What's the difference between baptist, methodist and orthodox?

[HTacianas]

Have you read The Trail of Blood, by J.M. Carroll?

I am familiar with it. It is a fraud that no one takes seriously.

 

[joshua 1 9]

I thought it was the other way around?

We produce fruit because we're saved.

I was taught you can not be saved without the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that produces fruit in us.

Eph1:13 "in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,"

2Cor1:22 "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."

Does your pastor have a sermon on what it means to be sealed?

Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

Some people believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit requires evidence of speaking in new tongues. Which is the language of the angels. We know we are a citizen of Heaven when we speak the language there.

Although didn't you say that the language of Heaven is English with a New Jersey accent?

 

[Chesterton]

What an interesting (if self-serving) way to describe the biggest of all formal splits in church history.

What's interesting about it?

 

[Dave L]

There is no history at all to prove that Waldensians existed very much beyond the reformation.

The Albigensians weren't Christian.

The problem is, the visible institutional churches do not exist in the New Covenant scriptures. But non institutional house churches do. These did not go away, but existed beyond the reach of the Institutions until this day.

 

[HTacianas]

The problem is, the visible institutional churches do not exist in the New Covenant scriptures. But non institutional house churches do. These did not go away, but existed beyond the reach of the Institutions until this day.

What evidence does anyone have of any sort of "house church" existing today or having existed through history?

 

[Dave L]

What evidence does anyone have of any sort of "house church" existing today or having existed through history?

They are quite popular today as they were in the NT.

 

[bekkilyn]

It almost sounds like your definition is what we would call an ordinance: an outward show of an inward decision.Thanks for the correction.

Question: Once you're saved by grace through faith, do the sacraments keep you saved?

Nope, it is always God's grace that saves you regardless of where you are in the salvation process. The sacraments are considered as a "means of grace" along with activities such as prayer, fasting, studying scripture, etc. that can strengthen us and help us experience God's presence in our lives, but God can extend his grace to us even before we are aware of it and is not dependent on anything we do. We are justified once we become aware and agree to receive his grace and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

United Methodists do not accept the doctrine of "Once Saved, Always Saved" because we believe God gave us the free will to willfully reject him, but no works of any sort are ever required for salvation. Any works we do through the power of the Holy Spirit are as a *response* to salvation in the process of growing and maturing in our faith. If we are "kept saved" it is always a matter of God extending his grace throughout that process.

 

[Albion]

What's interesting about it?

For one thing, the notion that until the Reformation Roman Catholicism + Eastern Orthodoxy was one church body (with two wings or something).

 

[HTacianas]

They are quite popular today as they were in the NT.

Those house churches of the NT went on to become the churches we all know of. There were no "guerrilla fighters" hiding on the fringes preserving the Christian faith. That has been accomplished by the Church of history.

 

[Chesterton]

For one thing, the notion that until the Reformation Roman Catholicism + Eastern Orthodoxy was one church body (with two wings or something).

Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe just imprecise wording. Although I don't see it as self-serving.

 

[AV1611VET]

The problem is, the visible institutional churches do not exist in the New Covenant scriptures. But non institutional house churches do. These did not go away, but existed beyond the reach of the Institutions until this day.

Correct.

This is how we look at it.

We are not a "denomination;" we are a "church."

Two or more people gathered together in Jesus' name is a "church."

Two or more "churches" do not constitute a "denomination;" they are simply called "churches."

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

The problem is, the visible institutional churches do not exist in the New Covenant scriptures. But non institutional house churches do. These did not go away, but existed beyond the reach of the Institutions until this day.

Visible Institutional Churches existed to the degree that the Apostles, Paul especially, were able to write to them, giving them advice, commands and even requesting the sharing of resources. Paul for instance was able to exercise authority in person and by letter and didn't merely leave his congregations to themselves entirely. How is this not institutional to some degree, even if at that time the faithful gathered in houses? Large houses mind you, not small residences by peasants but houses given over to these gatherings by the wealthier members of the community. It's no surprise that once communities felt they were more tolerated they set aside specific buildings dedicated to Church entirely.

The houses Churches did not operate entirely independent of each other with complete autonomy but existed within a wider circle of connections to the person who founded it (an Apostle or someone authorized by an Apostle). How would we explain the sharing of resources between Churches, such as the collection for Jerusalem? If there was not a greater institution governing the individual Churches how did the Apostles have authority to settle the question of gentile converts when such issues should have been settled on a local Church level? This implies a supra-authority of hierarchy, which means institution.

As for the idea of individual church communities existing independent of wider institutions, yes there were oddballs all throughout history, but none of them survived. Each died or were subsumed into the larger Church entities around them.

 

[dreadnought]

What's the difference between baptist, methodist and orthodox?

We United Methodists have the reputation of singing a lot.

 

[AV1611VET]

Presbyterian anagrams to: "best in prayer".

 

[Baby Alice]

Presbyterian anagrams to: "best in prayer".

Presbyterian?

 

[AV1611VET]

Presbyterian?

Yes -- you can rearrange the letters to spell: "best in prayer."

 

[Baby Alice]

Yes -- you can rearrange the letters to spell: "best in prayer."

I've never heard of that one

 

[Albion]

Yeah, I noticed that too. Maybe just imprecise wording. Although I don't see it as self-serving.

Well, the author lists himself as Eastern Orthodox. Therefore, to claim that the church of his allegiance was NOT involved in the greatest schism in church history can be seen as polishing its image for the benefit of the rest of us. Roman Catholics like to do the same thing, of course.

 

[Chesterton]

Therefore, to claim that the church of his allegiance was NOT involved in the greatest schism in church history can be seen as polishing its image for the benefit of the rest of us.

He didn't claim that.

 

[FireDragon76]

As far as I know, there have always been Christians who remained outside of the Institutional Churches. Waldensians, Albigensians, and many Baptists trace their beliefs through churches that remained beyond the institutions.

Albigensians were heretics. They were not Trinitarians, they were related to the Bogomils and other Gnostics.