Hi sister,
Good questions and so relevant in our Church struggles today.
I found that The Word in Love - Living Word - matters more than The Word as explained by others or even myself.
Love the Lord your God with all Your Heart, all your Mind, and all your strength and your Neighbour as yourself - this is the rule - no other counts.
To hold onto one's beliefs is not the same as having faith - for Hebrews tells us that faith is in the unseen not the seen.
When I meet people who have faith and love in and for Jesus/God/The Word, themselves and others as themselves and are truthful, I know I have met fellow worshippers - regardless which Church they worship or if they worship in a Church at all.
If not, then such people would still be children of One Father, but they don't necessarily know this like I do - so loving them truthfully would be the way I would communicate with them - rather than denying them the right to believe what they do or are as they are - there is no compromise necessary like this - for they are them and you are you - both valid in your own right - for God made you both and gave you both a freewill.
Honest, I feel it is best to love others as you would them love you - not that you get full return back from people, but our Heavenly Father does bless such a lot and such is very best in life.
His love and goodwill alive inside our hearts - rather than stubborn opinions - unbending rules - judgemental feelings - or ostracising behaviours - giving us or others a hard time - as traditionally Christians have caused unbelievable suffering across The Globe doing that
All the best with this.
Gerry
please check this
Is 65:1-7
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations-
a people who continually provoke me
to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
who sit among the graves
and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me,
for I am too sacred for you!'
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day.
"See, it stands written before me:
I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
I will pay it back into their laps-
both your sins and the sins of your fathers,"
says the LORD.
"Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
the full payment for their former deeds."
