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The church is people

And all the believers are little a "right" and a little "wrong," correct? Or are we all "right" and all those differences we proclaim are "nonessential?"

The error, imo, of the Protestant/Baptist world is that the focus is on the individual believer, who claims to be guided by the Holy Spirit but in truth relies entirely on his or her personal interpretation of the Bible and creates an entirely private theology and calls it "true."

It appears to be narcissism at its very worst. I believe it is arrogance and self-deception founded on "inner knowledge" (an extreme form of esoteric thinking) which, when expressed outwardly, shows a rainbow of beliefs, all different from each other, some more, others less so. Protestantism/Baptism thus appears to be thoroughly gnostic, cleverly disguised as it may be, but gnostic nonetheless.

Thus, when some Protestant tells me that some Mormons are "true" Christians because they accept Christ as their Savior, and ignores the fact that Mormons deny Triune God, that they are a polytheistic (pagan) cult using only Christian nomenclature for its gods, believing in three different "gods" and claiming that "God the Father" used to be a man, and that Christ's "brother" is none other than Satan, the nature of heresy becomes evident.

Obviously the Christ they claim is not the Christian God, yet some Protestants will embrace them as "true" believers, just because they claim "Christ" as their savior. Two wrongs don't make it right.

The Church is not "the people" who believe whatever they want. Only Satan would want us to believe that there is no one true Church, and that everyone's private opinion is true faith.

The error, imo, of the Protestant/Baptist world is that the focus is on the individual believer, who claims to be guided by the Holy Spirit but in truth relies entirely on his or her personal interpretation of the Bible and creates an entirely private theology and calls it "true."

Exactly as the leaders of your church do...

People in your church have no more authority to interpret God's word than a Pentacostal, IMO...

God says no scripture is of ANY private interpretation...God says all interpretations belong to Him...

But that doesn't deter most folks...

As I see it, God gives us the basics in his written word...Like Kindergarten class...If we learn from the basics, we move on to the next grade...If we don't learn, or don't believe what He said, we're stuck in Kindergarten...

I don't believe we have to interpret anything in the Bible...All we have to do is believe...God will provide the understanding...

When folks don't understand something, instead of waiting on God, they will apply their own interpretation...If they don't like what they read, or don't believe what they read, they change the words to mean something else...

I believe everything I read in the Bible...If I don't understand it, that's fine...I'll go on to something else til it's revealed to me...But I'll still believe it...

If scripture appears to contradict itself, and it does, I accept that the problem is mine, not the scripture's...

Seems that rather than focusing on Protestants who disagree with their interpretation of the scripture, it would interest you knowing that there are millions of Protestants who agree as much as they do on the scripture while belonging to different churches...

Hello Kosta,

It is absolutely true that there are non-RC churches out there which are theologically unsound, whose teachings have deviated so far from Biblical Christianity that they should no longer be called 'Christian' (imo, weighed against the teachings of Christ in scripture). This does not mean however that this covers all 'Protestant/Baptist' churches.

The RC has also had 'liberals', 'liberation gospel' and syncretic tendencies within its churches... yet it would be incorrect to say that these encompass ALL RC churches.

Merely because the RC considers itself under one Pope, does not mean that there is perfect unity within it. Similarly, the body of non-RC churches should not be seen as having disunity merely because they are in many denominations.

Our Unity is in Christ, and where He is the Head of a church, we have unity.

I have had the privilege of worshipping over the years with a variety of mixed fellowships. In one, we had 28 people from 14 nations, and I believe 18 denominations... yet we had perfect unity in our core theology, and great love for one another.

While it is possible to address overall RC theology, doctrine and dogma, since there is a theoretical unity to it (meaning that in practice, not all may conform to all tenets), it is incorrect to speak of the "Protestant/Baptist world" as if it were a uniform entity.

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The error, imo, of the Protestant/Baptist world is that the focus is on the individual believer

The focus is not on the believer, but rather on God. Similarly, truth is not dependent upon mere individual interpretation, but rather upon the Spirit working within the individual, but tested against both scripture and other mature Christians. A follower of Christ needs to be in fellowship with a larger body of believers, so that they will not fall into error through reliance on their own itching ears or hard hearts.

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage- with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Tim 4:2-3)