One Church, one God................

[michel]

Why not ? - that is how it was meant to be.........

What a great shame that politics, different languages, and different cultures have contributed to us all slitting up in groups.......

What way can any of you see in uniting Churches (maybe smaller groups to start with), and then the "big stuff" .

 

[NoahideHiker]

Why not ? - that is how it was meant to be.........

What a great shame that politics, different languages, and different cultures have contributed to us all slitting up in groups.......

What way can any of you see in uniting Churches (maybe smaller groups to start with), and then the "big stuff" .

Sounds great but were we really meant to be all one church? If so, which one and why? Who decides? How about we find the things we do agree on, focus on those things, bless each other and stay who we are. Sound good? :camp:

 

[michel]

Sounds great but were we really meant to be all one church? If so, which one and why? Who decides? How about we find the things we do agree on, focus on those things, bless each other and stay who we are. Sound good? :camp:

The bible says that we need to believe in "the Catholic Church" - meaning, of course, a universal one.

I know that many different Abrahamic faiths have grown (I should imagine), from different interpretations from different cultures (and also because of the different living conditions), but the message is still the same; One God (be he Allah, God..etc) the differences in detail may vary a lot, but the main message is still the same:-

God = creator (however you wish to understand that) Man=sin Man dies and has a choice (depending on his behaviour) of where he will end up.

 

[arthra]

Hello Michel..

Since you're Gnostic have you noticed how "united" Gnostics are?...

Some years ago I was moderator on a gnostic forum and found that for at the time such a relatively few number on that forum they were more polarized than many others. Has that changed that much?

History chronicles are repleat with the polarization and division and sometimes wars that result.. In time I think we see the great religions tend to become divided and split apart...

- Art

 

[Dunemeister]

There will be one church. It will take a lot of hard work, some of which is occurring now in fits and starts with the ecumenical movement (which has its problems, of course). To make it actually work, all the churches need to see others as equally valid expressions without qualification. Unfortunately, many churches have stricter standards than that which appear in scripture for what counts as a Christian. On a Christian point of view, when Jesus returns, this gets all sorted, but the task is ongoing.

 

[NoahideHiker]

The bible says that we need to believe in "the Catholic Church" - meaning, of course, a universal one.

I know that many different Abrahamic faiths have grown (I should imagine), from different interpretations from different cultures (and also because of the different living conditions), but the message is still the same; One God (be he Allah, God..etc) the differences in detail may vary a lot, but the main message is still the same:-

God = creator (however you wish to understand that) Man=sin Man dies and has a choice (depending on his behaviour) of where he will end up.

I know that christianity and Islam both have a message of one world religion and unity but in looking back at the roots of both those faiths (Judaism) we can not find anywhere where it points to a single religion as being the "right one".

If G-d were to split us all up and scatter us all over the planet with differing tongues and cultures would He really expect us to follow the exact same religion in exactly the same way? Even sects within religions differ around the world.

Personally I think "One G-d, different ways" is the best path to unity.

 

[Quiddity]

I'm a firm believer that one thing that must be in place is something that can put a stop to various interpretations/relativism. This is a huge contributer to disunity.

Sin of course contributes to it as well, but people aren't expecting a perfect Church when it's full of sinners. Someone is bound to do something stupid.

 

[Dunemeister]

I'm a firm believer that one thing that must be in place is something that can put a stop to various interpretations/relativism. This is a huge contributer to disunity.

It would also help if there were a greater latitude permitted for what counts as orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Both sides gotta move on this one.

 

[Quiddity]

It would also help if there were a greater latitude permitted for what counts as orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Both sides gotta move on this one.

I think history speaks for itself. Councils and those movements that tried to bring about change didn't always come from the outer walls of the Church. In fact, I'd say it was catholics objecting about catholic stuff. Arian was catholic...Valentianian was a catholic...and so on.

I think people forget that dialogues were alive and kicking in the Church. But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) change is either not enough or too much.

So, I guess I can agree with what you said and would just add that no matter how things happen to fix themselves (usually it was messy) there must be a system in place to fix it.

 

[michel]

Personally I think "One G-d, different ways" is the best path to unity.

I would qualify that as "The best that we can hope for" (in practice), but yes, unfortunately, I think you are right.......

 

[Master Vigil]

I feel that there is one church, just not everyone likes it because of our stupidity as human beings. I also feel that some religions are closer to god than others, and the ones that aren't are more man/nature-focused with fantastic philosophical applications. I don't see one as "better" than another, just more effective.

 

[OutOfTime]

there's a modern danger with this. you guys know of 'globalization' yeah? it's all about making everything into one of each? it sounds nice on paper but in reality it's fascism and makes everything easier to control?

if this does happen, then that's what i'd suspect. also if you have only one church, and that church is 'infiltrated' or whatever word you wanna use, maybe corrupted, then all churches would be. slowly the religion would start to change. no one notices the subtle changes but after a while, it could end up being a satanist church for all we know.

 

[Yid613]

I know that christianity and Islam both have a message of one world religion and unity but in looking back at the roots of both those faiths (Judaism) we can not find anywhere where it points to a single religion as being the "right one".

A strange statement from someone called NoahideHiker and lists them self’s as a Bnai Noach. What about the seven laws given to Noah after the flood. These apply to all mankind.

 

[a_student]

Interesting. It seems all religions have their denominations. Christianity has different sects whose basic principles differ (i.e. the Divinity of Jesus Christ). Muslims have Sunnis and Shiates. It all comes down to perception and interpretation of the scriptures we read. One interesting thing I learned recently is that all Jehovah’s Witnesses (at least as told to me by a Jehovah’s Witness) have the same interpretation of the Bible. I was amazed at this because we are all individual people and therefore all think differently. If 2 people agree on everything, then only 1 person is doing the thinking. We all have different opinions on basic things like personal hygiene, how can we all think the same about as abstract as The Creator? So in conclusion the “1 G-d, many paths” seems to be the most logical, or at least the most “pleasing to everyone” answer.

 

[.lava]

Why not ? - that is how it was meant to be.........

What a great shame that politics, different languages, and different cultures have contributed to us all slitting up in groups.......

What way can any of you see in uniting Churches (maybe smaller groups to start with), and then the "big stuff" .

if you don't mind me asking childish questions but how many Bibles out there? we have just one Qur'an yet still there are many groups how about one world, one love, one God?

that's a lovely idea btw



.

 

[Starfish]

Why not ? - that is how it was meant to be.........

What a great shame that politics, different languages, and different cultures have contributed to us all slitting up in groups.......

What way can any of you see in uniting Churches (maybe smaller groups to start with), and then the "big stuff" .

I'm not sure what differentiates little stuff from "big stuff". But it's a nice idea. However, to unite, means someone has to give up their beliefs and accept another's. Not likely, I'm afraid.

But still, it's a nice idea.

 

[oldcajun]

Why not ? - that is how it was meant to be.........

What a great shame that politics, different languages, and different cultures have contributed to us all slitting up in groups.......

What way can any of you see in uniting Churches (maybe smaller groups to start with), and then the "big stuff" .

God knows now who belongs to Him and who doesn't. If you united all the churches it wouldn't make any difference because people would still have different perspectives in their beliefs.

 

[Lucian]

I believe there is only one Church, which is Holy and Catholic, and that will never change, not even with a thousand anathemas thrown against others. We can't dictate who does and doesn't belong to it, since that is ultimately up to God, we can only aspire to be parts of it ourselves and help others become parts of it. It's not a registered organization or anything like that (although there are or have been such which represent it), but rather the collection of all Christians/Believers/Elect/Flock/Temples of the Holy Spirit, or whatever term you want to use, forming the one Body.

 

[Yerda]

I'm a firm believer that one thing that must be in place is something that can put a stop to various interpretations/relativism.

I recommend machine guns, they worked a treat for the Bolsheviks.

 

[OutOfTime]

divide and conquer
-satan

JDFU!