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What Protestants tend to do is read the bible plainly based on their cultural or socio-economic context. If there is a disagreement, they start a new denomination, and this application of the concept "healthy boundaries" is how they make it work.
Still leaving out the Orthodox eh? Guess it illustrates which tree the apple fell from.Are you saying Cahtolics never do that, so Protestants are inferior?
In reality there are subdenominations, such as Southerm Baptists and American Baptists. It is not really a new denomination if they still call themselves Baptists.
I think that curse was supposed to be reversed at pentecost.Kind of like deterring monopolies by man. The same reason God confounded speech in man at one time.
Paul did say, that going after one teacher or the other instead of Christ was a symptom of carnality and also spiritual immaturity. So a lot of division in a Christian movement would illustrate a definite inferiority as far as what God actually expects.Are you saying Cahtolics never do that, so Protestants are inferior?
In reality there are subdenominations, such as Southerm Baptists and American Baptists. It is not really a new denomination if they still call themselves Baptists.
For who? Everyone who heard the teachers heard their own language but still could not understand each other. Otherwise talking to telemarketers and electronics techs would be quite a lot easier.I think that curse was supposed to be reversed at pentecost.
This is a really good point. Yes, Christians can be prayerful, humble, and learn what Christ asks of us in many contexts.Paul did say, that going after one teacher or the other instead of Christ was a symptom of carnality and also spiritual immaturity. So a lot of division in a Christian movement would illustrate a definite inferiority as far as what God actually expects.
Still leaving out the Orthodox eh? Guess it illustrates which tree the apple fell from.
Orthodox just means "the right way" it's possibly one of the reasons protestants are having such a problem being one group.One thing I learend in church is "orthodox" means Christian, so we are all orthodos.
Well, it was an event that affected Christians, it's not like unregenerate people would benefit. The event of pentecost, illustrates that the capacity is there, but we need to make it happen.For who? Everyone who heard the teachers heard their own language but still could not understand each other. Otherwise talking to telemarketers and electronics techs would be quite a lot easier.
Jesus called what He taught the Gospel of the Kingdom. Maybe we should have just stuck with that.
That is a different use of the word gospel as descriptive to something even though good news means the same. Jesus only used it in reference to the Kingdom. Man gets carried awayThe Gospel is only four books.
After reading all these posts I would be thoroughly confused about what the gospel really is and how to get saved!
“Believe” in the Bible never means “simply agree mentally that this is true.” It always means “agree that this is true and live accordingly.”Hi. I've never had any formal Bible study training... and that's probably part of the problem. I was raised Southern Baptist, but am now getting myself all twisted in knots after reading Church history and some of the Church Fathers and trying to read Scripture with an open mind...
I do believe that the Bible is supposed to be our ultimate authority, but I'm really getting frustrated at all the places where the right way to understand doctrine doesn't seem clear. I know what Baptists have traditionally taught and believed -- but the early Church Fathers seem in many places to teach something different, and I'm finding the Bible seems to teach something different -- that is, unless I begin with Baptist assumptions.
It seems like everybody has to begin with a certain set of assumptions -- or else there's no way to make sense of all this at all.For an example of just one knot I am twisting myself in, one I was thinking about earlier today -- What is actually required for salvation? Rather than being simple and clear like I've always been told this is supposed to be, I find that the Bible isn't very clear at all -- unless I begin from a certain assumption (sola fide for example) and subject everything else I read to that.
And I could go on. There are other passages that don't seem to line up with the rest of these. And I'm just making myself miserable trying to figure out how all this sorts out.
- Paul talks about being "saved by grace through faith" and "not a result of works" in Ephesians 2:8-10. Protestants take this to be a statement of sola fide, justification by faith alone.
- James says "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). And yes I know how Protestants usually explicate this in light of Paul -- but why do we prioritize Paul over James? How is that decision made?
- Jesus makes statements that seem to pretty clearly state there are things we have to do (works?) in order to be saved. For example, He says "unless one is both of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), traditionally understood to refer to baptism; He says "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53), traditionally held to refer to the Lord's Supper. And yes, Baptists say neither one refers to either, but they still both apparently refer to something we have to do.
- Jesus also gives parables of the Judgment indicating we will be judged according to our works (Matt 25:31-46). Paul also says pretty plainly that God "will render to each one according to his works" (Roman 2:6) -- shortly before the passages where Protestants find the boldest proclamations of sola fide. How does that square?
People tell me in sola fide threads to "use Scripture to interpret Scripture" -- but I don't see how that works at all, when these Scriptures appear to be saying completely different things. It feels like trying to solve a mathematical proof -- I feel like everything should make sense, if only I know the theorem to start with. But I feel like, in my mind, I have no idea where to begin... People tell me to keep studying, that if I study more, it will all begin to make sense... but it feels like the more I study, the less anything makes sense.
And yes I know that the Catholic Church has a magisterium that "fixes everything"! But is that the only answer? I know that the Church Fathers give guidance in how they, the Early Church, understood things -- and that helps a lot. But should I prioritize their interpretations? How do Protestants make it work at all?
2 Timothy 2:23 fleeing foolish and ignorant speculations and arguments.This is a really good point. Yes, Christians can be prayerful, humble, and learn what Christ asks of us in many contexts.
But unity of faith, an ability to reconcile ideas, a clear historical train of thought in the development of theology and enunciation of Truth, should be present in the Church that Christ actually founded.
Except people are missing one important thing. The bible, written in Koine Greek, intends "believeth" to be a verb, not a noun.
This indicates you have to do something.
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