We don't form our own *church*. Catholics don't get what the real, true church is according to Scripture. We *ARE* the church, the body of Christ. When we together the church is meeting.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Please. Jesus followed all the religious traditions of His culture and gathered all manner of people about Him. He did not ‘buck’ the religious systems of His time and He was not a loner.
I see that I did say the religious *system* of the day. Poor choice of words on my part. He didn't buck the religious system in regard to the Law, which he kept perfectly, but rather the religious *traditions* of His day. He bucked the religious tradition of the Pharisees and Sadducees continually and had words with them over it.
And his gathering all people together was NOT what the Jews of those days were all about. They didn't associate with ANYONE who was not full Jew, hence their rejection of the Samaritans.
Matthew 15:1-9 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Mark 7:1-13 1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.)
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Galatians 1:11-17 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Who is "we."? Define your beliefs that qualify as we and those that don't.
Therein lie the teachers you follow.
“Gathered in my name.” Hmm...
Protestants have made up this cutesy meaning of “in my name.” All they have to do is call “Jesus!” and they think they are gathered in his name. Of course, Jesus’ name was really Yeshua, a very common Jewish name given to several other figures.
In the real world, “In his name,” means, “according to his commands.” As in “Jesus told me to do this, so I will.” And what did Jesus command?
“Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, you shall have no life within you.”
“This is my body, take and eat.”
“Do this is remembrance of me.”
Now, if you gather as a family to pray together, or as a small group of co-workers before work, or whatever, that is very blessed.
But if you imagine that forming your own group of people to pray together with and calling that a church constitutes fulfilling Jesus’ commands, you are deluding yourself, because you are disobeying the ones to whom Jesus entrusted his church. Moreover, when you deny the necessity of receiving the real body and blood of Christ, you are calling Jesus a liar, preventing souls from salvation, and preaching the doctrine of Satan.
It's everything the Bible says it isn't.
Protestant churches are all about the Bible -- reading it; studying it; heeding it; applying it. This is how we worship the Triune God -- by listening to Him and following His instructions with gratitude and reverence.
And this worship is remarkably similar throughout most Protestant churches.
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." -- John 6:63
Here Christ is rebuking the Romanist notion of His physicality as our means to redemption. It's not His literal offering but His spiritual offering that saves us - His taking on the responsibility for our sins and paying for them Himself, in our place, by imputing to us His righteousness so we stand blameless before God, clothed in Christ's goodness.
Christ speaks to our minds and our hearts; not to our spleens and kidneys.
****We don’t form our own *church*.****
If you belong to any protestant denomination, you belong to a church started by someone who has a theology which differs from others. This led them to start their own church, which others join because their ears are tickled with the doctrines and teachings that person preaches.
There are too many of them to keep track and news ones forming everyday. It’s like the old joke about the weather, if you don’t like what is preached, wait a few minutes and a new preacher will come along.
***We *ARE* the church, the body of Christ. When we together the church is meeting.****
Gee, exactly what the Church teaches.
***I see that I did say the religious *system* of the day. Poor choice of words on my part. He didn’t buck the religious system in regard to the Law, which he kept perfectly, but rather the religious *traditions* of His day. He bucked the religious tradition of the Pharisees and Sadducees continually and had words with them over it.***
Really? So, the religious “traditions” were not part of Jesus’ religious system? Hmmmmm.....There is only one occasion in which Jesus speaks of tradition. The incidence is related in Mark and Matthews gospels.
When one reads that entire passage, one sees that Jesus does not condemn the tradition itself, but the hearts of the pharisees who question Him because the disciples did not wash their hands before eating.
These men assiduously washed their hands, and performed these rituals in public to be observed by others, but then violated the commandment to honor father and mother, by claiming that they had no money for their care since they had given it to the temple.
Jesus also told His followers to do what the pharisees tell them but no do what they do.
****And his gathering all people together was NOT what the Jews of those days were all about. They didn’t associate with ANYONE who was not full Jew, hence their rejection of the Samaritans.****
He was not a loner then was He?