What church is the true church?

[Desert Snake]

it is being claimed that the orthodox religions are closest thing we have to the teaching of the apostles... and that they are the direct successors to the apostles

yet when you compare the written NT to the creeds of the orthodox religions, you would have to admit that they are NOT the same.

they are nothing like teachings of the apostles that we find in the NT.

In some aspects it can be argued that they actually are closer theologically, in many ragards, than many other churches. Check out things like original sin, etc, not just infant baptism, which incidentally isn't forbidden in the Bible anyway.

 

[Pegg]

In some aspects it can be argued that they actually are closer theologically, in many ragards, than many other churches. Check out things like original sin, etc, not just infant baptism, which incidentally isn't forbidden in the Bible anyway.

regardless of age, it is forbidden for a christian to charge a fee for the service of baptism...or any other form of service

“YOU received free, give free.” Matthew 10:8

“May your silver perish with you, because you thought through money to get possession of the free gift of God.” Acts 8:18-20

christianity was never for sale by the apostles

 

[Xchristian]

but rather an invisible entity which is made-up of all who have placed their trust in Christ for salvation and are regenerated or born-again.
http://www.gotquestions.org/true-church.html

what is regenerated? .. you mean reincarnated? and how many births can there be?
churches are so different from each other, that babies have paid the price in blood in the war between the IRA and the CoE!

please give us something solid to believe in.

The protestants with faith and no deeds? .. The Catholics with the 1 nature two wills?
The ortho. with 1 will 1 nature?

which book is inspired? .. and which part of each book is true? ..

nobody knows!

 

[InChrist]

what is regenerated? .. you mean reincarnated? and how many births can there be?
churches are so different from each other, that babies have paid the price in blood in the war between the IRA and the CoE!

please give us something solid to believe in.

The protestants with faith and no deeds? .. The Catholics with the 1 nature two wills?
The ortho. with 1 will 1 nature?

which book is inspired? .. and which part of each book is true? ..

nobody knows!

Not reincarnated, regenerated:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

[Xchristian]

Not reincarnated, regenerated:

jesus didn't say either, you choose regenrate, I choose reincarnate, same meaning.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

how can a person be born again please?

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

what does that mean please? what's 'in christ'?

 

[Ken Brown]

There are nearly ten thousand flavors of Christianity today. When we add to the mix the churches that did not survive to the present date, the number of churches are even higher. What criteria should a person use to determine the true church? I define the “true church” as a church that teaches an accurate teaching of Jesus Christ. If you know of such a church, please explain in detail why that church is the true church.

Hi Roger, actually, if you research just a little, it is believed that we have approximately 41,000 different denominations within Christianity. Doesn't the Apostle Paul state that there is just ONE body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, and baptism?

(Eph 4:4) There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
(Eph 4:5) One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

I think I may have an answer to this apparent contradiction and dilemma. The Messiah stated that His Body (The One True Church) would not have "death" (the gates) prevail against it. In the same way, death did not "prevail" against Him, as the "gate" of death was not strong enough to hold Him in the grave:

(Act 2:24) "But G-d has raised him up and freed him from the suffering of death; it was impossible that death could keep its hold on him.

King Hezekiah, in speaking of his death, said that he would go through the "gates of the grave," and thus be deprived of the rest of his life (Isa 38:10). So when Messiah stated that, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," all He was saying was that His One True Church (His Body) would not remain in the grave (hades/hell), and that death (the gate) would not prevail against it. But then, He would raise it back up within 3 days (a day is as a 1000 years):

(Joh 2:19) Yeshua answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

So Roger, my belief is that The One True Church died, and went into the grave, and 41,000 counterfeits have risen up to try to take It's place. But take heart, Yeshua will do as He said He would. Death will not prevail against His One True Church. So the True Church is the One that Yeshua is raising up out of It's destruction/death. KB

 

[McBell]

the holy bible, which is made up of the following canonized writings:

Inspired Hebrew scriptures (OT)
 1 Genesis
 2 Exodus
 3 Leviticus
 4 Numbers
 5 Deuteronomy
 6 Joshua
 7 Judges
 8 Ruth
 9 1 Samuel
10 2 Samuel
11 1 Kings
12 2 Kings
13 1 Chronicles
14 2 Chronicles
15 Ezra
16 Nehemiah
17 Esther
18 Job
19 Psalms
20 Proverbs
21 Ecclesiastes
22 The Song of Solomon
23 Isaiah
24 Jeremiah
25 Lamentations
26 Ezekiel
27 Daniel
28 Hosea
29 Joel
30 Amos
31 Obadiah
32 Jonah
33 Micah
34 Nahum
35 Habakkuk
36 Zephaniah
37 Haggai
38 Zechariah
39 Malachi

Inspired Greek Scriptures (NT)
40 Matthew
41 Mark
42 Luke
43 John
44 Acts
45 Romans
46 1 Corinthians
47 2 Corinthians
48 Galatians
49 Ephesians
50 Philippians
51 Colossians
52 1 Thessalonians
53 2 Thessalonians
54 1 Timothy
55 2 Timothy
56 Titus
57 Philemon
58 Hebrews
59 James
60 1 Peter
61 2 Peter
62 1 John
63 2 John
64 3 John
65 Jude
66 Revelation


anything besides these writings is known as 'apocryphal' ... the collection of writings not written by Gods appointed prophets or servants.

Who decided?

I find it interesting that Pegg has decided to ignore this question.

Especially given that God himself asks "Have I not told you in the Book of Jasher...."
And the Book of Jasher is not included in the above list...

 

[cataway]

Scripture interprets scripture and the scriptures clearly show who the 144.000 are and they are not the church, they are Jews, specifically 12.000 from each tribe listed.



And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed. Rev. 7:4-8

they are the true church/congregation .
now if you mean which is the most true religion ? then you wont do better then to be one of the JW's

 

[sandy whitelinger]

There are nearly ten thousand flavors of Christianity today. When we add to the mix the churches that did not survive to the present date, the number of churches are even higher. What criteria should a person use to determine the true church? I define the “true church” as a church that teaches an accurate teaching of Jesus Christ. If you know of such a church, please explain in detail why that church is the true church.

The "Church of the Sacred Bleeding Hearts" located somewhere in Los Angeles. Send them $10 and all your prayers will come true.

 

[Desert Snake]

The "True Church" is referring to Christians, not a literal church.

 

[InChrist]

jesus didn't say either, you choose regenrate, I choose reincarnate, same meaning.

how can a person be born again please?

what does that mean please? what's 'in christ'?
[/i]

Reincarnation and regeneration are not the same. To be born-again means to be spiritually reborn as a child of God, by the power of God. To be "in Christ" means that one's life is not lived in the old sinful nature, but rather in the nature and strength of Christ.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1;12-13

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.' John 3:6-7

 

[ChristineES]

The "Church of the Sacred Bleeding Hearts" located somewhere in Los Angeles. Send them $10 and all your prayers will come true.

I can just picture Jesus' reaction to that! Remember what he did in the temple when they were buying and selling there! (Funny but sad, too).

 

[Pegg]

how can a person be born again please?
[/i]

its really very simple

when anointed christians die, God gives them a new birth as a spirit and they are transferred to heaven to be with Christ.
The meaning of Jesus words at John 3:3 can be properly translated “should be born from above.”
A Literal Translation puts it this way: “If one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.”

so being born again specifically refers to those who will join christ in heaven....when they are resurrected to heavenly life, they become 'spirits' which is why their birth is new....its also the only time they are actually 'born again'

 

[Avoice]

Please define holy book. Where can I find this source information from? You can not say the bible. All Christians do not beleive in the same bible.

The Bible in its various versions from KJV to Amplified and NWT basically say the same thing and I've read most of them. Some tie concepts together better like the Amplified and NWT, but all say love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself, doing unto others as you would have them do to you.

I have in my readings not seen a disparity except in the scriptures taught by each organization that depends on each given version.

If you wish to discuss a scripture you believe to fail that test, I will be glad to address your issues with it.

 

[roger1440]

The Bible in its various versions from KJV to Amplified and NWT basically say the same thing and I've read most of them. Some tie concepts together better like the Amplified and NWT, but all say love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself, doing unto others as you would have them do to you.

I have in my readings not seen a disparity except in the scriptures taught by each organization that depends on each given version.

If you wish to discuss a scripture you believe to fail that test, I will be glad to address your issues with it.

How about the Gospel of Judas or the Gospel of thomas?

 

[Pegg]

How about the Gospel of Judas or the Gospel of thomas?

apocrypha are not from God ....their teachings contradict Gods Word

The early christians did not accept these as legitimate.... they were not written by the apostles but by gnostics

 

[Shermana]

apocrypha are not from God ....their teachings contradict Gods Word

The early christians did not accept these as legitimate.... they were not written by the apostles but by gnostics

The early Christians did not accept the Apocrypha as legitimate? Ummm, which ones? Apparently not Clement and Iraneus or Jude even, they all thought Enoch was "prophetic". Clement went by many NT apocrypha apparently like Gospel of Peter and his Apocalypse. It wasn't until much, much later, like centuries later, that the NT apocrypha became universally rejected among the orthodox. So the word "Early Christians" doesn't apply to the EARLIEST Christians here. So by all means please provide some links on which of these "Early Christians" did not accept the Apocrypha and reasons why.

And there's pretty much nothing in the Apocrypha that contradicts "God's word". They may contradict post-orthodox Theology however, which explains a lot.

 

[Shermana]

The "True Church" is referring to Christians, not a literal church.

This is correct, it's referring to the "Out-calleds", the individuals actually hand-picked and chosen by Providence, not a specific organization or anyone claiming to be a Christian. And it appears the "out calleds", especially going by Revelation, were Nazarene Jews.

 

[InChrist]

its really very simple

when anointed christians die, God gives them a new birth as a spirit and they are transferred to heaven to be with Christ.
The meaning of Jesus words at John 3:3 can be properly translated “should be born from above.”
A Literal Translation puts it this way: “If one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.”

so being born again specifically refers to those who will join christ in heaven....when they are resurrected to heavenly life, they become 'spirits' which is why their birth is new....its also the only time they are actually 'born again'

Actually, 1John 5:1-5 says that those who believe in Jesus are born of God and have victory to overcome sin in this world through faith in Christ...Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

And Ephesians 2:1-3 says that those who were once dead in sin are now alive and no longer sons of disobedience under the power of the prince of the air (Satan).
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Peter reminds believers to love one another because they have been born again...
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever...1 Peter 1:22-23

I believe the reality is that unless one is born-again in their lifetime, in this world then they remain a child of the devil as Jesus pointed out (John 8:39-47) and they will not see the kingdom of God...Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3

 

[roger1440]

apocrypha are not from God ....their teachings contradict Gods Word

The early christians did not accept these as legitimate.... they were not written by the apostles but by gnostics

They were written by Christians. They were written for Christians.