And on me too. It would've been clearer if I'd quoted him instead of you. Still, Luther didn't split off from the EOC in the history I remember.Well, on me!
I take exception to what appears to be a "my church is better than yours" attitude.Thank God I'm a Catholic.
We don't do the "split" thing.
I was just thinking about this last Sunday, when we had Easter communion at our church. Here's the conclusion I came to.
His body was broken. His bones weren't. But He'd been flayed before the crucifixion, and He was a mess. The muscles on His back were probably exposed, the skin laid open. Then there's the piercing of the hands and feet--probably more accurately, the wrists and ankles, where the spikes would have gone between bones, rather than through. The stabbing with the spear after His death would have gone between ribs. Even the crown of thorns would have drawn blood. Most of the blood He shed, by the way, would have come from that flaying. Nails piercing His hands and feet would have meant puncture wounds, and I know from experience that puncture wounds don't bleed much. The piercing of His side drew blood mixed with water, indicating that His circulation had stopped.
So His blood was shed and His body was broken. But His bones stayed intact.
Now, splitting a church over "Jesus wept" is entirely ridiculous. If we were meant to know how much He cried, the verse would have been more specific, "Jesus shed some silent tears," or "Jesus bawled His head off." The point is that He was touched by human sorrow and that He loves us.
From what I've seen of splits and or schisms within the Protestant world: either sola scriptura or the personality of a particular pastor.It's true - the Catholics and the Orthodox don't do the split thing the way that evangelicals do.
But when there is a controversy it's massive.
Has any body written an article on why divisions seem so prevalent in the protestant world? Is it anything to do with sola scriptura itself?
That's not my part of town there, sorry.E.C. - have you made any postings about sola scriptura on the semper reformanda or fundamentalist boards.
Looking forward to our next explorers' / heretics group loosely connected to our pentecostal church.
Got a forthright lay Catholic coming to set us right or get grilled.
What would you like asking? Anyone?
Sad but true (which also happens to be my favorite Metallica song).< < < That's not my part of town there > > >
Once upon a time, these forums were sub-titled "Bringing Christians Together".
I took that seriously and posted information-gathering itmes on various boards. I wanted to know what the reformed thought about the Orthodox for example. That particular thread on the Semper Reformanda was populated by some Orthodox people and was VERY interesting.
I sooned learned that there are RULES and more RULES and you could get reported basically for flaming, but which IMV were personal attempts to get under the surface of our biases and "bring Christians together"
These boards seem to have accepted that we will all converse in our small corners of the Christian world and we can never get togther even to explore difference.
It's all very sad.
It's a theological language thing.< < < That's not my part of town there > > >
Once upon a time, these forums were sub-titled "Bringing Christians Together".
I took that seriously and posted information-gathering itmes on various boards. I wanted to know what the reformed thought about the Orthodox for example. That particular thread on the Semper Reformanda was populated by some Orthodox people and was VERY interesting.
I sooned learned that there are RULES and more RULES and you could get reported basically for flaming, but which IMV were personal attempts to get under the surface of our biases and "bring Christians together"
These boards seem to have accepted that we will all converse in our small corners of the Christian world and we can never get togther even to explore difference.
It's all very sad.
A church split occurs whenever there aren't enough moderates around to keep the church together. This almost happened in my PC(USA) denomination but thankfully the moderates stepped up to the plate and came up with compromises and arrangements that just about everyone could live with.
My ex-girlfriend's Dad started a split in a church. There was a really conservative baptist church here in town that split over the issue of women being allowed to wear pants. One church said it was ok, the other did not so they formally split. Very similar churches in different buildings on different sides of town, all too conservative for me. It was a long and bad experience (much like dealing with my ex's family but that's another story for another thread).
A church split occurs whenever there aren't enough moderates around to keep the church together. This almost happened in my PC(USA) denomination but thankfully the moderates stepped up to the plate and came up with compromises and arrangements that just about everyone could live with.
Trousers, my friend. Americans say "pants" for "trousers."How did they know if the women were wearing pants or not?
Check out "Congress WBN" (Google it). The church became involved with that and set itself up with a hierarchical stratum. Authority flows from the top down and the top gets it's authority from an "Apostle" and so on....
We tried to resolve it. Didn't happen.
I don't want to sound innocent here. I went along with the teaching for quite a while but finally saw the truth of the beast. It's cultic. Period.
Bob
Spearfish, SD