Posted on 12/17/2014 4:04:52 PM PST by Salvation
It's a cold evil presence. I felt that with some friends who turned to graven images and spirituality. The aura of the interior of that house went from warn to cold.
I am sure it was. Sometimes you can just sense the evil. I would suspect, however, that their definition of spirituality, and your definition of spirituality, are world's apart. The catholics are not the only ones with graven images. Who is behind the images?
No faith in the church Jesus Christ himself established? When a dispute arose in Antioch concerning the need for circumcision they did not leave it up to each one to decide for themselves, nor did the community at Antioch presume to decide the issue. Rather, they sent Paul, Barnabas and some others to go to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and presbyters. The letter containing their decision reads:
The apostles and the presbyters, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number [who went out] without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: "It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell." (Acts 15:23-29)Notice the following:
1) The apostles were already joining the presbyters to themselves in the governance of the church;
2) they remonstrated those who were teaching without their mandate; and
3) they declared that their decision was not just that of men but of the Holy Spirit.
When did hierarchy mentioned in the NT lose the authority to govern the church?
Who today is upsetting the peace of the church by teaching without a mandate from the hierarchy? (Hint: it starts with ''P")
When did the Holy Spirit stop guiding the church?
No, not to have faith in the church is to ignore Scripture and not to have faith in the one who established it.
Pet, you are correct. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Therein lies the rub. I was a catholic myself, until some people were able to knock some sense into me, but they did not do it so much with words, as they did with their lifestyle. I realized they were vastly different from me, and I wanted to know why. I thought they were just a bunch of religious fanatics, and I hated them for that, but gradually I began to see things in a different light. After all is said and done, after all the word games have been played, after all the philosophical arguments have been made, I don't care for any of it. The only thing I want to know, is what is the plan of salvation. Nothing else really matters.
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