SonOfNun
Member
If there is one thing that bugs me more then anything is the fact that Christians are not united. Now by Christian I mean of course Gods elect. The Bible clearly denounces other religions, like LDS and Jehovah's Witnesses who say that Jesus was not God, as non-Christian. Now I am not saying that anyone claiming to be a follower of one of those teachings are not a Christian, just that the religion in and of its self is non-Christian. I hope you will understand what I am saying here.
What I am really trying to stress here is that humanism has invaded the church on every side, as we all know. Humanism comes in many shapes and forms and is in essence man trying to elevate him or herself above God. Therefore humanism= sin. Before man sinned man only new Gods order. The human mind couldn't comprehend anything outside what God had created. There was only one way for them to escape that order and set their minds free, that was the tree of knowledge. God placed it in the garden so man could have the free will to choose Gods order or something else created outside that order. Of course they eat of the tree and their minds no longer was contained in Gods truth. No doubt Adam and Eve didn't fully understand what exactly they were doing, but they knew enough to know that they shouldn't be doing it. They were cast out of the garden and from generation to generation mans mind continued to comprehend what it could do outside of that order. It became mans nature to be evil because God was in heaven and temptation was on earth. They knew what was right but chose to disobey. And so their minds became a slave to the world around it.
This is the state of every mind that has not been saved by God, and even those who God has chosen to save have trouble escaping their "old nature". Jesus of course came and established the Church on earth. Do to false doctrines it became apparent that the early churches would need Someone to help keep their minds from wandering. Thus Bishops were assigned. Since Rome was the engine through which the Gospel was spread it was only natural that the Bishop of Rome was seen as authoritative. Over time the position of Pope was created. This was not a bad thing, in fact it was probably a good thing. It was a matter of Order. God is a God of order, and he has placed every man where he wants them. It is a Christians duty to except that reality. Missionaries were sent out, people were saved and became subject to the Pope. By no means am I saying that at this time the church was perfect. To say so would be an Idealistic fantasy. We as Christians should never look back at a point in time after the fall and say," this is the ideal time," because earth is not ideal. The one major problem at this time was that Christianity became a religion of law. So men followed Gods laws because if they didn't they would be punished, not because their hearts were in the right place. It was a matter of might makes right. To further this problem a humanistic idea entered into the papal seat. The idea that only the will was fallen but not the mind. Even if the Popes do not claim that they believed this, they certainly acted as if they did, and we all know actions speak louder then words. They began creating laws outside the Bible and used the power for their own gain and comfort instead to further the Gospel of Christ. It became quite apparent when there were three Popes that this was not a Godly institution. After the protestant reformation however the catholic church had a reformation of its own. But by that time it was to little to late. The church would never "be one" ever again. Although the Catholic church did away with many humanistic ideas it is still plagued with humanistic thought today.
Surly if I am not a Catholic I must be a protestant, correct? I guess I fall under that category because I am not a Catholic. But even protestantism is a hive of humanistic thinking. The idea of apathy and peace, that you believe what you believe and I will believe what I believe, has so engulfed much of protestantism that it to seems like it is falling farther from where God intended for the church to go. The problem was that once protestants broke from the "order" of the Catholic church soon everyone was free to go about thinking what they will about the Bible. And since the mind is wicked all kinds of false teachings were created under the label of protestantism. Not only that but pride (humanism in a way) stands as a great gulf between fellow Christians. No doubt there are Christians on both sides of the divide between Catholics and Protestants. What lies in the future is in Gods hands. No doubt he holds the future. But what about us in the present? The Catholic Pope has clearly denounced all those who are not in the Catholic Church as non-Christian. It seems as if it will be a bitter war. There is something we can do though. Judge not, try our hardest to conquer our own personal sin, spread the news of Jesus Christ, and read our Bibles praying that God will show us what his order is. Knock and the door shall be open unto you.
What I am really trying to stress here is that humanism has invaded the church on every side, as we all know. Humanism comes in many shapes and forms and is in essence man trying to elevate him or herself above God. Therefore humanism= sin. Before man sinned man only new Gods order. The human mind couldn't comprehend anything outside what God had created. There was only one way for them to escape that order and set their minds free, that was the tree of knowledge. God placed it in the garden so man could have the free will to choose Gods order or something else created outside that order. Of course they eat of the tree and their minds no longer was contained in Gods truth. No doubt Adam and Eve didn't fully understand what exactly they were doing, but they knew enough to know that they shouldn't be doing it. They were cast out of the garden and from generation to generation mans mind continued to comprehend what it could do outside of that order. It became mans nature to be evil because God was in heaven and temptation was on earth. They knew what was right but chose to disobey. And so their minds became a slave to the world around it.
This is the state of every mind that has not been saved by God, and even those who God has chosen to save have trouble escaping their "old nature". Jesus of course came and established the Church on earth. Do to false doctrines it became apparent that the early churches would need Someone to help keep their minds from wandering. Thus Bishops were assigned. Since Rome was the engine through which the Gospel was spread it was only natural that the Bishop of Rome was seen as authoritative. Over time the position of Pope was created. This was not a bad thing, in fact it was probably a good thing. It was a matter of Order. God is a God of order, and he has placed every man where he wants them. It is a Christians duty to except that reality. Missionaries were sent out, people were saved and became subject to the Pope. By no means am I saying that at this time the church was perfect. To say so would be an Idealistic fantasy. We as Christians should never look back at a point in time after the fall and say," this is the ideal time," because earth is not ideal. The one major problem at this time was that Christianity became a religion of law. So men followed Gods laws because if they didn't they would be punished, not because their hearts were in the right place. It was a matter of might makes right. To further this problem a humanistic idea entered into the papal seat. The idea that only the will was fallen but not the mind. Even if the Popes do not claim that they believed this, they certainly acted as if they did, and we all know actions speak louder then words. They began creating laws outside the Bible and used the power for their own gain and comfort instead to further the Gospel of Christ. It became quite apparent when there were three Popes that this was not a Godly institution. After the protestant reformation however the catholic church had a reformation of its own. But by that time it was to little to late. The church would never "be one" ever again. Although the Catholic church did away with many humanistic ideas it is still plagued with humanistic thought today.
Surly if I am not a Catholic I must be a protestant, correct? I guess I fall under that category because I am not a Catholic. But even protestantism is a hive of humanistic thinking. The idea of apathy and peace, that you believe what you believe and I will believe what I believe, has so engulfed much of protestantism that it to seems like it is falling farther from where God intended for the church to go. The problem was that once protestants broke from the "order" of the Catholic church soon everyone was free to go about thinking what they will about the Bible. And since the mind is wicked all kinds of false teachings were created under the label of protestantism. Not only that but pride (humanism in a way) stands as a great gulf between fellow Christians. No doubt there are Christians on both sides of the divide between Catholics and Protestants. What lies in the future is in Gods hands. No doubt he holds the future. But what about us in the present? The Catholic Pope has clearly denounced all those who are not in the Catholic Church as non-Christian. It seems as if it will be a bitter war. There is something we can do though. Judge not, try our hardest to conquer our own personal sin, spread the news of Jesus Christ, and read our Bibles praying that God will show us what his order is. Knock and the door shall be open unto you.
