The only thing that was rendered obsolete was the Old Covenant(cf Heb 8), and that was beforereligion, i.e. organized faith, and never said He came to change that.
The Body of Christ, the called out ones(church), or the flock(sheep).. are metaphors about "the family of God".. Which is a "family"
Sounds like something the LDS would come up with...that's not Christianity either.
an organization.. or club.. i.e. like a current church..
The Church is not a club or an organization; it calls itself an Organism, with a Head and a Body.
I believe every human ever born is a spirit in a body suit.. That they were spirits before incarnation and will be after incarnation..
I respect your belief. But I do want to make it clear that the pre-existence of the souls is (a) pagan (b) Jewish and (c) Gnostic belief.
And are NOW spirits and that is what the metaphor of being born again means.. Realizing you are basically a spirit and not flesh at all.. and should start conducting yourself as an eternal being NOW..
And what is the basis for your belief that we are spirits and not flesh? And how should an eternal being conduct itself and how do you know?
Who is the messiah?.. God coming to this planet personally to encode this message in his parables which are metaphors..
Why parables and metaphors?
To lead those that are willing into reality..
Okay.
What reality?.. That they are spirits that will live eternally
Did the spirits also exist "eternally?"
The reason for his doing this is I think to shut the mouth of any that would say(at some time) why didn't you openly.. approach me face to face..
And why doesn't he?
Thats a primer about what I believe about the messiah.. not all but a start to tell it all would not work in this venue.. I skipped over so much.. but you asked..
Is this your own belief or are there others? And what do you base your belief on? Inspiration? Bible? Visions? Messages? What methods do you use to authenticate these answers?
Old reads: that was beforereligion, i.e. organized faith, and never said He came to change that.
Should read: and that was before the Messiah. As far as I can tell from the NT, jesus practiced and participated in the Jewish religion, i.e. organized faith, and never said He came to change that.
Apologies
Just my own as far as I know.. All those sources have had an influence(on me) to some extent.. Methods for authentication?.. None.. I even see some possiblity of a vestige of "truth" in some versions of Animism..
I don't hold much (human teaching) as sacrosanct.. But have read much from different christian and other sources.. but mostly christian.. Christian sources seem to be on a higher spiritual plane to me..
Since I became old I have mostly limited myself to engrams and intonations of Jesus words.. I can't seem to exhaust their content.. The metaphors are so rich and deep in meaning..
We, you and I, seem to be observing from observation posts quite different from each other.. I don't get the feel you are understanding me.. even though presentations are made from different angles.. But I understand you quite well..
My poor presentations may be the problem, but then others understand me quite well.. . If something in me "resonates " to it.. I don't trash it..