Posted on 12/04/2006 7:52:47 PM PST by Pyro7480
If people bowed down to it and pray to the thing it represents, it would be.
They're not "worshiping" a saint but "venerating" a saint. So I've been told.
There's nothing wrong with statues in the temple either. God commanded it in the old testament.
So performers worship their crowds then?
Yes, but why are there any statues in the church at all? This IS NOT a Catholic church.
"At which point the West has gone from 1 church into 20,000+."
Kind of reminds you of the early church rather than Babel;
Acts 2:6-11, "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God."
Genesis 11:6, "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."
Putting one's hand on their heart and then pledging ALLEGIANCE to the Flag and the Republic is not objectionable to you, but asking the Blessed Virgin and the other saints to pray for us is?
Hi annalex! I think that's exactly what A-G was saying.
I imagine that when Christ prays for our unity, His prayer is not a prayer that we should all be exactly the same. To resort to an analogy: Different parts of the human body have different functions, etc., but all parts/functions are necessary to the well-being of the total living body (which in this case analogizes to the Body of Christ).
And so the answer to St. Paul's question, "Is Christ divided?" is: NO. Not any more than a brain is "divided" from the heart, or a kidney, or a lung, or the liver or pancreas, etc., etc. All are necessary for the vital functioning of the living whole.
Just a thought -- my two cents, FWIW. Thanks for the ping, annalex!
The Church as a body typology did not mean two heads. Diversity of pieties and practices is fine. Diversity of fundamental theology is not good.
Nothing about professed Christians advocating abortion, gay marriage, gay leaders, etc brings to mind the early church.
Well stated.
1Cr 14:33 For God is not [the author] of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
"Belay on!"
"ON belay!"
"Climbing!"
"Climb!"
"In the name of the Father, ......"
Notice Paul says in "as in all churches of the saints". He does not say in THE church but in ALL churches, plural.
PLEASE don't ask me for a source.
How about Bauer Ardnt & Gingrich, Gesenius and Kautzsch and, uh, Blass Debrunner?
When St Paul says all churches he means all parishes. All such gatherings. Not alternative jurisdictions which profess wildly unChristian things. Paul was clear to be mindful of such wolves.
However, the Great Scism was based on primarily one, albeit major, point of contention -- the primacy of the Pope. The Orthodox did not change the mass or seek to alter scripture in any way. In contrast, the Reformation not only abandoned many major doctrines, they invented new ones.
That's a worth while distinction.
(Though I'd footnote it that the filioque could be considered a slight change in doctrine. Certainly that's one of the matters currently considered by the joint orthodox-Catholic commision)
Still that's nothing like saying 'Dont baptise infants' or 'your saved by believing in written words alone'.
Christ founded and built His Church (singular) on Peter's Confession. When Paul wrote of churches in the plural he was referring to parishes or in today's world, individual parish churches (obviously in Paul's time, it was not possible for the parish to have Mass in the same location every week).
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