Yesterday we had a bit of an issue, our car battery died. A nice man stopped to give us a jump and we got to talking. He was a very devoted catholic, and began to tell me his story. As I explained to him that I am a devotee of Jesus he mentioned being protestant.
I had never thought that if I wasn't in one box that I would be put in another. I started thinking about what ever happened to the early church. After Jesus was gone, but before the formation of the catholic church.
Were the early believers slowly introduced into the new traditions, and gradually forgot that Jesus had just led them away from this?!
Early believers of Jesus must have been growing at an amazing pace. For 300 years the love for Jesus and His teachings must have been spreading fast. Why not contain it a bit....perhaps in a brick and mortar...in one location.
Can you imagine if the love and peace of Jesus had continued to spread without being stopped by the formation of the modern church. The world would be truly different place.
Be well. Be encouraged. Be radical.
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There were already "heresies" in churches before the first century was over. Paul battled them in almost every epistle he wrote. John warned to try the Spirits because not every spirit is of God. Jude said we must earnestly contend for the faith once delivered. In some respects every one of the writers of the New Testament created "boxes" true believers were to stay inside of. Paul said to mark those who would not walk according to the traditions he gave them. Before the Catholic church started in around 314 AD, there were already churches that would not accept the baptism of some other churches, believing them to have departed too far from the faith delivered by Jesus and the apostles. When Constantine supposedly converted and called for the Christians to come under his protection (and thereby establishing the Catholic - which means universal, one world church), many churches refused, understanding it to be of a different sort than the church Jesus built. Those churches were labeled by the Catholics as "Ana-baptist" and were hunted down by the Catholics for the next 1300 years. Historically then there are three sorts of Churches: Catholics, Protestants (those who were once Catholics and protested out from it) and Independent (those churches that were never part of the Catholic system). Baptists, Mennonites, Amish, Quakers are among those that are neither Catholic nor Protestant.
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Wonderful! Thank you. I love to think and challenge. Nothing is ever what it seems. I am still believing that what Jesus taught was taken in, and quickly forgotten. The very fact that we have so many boxes as you stated above shows that we are probably more divided than ever. I think that Jesus' message was clear and simple. It was man that muddied the water. Trying to figure out what Jesus meant instead of simply believing what He said.
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No kidding brother. Get out of this state! Im not religious at all, however I will say I appreciate your perspective at a higher degree than most. The reason for that is you have what most "religious people" don't. Acceptance of others perspective. Out of curiosity have you ever studied any of the Eastern Religions, specifically Neikung and Taoism? Good talk as always. Watch my recentvideo to see the socal perspective (Thousand Oaks) of the fires.
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I have and do study eastern philosophy . It is amazing how clear the connections are. The issue is that we as humans contend with our ego. there can't be that if I believe in this.
Yeah we are in Fresno and the air is terrible. My sinuses are throbbing haha.
I apprrciate that you appreciate my perspectives. Be well.
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I think the biggest blow to the Parables of Christ was including the Letters of Paul in the creation of the Bible.
The bar that Christ set for salvation was extremely high, but the bar that Paul the Apostle set is even lower than secular standards.
I think that is one of the reasons why there are a lot of church members with very little change. By Paul's standards, everyone who believes in the storyline of Christ is saved, much like children believe in Santa Claus.
That is a lot different than sacrificing everything for the truth. I don't have anything against followers of Paul, but I wanted to point out that there is a difference between the Parables of Christ and the Letters of Paul.
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I 100% agree. Modeen churches are often the church of paul.
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Wow @freedompoint I think you are the first Christian I met who actually agrees with me on that! It's nice to meet someone with a similar perspective.
Thank you 😊
~ @chrisrice
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Well, as I say all the time...I am a devotee of Jesus, not just a Christian. I have unprogrammed myself from all of the churchianity and found truth in the words of Jesus. I think if people could see Him without a preprogrammed idea of Him, it would all be a no brainer.
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One of the things I like is the example of not "mistaking the finger for the moon".
When someone points at the moon, you have to move your eyes away from the tip of their finger to look in the direction of the moon. Only then will you discover what the moon is, where it's located and what it looks like.
I feel like we have an awful lot of people talking about the words attributed to Christ (the finger), Paul and others but barely anyone describing an actual moon.
I hope I can discuss some of the things I learned with you and I am sure that I can also learn from our discussions @freedompoint
~ @chrisrice
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