What would you do for unity?

Monk Brendan

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How would we provoke each other to love and good works, and exhort each other?

How about a phone call in the middle of the week? Bible study, normal church on Sunday, and so on.
 
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Monk Brendan

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How sad for you that you look at the innocence of a child and see wickedness.... in our Judeo/Christian judicial system, even they recognize that children don't have the capacity to reason cause to effect and are not held responsible for actions before a certain age.

Why did Jesus say that we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom if they are no different than adults?

Child-like, not childish. Do you have children? I don't but I've seen my brother's kids close up, and when they were little, under the so-called age of accountability, they were mean rotten creatures, crying, shouting, whining all of the time. And six year olds know what they are doing, because they gang up on kids that look different, and beat them up. It happened to me, so I do know what I am talking about.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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It is not the Bible that saves us. The bible is paper and ink.

But, the Bible does give us instruction on salvation... no extra instruction needed.

2 Tim 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
 
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The Times

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I dont believe unity is possible.

True Unity is in the Spirit, not in a physical denominational sense, whereby Christianity has to be under the one global interfaith umbrella, for that is what the enemy of Christ seeks to achieve, before he rolls out his welcome wagon to the Devil Incarnate.

Someone, just like John the prepared the way for Jesus, is preparing the way for the his master, the other guy. We see today's Jerusalem being built up and all pieces are in place for the other guy to come in pomp and ceremony. What better way to get all the religions of the world united under the one resident evil umbrella corporation.
 
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Monk Brendan

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Isnt that like saying speech is just vibrations in the air? What does it prove? Nothing.

No! You've got it wrong! The Bible IS important, because it teaches us how to become closer to God. But the Bible is LANGUAGE, not ink and paper. The Word was carried by oral tradition first. Moses wrote things down for the first time. Then we have to go to scribes like Baruch, to get an idea of the rest of the OT. I know you don't have the other seven books in the Bible, but it was one of the Maccabees that wrote that down. And then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all had scribes to write down the things they were saying. Paul had a scribe to write things down. Likewise Peter.

Now, all of these things were written down in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. It didn't get translated all at once. Finally, the Ancient Fathers of the Church began collecting, collating, and writing it down in Greek. The took the OT from the Septuagint, written in Greek, and put it all together. In 325 AD, ALL of the Christians in the world sent representatives to Nicea, and began codifying what was, and what was not of the Holy Spirit. What was finally decided was that the 73 books of the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit and COULD BE READ IN CHURCH, DURING LITURGY. That is what the Canon is about, which books could be read in church. That's what it's about. So that kind of kicks Sola Scriptura out of the ring, too.
 
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Monk Brendan

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All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

And I agree with that, but does it tell you HOW to love your neighbor? Does the Bible give a price on gold? or even wheat? Does the Bible teach you how to read or write?

These things must be learned, as I am sure you know. A bumbling amateur does not walk into the Rolex factory and ask for a job as a watchmaker. But a watchmaker's job will be able to have the time to read the Bible, learn from it was is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Even a farmer needs to learn how to plant wheat, a fisherman needs to know what to put on his hook, and so on.
 
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The Times

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I dont agree.

My claim is.....

"If you put God's army of denominations under the same umbrella, then you commit the sin of David, where God will remove his Grace and allow the Church congregations to be slaughtered and the shepherds will bear the responsibility and the blood will be on their hands."

My reasoning is that the falling away happens, when global denominational Christianity comes under the one umbrella of compromised faith, for the sake of believing........

“Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."

Th chaos in the world and the persecution of the Christian by the enemy that plays the Hegelian dialectic (both sides of war and peace), is making the shepherds to strive for peace, through strength in unity, when they are in fact leading the entire flock to slaughter.

The reason why David was not supposed to number his army, is so that the enemy is tactically oblivious to what is required to destroy it.

Christianity throughout the ages has been strong in the departmentalised and decentralised denominational churches that don't yield to the central controlling force. All centralised world governments have been controlled by the elites who control the banking cartel, the intelligence agencies and military industrial complex and the research and development technological and biological
Industries, along with big pharmaceutical and the illegal drug industry. The only decentralised enemy that stands in its way is decentralised Christianity.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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And I agree with that, but does it tell you HOW to love your neighbor?

Actually it does... the last six Commandments

Does the Bible give a price on gold? or even wheat? Does the Bible teach you how to read or write?

These things must be learned, as I am sure you know. A bumbling amateur does not walk into the Rolex factory and ask for a job as a watchmaker. But a watchmaker's job will be able to have the time to read the Bible, learn from it was is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Even a farmer needs to learn how to plant wheat, a fisherman needs to know what to put on his hook, and so on.

The Bible gives us all the instruction needed for SPIRITUAL knowledge and growth. I'm sure God is ok with man teaching for temporal knowledge.
 
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The Times

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Unity under what or who and at what cost is the pertinent question that no rationale person is scrutinising and if history is eveidence to go by, then please consider the inquisitions and how the Templars and the ruling elites, with Constantine the emperor used Christianity as their tool that they backed then to unite all people's of the world, through religious wars, so to bring them under the one umbrella of control.

They backed Christianity back then under the religious dot Org, now they are abandoning it for another elaborate trapping, that has Lucifer their father as their Messiah to come. They have rebuilt Israel and Jerusalem for him and used controlled opposition to deceive the masses to think the star of Bethlaham sign has been given to the soon arrival of the Jewish messiah, but this guy is not Jesus Christ and is an imposter.

So gathering all religions under the one umbrella makes strategic sense and pushing for the corruption of churches from within to weaken their stance on the written word of God, is a requirement to delude people that unity is about love, when at the end towards the last hour, true unity is to wage spiritual war against imposters and those who are wanting to change the laws and ways of God, for an androgeyous society, under the head figure, the final king to emerge in his prepared earthly kingdom. Are you getting it brothers and sisters, or is it so sensational that it completely is over your heads.
 
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EastCoastRemnant

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I find it interestingly prophetic that the Bible says the road to eternal life is narrow and travelled by few whereas the road to destruction is wide and jam packed but somehow "Christians" are clamouring for their spot among the many....
 
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AnticipateHisComing

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How about going to church frequently, and not just as Christmas and Easter? And BTW, this IS in the Bible. (Heb 10:24-25)) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
BTW, the question you did not answer was supplying a tradition not recorded in scripture that is necessary for salvation. Come on now, I answered your challenge that you thought I couldn't.
 
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Tayla

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Would you be willing to give up any divisive theology, for the sake of unity?
I would not accept error and false teaching just so I could say I am in unity with someone. Unity as Christians consists only in sharing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not in having doctrinal conformity.
 
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W2L

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I would not accept error and false teaching just so I could say I am in unity with someone. Unity as Christians consists only in sharing the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not in having doctrinal conformity.
Im not suggesting we keep errors, im suggesting we rid ourselves of errors. Of course i know this wont happen.
 
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Monk Brendan

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BTW, the question you did not answer was supplying a tradition not recorded in scripture that is necessary for salvation. Come on now, I answered your challenge that you thought I couldn't.

Rather, you gave me a laundry list, and challenged me to answer them, which I did, each time with Scripture. Now, it is up to you to find things that YOU feel are not Scriptural, and I will see if I can answer them
 
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AnticipateHisComing

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Rather, you gave me a laundry list, and challenged me to answer them, which I did, each time with Scripture. Now, it is up to you to find things that YOU feel are not Scriptural, and I will see if I can answer them
Your recollection is lacking. Your answering my question is lacking. I asked you only one question. Let me quote it here.
Now answer me a question. What tradition not recorded in scripture is required for salvation? Another question the Catholic and Orthodox have failed to answer.
Your "attempt" to answer my question was with a tradition contained in scripture to which you boast. When I point out the question you failed to answer was for a tradition not contained in scripture, you turn to laundry. That is because you and every other Catholic and Orthodox Church members fail to answer the question.

Given your failure to justify your traditions outside of scripture, you attempt to turn the tables around and expect me to prove them wrong. Sorry, but you and your church put authority in your traditions, I don't. Scripture has plenty to testify that it is true. No good Christian argues scripture is false. Yet it amazes me that some put traditions above or equal to scripture and yet traditions don't have the same level of things that testify to the truth that scripture does.

You are the one that started the whole discussion about traditions in opposition to Sola Scriptura. The only reason I mentioned Sola Scriptura was in the hypocracy in the Lutheran Church that I left. As I said, I don't want to engage in a Sola Scriptura battle here or a Catholic vs. Protestant one either.
 
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Monk Brendan

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Your "attempt" to answer my question was with a tradition contained in scripture to which you boast...That is because you and every other Catholic and Orthodox Church members fail to answer the question.

Okay! So let's get on with it. Most Protestants claim that we bow down and worship statues. WE DO NOT! Most Protestants have a problem with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We keep her to the forefront, because she was the FIRST one to accept God's grace, no matter what; we refer to her as Theotokos (Mother of God) because we believe that since Jesus is God, and was God at His birth, she should be allowed a little bit more mention than the Protestants give her. You only trot her out on Christmas Eve, and then she goes back into her box until the next December 24.
We do not WORSHIP icons, either. They are the windows into heaven, where we can mystically glimpse God's Glory, or the Theotokos pointing to her son, etc.

We are also not acting like cannibals when we partake of the Eucharist. It is a mystical feast, a bloodless sacrifice. We confess to a priest because when he is hearing my confession, he is acting in Persona Christi--as if Christ was also standing in front of me. And He is, and forgiveness flows from Christ through the priest to me. We baptize infants because, as good parents, we want our children to have the full protection of God. We also Seal him with the Holy Spirit at the same time, and for the same reason. In Eastern Christian Churches, we also bring the child up to Communion from the day he is baptized, so that from that day on, the child can truly be raised AS A CHRISTIAN, because he IS a Christian. Because he is a child, we don't lay any burdens on him that he has to conform to.

We also raise our children to be good Christians, and we don't make them beg for cleansing and baptism as adults. ANY parent who does NOT do these things is playing with a loaded gun, HOPING the child won't go off the rails until that mythical "Age of Responsibility."

Shall I go on? There are all of the myths that Pre-Reformation Churches made all sorts of evil, and that the Pope is (ALWAYS) the anti-Christ. and the Catholic Church is behind the Masons, Shriners, Illuminati, the Priory of Sion and all the other myths that have been spun BY REFORMERS!

I haven't even begun on Protestant churches, yet. Why don't you start finding Scriptural reasons for:
Adult Baptism
Testimonies
Altar Calls
Invitation Hymns
The Holy Spirit always coming with the evidence of Tongues. My first experience with the Holy Spirit was prophecy, and not tongues, so that one is blown right there!

I can find lots more evidences of the non-Scriptural behavior of the Reformers NOT following God's Word, but making up their own TRADITIONS!
 
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Citizen of the Kingdom

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... We confess to a priest because when he is hearing my confession, he is acting in Persona Christi--as if Christ was also standing in front of me. And He is, and forgiveness flows from Christ through the priest to me. ...
Christ is not standing in front of you. That is actually another human being that you are taking for diety and acsribing grace as coming from something other than God. How can Christ ever come to know you if you ignor that He is alive and accessable? How could you not agree with the final verdict of "I knew you not" when you never make the effort to go to Him? I don't get why you would substitute a fake Christ ... I wish I didn't have to ask that.
 
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Monk Brendan

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They are just paintings, not windows into heaven.

Can you prove that? If you try to understand the message of the icon, you will not receive a revelation? But first, you have to look, which you don't do, because "they are just paintings."
 
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