Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful testimony, dearest sister in Christ!
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. - Acts 16:30-34
It distresses me, perplexes me to no end, to try to account for evident divisions within the Body of Christ.
At a time when unity of the Body is what is most needed, and most wanting.
The salvific Good News of the Christian Revelation is so simple, so true, so beautiful. Basically its message can be expressed in human action by living according to the little "list" I presented in my foregoing reply to MHGinTN.
So why do the Christian denominations strive to complicate things, by making "war" on each other's "doctrines?"
I am reminded of your splendid metaphor of the universal, eternal Christian church: It is a seven-faceted diamond.
It seems to me, "doctrines" are perspectival views that cognize matters of truth and reality itself in terms of an observational perspective that depends on which "facet" their adherents align with.
But it also seems to me that no one should ever forget that the "facets" are all equally Godly (in their way) reflections and witnesses of one single Truth, which is the "diamond" — which is metaphorically speaking, God.
It seems to me God loves diversity: He made so much of it in this world; so likely doesn't object to any one of the seven facets, but welcomes them all as different expressions of love from His children....
My point is that Christians really need to be standing together, not fighting each other, in this critical time: We are under full-scale attack from "the other side." We must compose the "saving remnant," to save the "saving tale" that, if we save it, will save us....
May God ever bless you, dearest sister in Christ, and all your dear ones! I hope you all will enjoy a splendid celebration of Independence Day!