I think these guys wrote some stuff about it . The Gospel of Matthew maybe ; John wrote one , I think . Maybe it was called the Gospel of John or something . Then Peter wrote one or two. Paul wrote a few . And these are the guys that taught the first generation after the apostles , who wrote that they held to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. So no, I don’t elevate the church fathers, I simply claim it is more logical to believe they got it right, having learned in person from the Apostles, than Protestants reading a Bible in the year 1500 or 2000 .
Jesus will decide who has lived under His Lordship.
Only these will enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 7:21, 22,23,
Men under the lordship /tutelage of men have no such privilege.
So do you . So does every non Catholic . I exclude Catholics and Orthodox because they generally just accept church teachings and don’t decide for themselves .
Protestants have even figured out how to condemn homosexuality while justifying heterosexual adultery, simply because Protestants get divorced and so this has to be explained away somehow . Can’t preach remarriage is adultery when 30% of your congregation is divorced
As a Catholic, I don't pick and choose whatever I want from scripture. Here's what I decided, actually long before I converted to Catholicism - take for instance, predestination and free will. I feel like there are passages in scripture that can be used (or twisted) to support either stance. But I also believe they are ALL in scripture and they ALL apply. So if I don't understand how they both work together, that's my limited human understanding. That applies to topics like faith and works too for that matter. And topics like the Trinity, which isn't even clear in scripture, though I believe scripture supports the concept, which was clarified by church teachings at a later date.
So do you . So does every non Catholic . I exclude Catholics and Orthodox because they generally just accept church teachings and don’t decide for themselves .
Protestants have even figured out how to condemn homosexuality while justifying heterosexual adultery, simply because Protestants get divorced and so this has to be explained away somehow . Can’t preach remarriage is adultery when 30% of your congregation is divorced
And other Protestants have figured out how to marry, ordain, and baptize the children of gay people while preaching only "love one another".
Since you claim to be Christian why is your authority the Bible and NOT Jesus Christ Himself? Jesus revealed the True Nature of God's Holy Spirit of agape love and forgiveness. He described and demonstrated the truth of it unambiguously on the Cross so there should have been no confusion about it.
Unfortunately, our primitive ancestors were so indoctrinated to a wrathful and vengeful God by Moses and the OT that they simply could not believe what Jesus showed them. They misinterpreted it in accord with their beliefs about a wrathful War God.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissKate12
As I said, you pick and choose.
What you call picking and choosing is actually properly dividing the scriptures using God's Holy Spirit of agape love and forgiveness as revealed and demonstrated unambiguously by Jesus on the Cross. Blindly accepting it ALL as scripture is NOT studying to show yourself approved.
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