Posted on 03/18/2014 2:14:03 AM PDT by markomalley
Msgr Pope ping
Ping!
I need Jesus; however, I don’t need the corrupt institution that the church has become.
You don’t need to join the fan club to love the music.
You read the article, right?
V. To those who say, “I like Jesus but I can’t stand the Church, with all those hypocrites,” but Jesus was found in strange places, among sinners. So much so that he scandalized the Pharisees. Jesus ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other sinners and unsavory characters. Even his best followers, the apostles, had great character defects.The fact is, if you reject the company of sinners you’re going to have a hard time finding Jesus who is found among sinners, sinners that he loves and calls his brethren, As Scripture says, For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.” (Heb 2:11-12)
So Jesus is found in the assembly of sinners and loves them. It is a strange disconnect to say to Jesus, “I love you but I hate the people you love and call your brethren; I just refuse to consort with them.”
Considering too that sinners are joined to Christ as members of his body, think of the strange logic in going to someone and saying, “I love and respect you, but I can’t stand your body. It is ugly and awful. I want to be with you, but I hate your body, I just can’t endure it. I will relate to you, but not your body.” This sort of talk is absurd and disrespectful.
That might be true about music, especially the kind with fan clubs.
Where two are gathered is called a marriage and when three or more are gathered is called a family, not a church, and Jesus is there in there midst.
Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you.”
It is all about the Spirit of Christ abiding in you, and has nothing to with rules, dogma, sacraments, buildings, fonts, holy water, altars, pews, priests, confessionals, catechisms, statues and statutes, rosary beads, crosses, incense, and chalices. That is all noise and distraction.
People would well to just humbly seek the Holy Spirit everyday and avoid all other gobbledeegook.
The Church is the body of Christ. End of story.
God Bless Msgr. Pope!
To those that are holy and pure, we may need you to inspire the rest of us sinners to follow Christ by being part of the Church and the Body of Christ..
II. To those who say, “I can have Jesus without the Church,” I say “no can do.” For the Church is the body of Christ and it pertains to the head of a living Body to be found with his body, not apart from it. That the Church is the Body of Christ is clear in many Scriptures such as
1.Jesus is the head of the body the Church (Col 1:8)
2.Now you are the body of Christ, each one of you is a part of it. (1 Cor 12:27)
3.For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ (Rom 12:4-6)
Family is indeed a model of the church, called Church Domestic. Matthew 18:20 does not necessarily refer to a family, rather, it speaks of any three Christians, and by extension of any number of Christians. The Church as an institution originally consisted of a small circle of apostles and disciples not related by family, and it established dogmas and had sacraments. That a certain Catholic culture, with statues and rosary beads grew out of it merely shows that Christ founded a living Church where the Holy Spirit abides, not a dead one.
Amen. Christ is the head, and the Church (made of people, NOT a building) is the body.
**To those who say, “I can have Jesus without the Church,” I say “no can do.” **
Full of great one liners.
The story of C.S. Lewis comes to mind whenever I hear this question. Lewis was always questioning everything, and at some point in his questioning (as described in his book “Surprised by Joy”) he came to the knowledge of the existence of God. And - given that there is a God - He was worthy of our worship. He therefore went to church simply to worship God - but he really did not like it. It took about a year, but eventually he found (was found by) Jesus and the rest - as they say - is history.
If you believe in God - then He is worthy of our worship. Period!
**Hence, Christ the Head cannot be had or found apart from his Body the Church.**
Are you saying that you don't believe the Bible?
The body of Christ is an organism, not an organization.
Believers become part of the body of Christ when they are born again. That is the assembly of called out ones that someone, somewhere mislabeled with the English word *church*.
Denominations are not THE church and especially not The One True Church. No denomination can lay claim to it because salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and not membership or adherence or baptism into a denomination.
Denominations do not save. Jesus does.
AMEN to that!
You go girl
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