toldailytopic: Why are there so many Christian denominations? And is that necessarily

IXOYE

New member
I am very pleased to see you find the phrase "Bible In a Blender" theology so offensive, that was my intention from the git-go.

it was your empty assertion from the get go. You are truly ignorant of my position, and judged me on things you had no foreknowledge of. :p Typical Christian behavior. I am ashamed to admit it, but there it is. Your presumptiveness was offensive, your ignorance was offensive, your assumptions were offensive, and not only that, they showed you to be a smug southern end of a northbound horse.

It means the same thing as "Cherry Picking" which is exactly what you have done.


You wouldn't know what I've done. You accused before your tiny mind even knew the reasoning behind my claims. You are so busy knowing it all, you forget to find out what the other folx believe before you put them in a box.


You can't deal with your criticism of one interpretation of one scripture without support from other books,

You are yet to do that. You accused first, and I've had to badger you to get any reasoning at all.


so you add the ones that you think will reinforce your position.

if I make a claim on a verse, I will defend it, and I can assure you, that I'll have 10x the time on the verse than you have, and I'll drag you through nearly every book in the NT and most of the ot as well. But, it's nice for you to belittle me so you can spare your delicate infant ego some damage.


You get things out context taking from one book and adding it to another.

More blind assertions. You sure do say YOU DO a lot without showing where I did. It's cowardly behavior.

I think you are offended because my comment hit too close to home, didn't it?

That sentence was screws from the first two words. I think you make assertions with no substance because you can't find substance and just want to run your mouth and try to look big.

Lets look at the scripture in context, shall we?

Can you?



This was the first scripture that I commented on. I said "That they all may be" means they are not. If what I said is not true, the prayer would never have been needed. it was that simple until....

You disagreed.


Well, I wonder why. Let me show you your inferior context. The verse you posted was about the individuals in the church, thus the THEY ALL part. This phrase was dealing with the individuals in the Church that Christ ran. You were using it for the CHURCHES. It's a comment about individuals and Paul defines it in eph 4:12-17. So yes, when you tweaked the verse out and misapplied it, I spoke up. If you include vss 19 and 20 in your examination it's rather painfully clear it's to individuals. Stop changing scripture, I'll stop calling you on it. Deal?




Now let's look at Ephesians 4......
These were also written in the future tense; perfecting,

Did you get this from a crackerjacks box??? it says they are .... until they are perfect, or mature.. there is no future tense to it. WHY THE HECK DO YOU INSIST ON CHANGING SCRIPTURE TO SAVE FACE. Just admit you are lost.

Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the [fn]knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature [fn]which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

The mature man there shows an accomplished mature man. Perfect in your kjv instead of mature. You just make it up as you go. Do you use the "Not-so-Strong's concordance?"



,Till we all come in the unity of the faith will become, may grow up, be put away from you,

Ephesians 4 doesn't support your claim, in fact it supports mine.

Perhaps it does after you rewrote it as you did. :|

It's a process! It is not just a process in the church it is a process in each individual.

IT"S A PROCESS FOR INDIVIDUALS, WE WERE DISCUSSING THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH!!!!! It's like saying watermelons are the best steak you can buy! You are off the board on self puffed uppedness. Slow down and read what you say, go back and show me that "perfecting" future tense. It's a statement made to people, who are in the process (we can agree here) who are not yet, but will be perfected on earth before they die. It's not dealing with the CHURCH, but5 with the members of the Church. :|



you also made reference to 1 john 3:6

but skipped over verse 2

I didn't skip anything I'll start in chapter one if you like it's all the same thought process. You are now going to try to say verse two, shows that verse six doesn't say what it says. You are too dumb to realize if you are right, the bible contradicts itself.

1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

Ok einstein got pen and paper? Who is the WE there. Do you think it's written to YOU. Did you know JOHN around 95AD? I doubt it. So let's look at the "CONTEXT" (your big word for the day...) and define who WE is.

John wrote the letter to a group of people he wanted to be in fellowship with. They were NOT in fellowship at this time. JOHN was in fellowship with God and His Son. Thus those he wrote to were not yet in fellowship with GOD and His Son.

JOHN WAS.

THEY WEREN'T.
but they were saved, they had Christ as their mediator. I've already blown your mind, but take your pompous behind back to chapter one and read it. That's exactly what it says, after you take your presumption and rewriting out of the equation, and just read the words on their merit alone. I think they can stand alone without your redefining... don't yoU?

Here you have two groups of people that are distinctively different in their maturity level with God.

WE, as written by John would be HIS group.

He said in chapter 1 to be in fellowship with God you must walk in the LIGHT AS GOD DOES<<<< not similar, not partially, not sometimes but AS GOD DOES!!!!!
And there is no darkness in HIM, and if you walk (live by) the DARK you aren't in HIM.

John wrote this so they would not sin 2:1A, and when they had a little more darkness washed off, they were that close to being "there". 2:8.

He says to be infellowship with God you must be that maturity you saw back in eph 4, as mature as JESUS was, not less in any way. There are two different authors saying the same thing.

So you can see beyond any linguistic shadow of a doubt, the people JOHN WROTE TO, were not part of JOHN'S "US/WE" in this letter.

3:2 doesn't apply to you, me or everyperson in the church, but rather the mature peeps.

Before you show me 1:8 which doesn't say what you want it to anyway, and tell me no one can be that perfect, get the verses I've presented in my argument, and show me how they don't say what I've intrepreted. YOU CAN NOT DO THAT with other verses in the Bible unless you are a trained Eisegete. That's bad. Thank you for playing and showing you really don't study the Word, but you read it for what you can use.


again we see the oneness with God written about in John17:21,

Yes, you see a oneness for individuals like in John 17. The people with JOHN, not the recipients of the letter were mature and one with Jesus. WE WERE DISCUSSING ONENESS OF DENOMINATIONS IN THE CHURCH!!!!!! you went from discussing spices for fish, to places to fish at and claimed it's the same conversation.

still hasn't happened.

Ignorance or LIE. Paul said it happened in this life, John said it as well. Eph 4 is written about people within the church on earth, not dead yet.

What does it say? If the "church" was one with God, Jesus would have already returned.

Where does it say that?

JESUS will come back and rule the church as a theocracy. It will be unified. A lot of people and denominations of people will not be included there.

Your comment implies we have to get the church fixed so jesus would return. You aren't that big, bub.


it says "when he shall appear".

Yes, it doesn't say you won't be mature until he appears, it says you need to be mature so WHEN HE APPEARS... He's not reappeared yet. HIS appearance is in the future, not the maturity. This is juvenile logic, for someone who would run their mouth like you did, I'd think there would be some substance somewhere.




you also thew Gal5:19-21 into your salad, and ignored verse 5

I didn't ignore crap. You should have asked me about vs 5 before you make a claim, or write an elephant size check your tweety bird size behind can't cash.


Gal5:5
again future tense,

SO? what is the future tense. NOT the people's maturity, but the WAITING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS! And he's addressing someone that is not mature, who were bungled up with teachers who taught their own gospel. Paul is one group, they are another group.

FURTHERMORE HOW DOES THIS AFFECT 5:19-21, you don't say. So what you have done here is thrown crap on the wall, evaded the point and stuck your chest out like you did something.



I have asked "where" is this oneness?

It's with those in the CHURCH ran by Christ. And that isn't a denomination. Which is the topic. Gal 5:19-21 still shows that divisiveness is of the flesh. That factions are of the flesh, thus the split into factions, i.e. protestant reformation is of the flesh, not the Spirit by Paul's words. But, of course that dummy didn't consult with you first so you could tell him what he meant when he wrote scripture since he thought he was saying something else.

you reply that you are not Oneness....how does "I am not" answer "where"?

There is a ONENESS denomination. You could have been accusing me of being there in their denomination by the words you typed. So I took a wrong turn in your ambiguity and came back and proffered the answer IN CASE you meant it the other way.


Tell me who has become one with God, what man or church? When did Jesus return? 1John3:2

I can offer PAUL and JOHN as examples. Careful you are going to make a fool out of yourself by answering so surely without knowing why I said those two names. But, it's by their own words. HOWEVER, AGAIN the topic is DENOMINATIONS, and you've directed us to individuals. Do you even know what the words you are spitting mean?

EPH 4 shows a person as fully mature as HIm. That's a person there IN HIM, as HE IS IN GOD. 1 3?6 says if you still sin you do not know him and haven't met him. Hard to be IN HIM if you haven't met him. 3:9 says if you are born of HIM, you don't continue to sin, and CAN NOT SIN, period. 5;18 says the same more or less. You can't be IN HIM if you aren't born of Him and haven't seen Him.

You aren't in fellowship with Him if you are still walking in the dark, even a little, there must be no darkness in you. John said he walked in the light AS HE DOES and had NO DARKNESS IN HIM.

Go take a reading comprehension class, and get back on topic.
 

danoman31

Member
I think it's well established that every denomination thinks it's the correct one, although some would grant that members of other denominations have access to heaven as well. As for which one is right - only one way to find out. Wanna meet Jesus?
Not really an answer is it. Let me try asking the question in a different way. If the Apostles were here today, what denomination would they be. Would they be of the same denomination or would each have their own. Would they endorse only one denomination, any, none? What about Paul? Was Jim Jones' church THE true church. David Koresh? Hillsborough Baptist? There IS only one, which one is it? Yours, mine. (rhetorical). There is a way to find out. Rightly divide His Word. Met Jesus, He's my BEST friend.
 

IXOYE

New member
You can study to rightly divide the Word of God all you want. It will no more get yiu "there" than reading a book on how your heart beats will keep it beating. Until you apply what you read your growth is retarded. Through works, applications you learn the most enlightening of understanding, and it will seem natural. You will be changed without even realizing it.



At least that is what Scripture says. So the more you strive to learn, the more you fght for control, the more control you have the less he has, the less he has the less you will understand. To understand Him, you need to.focus less on what you know, and more on what you do.

A right handed batter can't learn to bat left handed naturally. Because of the film they watch, and books they study. You can't learn to agapao reading knowledge in books that gives a false sense of confidence and control.
O
The more control you have the less He has. He doesn't ask you t get control in that ultimate sense. HE ASKS YOU TO GET IN MOTION AND HE WILL CHANGE YOU.




Not really an answer is it. Let me try asking the question in a different way. If the Apostles were here today, what denomination would they be. Would they be of the same denomination or would each have their own. Would they endorse only one denomination, any, none? What about Paul? Was Jim Jones' church THE true church. David Koresh? Hillsborough Baptist? There IS only one, which one is it? Yours, mine. (rhetorical). There is a way to find out. Rightly divide His Word. Met Jesus, He's my BEST friend.
 

Krsto

Well-known member
You can study to rightly divide the Word of God all you want. It will no more get yiu "there" than reading a book on how your heart beats will keep it beating. Until you apply what you read your growth is retarded. Through works, applications you learn the most enlightening of understanding, and it will seem natural. You will be changed without even realizing it.



At least that is what Scripture says. So the more you strive to learn, the more you fght for control, the more control you have the less he has, the less he has the less you will understand. To understand Him, you need to.focus less on what you know, and more on what you do.

A right handed batter can't learn to bat left handed naturally. Because of the film they watch, and books they study. You can't learn to agapao reading knowledge in books that gives a false sense of confidence and control.
O
The more control you have the less He has. He doesn't ask you t get control in that ultimate sense. HE ASKS YOU TO GET IN MOTION AND HE WILL CHANGE YOU.

This is very insightful IXOYE but keep in mind that what a person actually does will be informed by his theology, for better or for worse. We should all strive for accurate theology so that we get a sense of God's will for our activities.

That said I know of a lot of churches with good theology which are spinning their wheels in activities that really don't accomplish much in God's Kingdom and there are those churches with poor theology which are doing much good in God's kingdom. Funny how that works.
 

IXOYE

New member
This is very insightful IXOYE but keep in mind that what a person actually does will be informed by his theology, for better or for worse. We should all strive for accurate theology so that we get a sense of God's will for our activities.

That said I know of a lot of churches with good theology which are spinning their wheels in activities that really don't accomplish much in God's Kingdom and there are those churches with poor theology which are doing much good in God's kingdom. Funny how that works.

Hey, I caught myself before I posted the humorous, teasing, but snide version of this response. If you are going to reach I will as best i am able, as well. And you have never attacked me over the fone's auto correct issues, so you can't be all bad.

Regarding your first paragraph, im going all hypocritical on you. Apparently my STUDIES on this side of the faith, eleven somewhat intense years, has shown me, the Bible,(that which I study,) says yiu learn more from experience than study. And in fact you are to be led by the church in your experiences/works/applications. As this was against all I believed this verse really set in my craw. It sounded very Catholic to me. But if says it very plainly and to the point. I didn't really imderstand it, until in 1 Clement I got down around schizin 40ish where he is describing how the church was established and designed god operate. Even more Catholic. But nothing He said, Clement that is, contradicted the Bible. It tore hell out of what I thought the Bible said though.
Anyway, eph 4:12-17 the church, through works prepare the people for works of service through which they gain unity (through works) and knowledge of Christ (through works) until they are perfect/mature even to the full and complete entirety that Jesus was.

No amount of study can change you from a right handed batter to a left handed batter. I don't care how much studying you do. Until you practice it, over and over, make mistake after mistake, go through trial and tribulation, get COACHED AND LED THROUGH your struggles, it will not become natural.

God wants your change to be not just a head change but wants it to be so complete your natural.way of thinking and feeling are changed as well.

So, through study, hard study even, I learned it is not about study.

Told you I was a hypocrite before I started, right?

And I know most people stopped reading aat as perfect as christ. You have been taught that can't be. (I'm certainly not there.) But of that person reads these vss slowly. What it claims is hard to deny. Its quadruply defined to be clear.
 

IXOYE

New member
Oh, and krusty, notice we both tout early Xian symbols of different generations? We are made to contrast each other.
 

Krsto

Well-known member
Hey, I caught myself before I posted the humorous, teasing, but snide version of this response. If you are going to reach I will as best i am able, as well. And you have never attacked me over the fone's auto correct issues, so you can't be all bad.

Regarding your first paragraph, im going all hypocritical on you. Apparently my STUDIES on this side of the faith, eleven somewhat intense years, has shown me, the Bible,(that which I study,) says yiu learn more from experience than study. And in fact you are to be led by the church in your experiences/works/applications. As this was against all I believed this verse really set in my craw. It sounded very Catholic to me. But if says it very plainly and to the point. I didn't really imderstand it, until in 1 Clement I got down around schizin 40ish where he is describing how the church was established and designed god operate. Even more Catholic. But nothing He said, Clement that is, contradicted the Bible. It tore hell out of what I thought the Bible said though.
Anyway, eph 4:12-17 the church, through works prepare the people for works of service through which they gain unity (through works) and knowledge of Christ (through works) until they are perfect/mature even to the full and complete entirety that Jesus was.

No amount of study can change you from a right handed batter to a left handed batter. I don't care how much studying you do. Until you practice it, over and over, make mistake after mistake, go through trial and tribulation, get COACHED AND LED THROUGH your struggles, it will not become natural.

God wants your change to be not just a head change but wants it to be so complete your natural.way of thinking and feeling are changed as well.

So, through study, hard study even, I learned it is not about study.

Told you I was a hypocrite before I started, right?

And I know most people stopped reading aat as perfect as christ. You have been taught that can't be. (I'm certainly not there.) But of that person reads these vss slowly. What it claims is hard to deny. Its quadruply defined to be clear.

Put that dang phone down and get yourself to a real computer with a real keyboard, would ya? Sheesh - kids these days. :mmph:

If you're preaching we need more than head knowledge you're preaching to the choir Bro.

It's interesting to me you dwell on Eph. 4 and that's become an important passage for you because it has for me as well so allow me to give you my spin on it. First of all I bring this up to a lot of pastors telling them that what they do is not "the ministry" - it's what the people do that's "the ministry." They are there to serve, teach, encourage, equip, and pastor, so the people can better do the ministry of building up the body of Christ and if we bring in 1 Cor. 12 we see that everybody is supposed to be gifted by God to minister in some capacity so those pastors who are not actively discovering how God has gifted each individual in their church and give them freedom to operate their gift then they are working against the Holy Spirit. Here's an example where correct theology will inform ones "works" so they do the right thing in a accordance to God's will.

As far as maturity being attained, I think on an individual level there are those who are there but a church full of only such mature Christians is one that is not reproducing, doesn't have any young, immature, baby Christian around to mess things up so is unhealthy. Healthy churches reproduce and have a certain amount of immaturity to shepherd.

I don't see anything particularly Catholic in all that, btw. And I caution you in reading into Clement what the church was like but rather read him as what he would like the church to be. Same for Ignatius, who, btw, I think were in direct opposition to Jesus in Lk. 22:25-26. There wasn't much in keeping these men from innovating regarding church polity considering they didn't likely have all the books of the bible at their disposal and didn't have a Strong's Concordance if they did.
 

IXOYE

New member
Put that dang phone down and get yourself to a real computer with a real keyboard, would ya? Sheesh - kids these days. :mmph:

If you're preaching we need more than head knowledge you're preaching to the choir Bro.

It's interesting to me you dwell on Eph. 4 and that's become an important passage for you because it has for me as well so allow me to give you my spin on it. First of all I bring this up to a lot of pastors telling them that what they do is not "the ministry" - it's what the people do that's "the ministry." They are there to serve, teach, encourage, equip, and pastor, so the people can better do the ministry of building up the body of Christ and if we bring in 1 Cor. 12 we see that everybody is supposed to be gifted by God to minister in some capacity so those pastors who are not actively discovering how God has gifted each individual in their church and give them freedom to operate their gift then they are working against the Holy Spirit. Here's an example where correct theology will inform ones "works" so they do the right thing in a accordance to God's will.

As far as maturity being attained, I think on an individual level there are those who are there but a church full of only such mature Christians is one that is not reproducing, doesn't have any young, immature, baby Christian around to mess things up so is unhealthy. Healthy churches reproduce and have a certain amount of immaturity to shepherd.

I don't see anything particularly Catholic in all that, btw. And I caution you in reading into Clement what the church was like but rather read him as what he would like the church to be. Same for Ignatius, who, btw, I think were in direct opposition to Jesus in Lk. 22:25-26. There wasn't much in keeping these men from innovating regarding church polity considering they didn't likely have all the books of the bible at their disposal and didn't have a Strong's Concordance if they did.

At&t is the only provider in my neighborhood. When I won a case against them, and "stole" several juicy. Accounts from tthem they seem to hold a grudge. So at home, the phone is what I have, and it sux.


Well, I agree with you on eph 4. We are very.close to the same there.

Read 1 Clement, and compare his comments to.Scripture on the, church, There are no contradictions. I nearly agree on the rest. The "Catholic part, is they don't corrupt. "Works" like Protestants do. Protestants drive eph 2:8-9 into the ground, and pretend that eph 2:10 doesn't exist.

So, in that regard, it is more Catholic looking than Protestant looking. I.can't find anything I.1 Clement that would seem to argue he was against Christ.
 

Cruciform

New member
Why are there so many Christian denominations?
Protestant sectarianism is the practical result of 16th-century Protestantism's erroneous theology, specifically, its entirely inadequate ecclesiology.

And is that necessarily a bad thing.
Given that sectarianism (denominationalism) is directly contrary to the stated will of Jesus Christ, as well as in categorical conflict with the New Testament and the early Church's ecclesiology as a whole, the obvious and simple answer is yes---Protestant sectarianism is a manifestation of basic anthropocentrism and rebellion on the part of human beings. It is as tragic as it is sad.



Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+
 

IXOYE

New member
Protestant sectarianism is the practical result of 16th-century Protestantism's erroneous theology, specifically, its entirely inadequate ecclesiology.


Given that sectarianism (denominationalism) is directly contrary to the stated will of Jesus Christ, as well as in categorical conflict with the New Testament and the early Church's ecclesiology as a whole, the obvious and simple answer is yes---Protestant sectarianism is a manifestation of basic anthropocentrism and rebellion on the part of human beings. It is as tragic as it is sad.



Gaudium de veritate,

Cruciform
+T+


And you have Scripture, and history to back you up. As a Protestant, I have, dissension and factions are of the.flesh, not spirit.
 

Yazichestvo

New member
The Bible is a very difficult text to interpret, and it's often difficult to reconcile one part with the other. Arianism arose to reconcile Abrahamic monotheism with the divinity of Christ. Calvinism's view of free will arose to reconcile God's omnipotence and omniscience with the damnation of some of his creations.The truth is, Christian theology is a very tangled web, and that's why there are so many varying explanations.
 

Don_Quixote

New member
Not really an answer is it. Let me try asking the question in a different way. If the Apostles were here today, what denomination would they be. Would they be of the same denomination or would each have their own. Would they endorse only one denomination, any, none? What about Paul? Was Jim Jones' church THE true church. David Koresh? Hillsborough Baptist? There IS only one, which one is it? Yours, mine. (rhetorical). There is a way to find out. Rightly divide His Word. Met Jesus, He's my BEST friend.

I think I can best answer your question with a poem:

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT.
A HINDOO FABLE.

i.
IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

ii.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

iii.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried:"Ho!—what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 't is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

iv.

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

v.

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

vi.

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

vii.

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

viii.

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

moral.

So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
 

Ted L Glines

New member
The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for July 21st, 2011 01:14 PM


toldailytopic: Why are there so many Christian denominations? And is that necessarily a bad thing?


If my history is remembered correctly, the Roman Catholic Church ran into problems with medieval monarchies in Europe, perhaps because the church was trying to turn the monarchies into theocracies. Monarchs responded to this by renouncing the Roman Catholic Church. England went so far as to kick the Catholic Church out of England, founding the Anglican Church to fill the gap. New denominations sprouted as splinter groups sought their own religious comfort zones. A good or bad thing? The proliferation of so-called Christian denominations has effectively removed any real sense of Christian commonality. Here in Bowie County, Texas, we brag that we have 700+ churches; social groups of questionable value to their communities. If Jesus was to pop in on a Sunday morning, He would likely be disappointed in all of them.
 

IXOYE

New member
If my history is remembered correctly, the Roman Catholic Church ran into problems with medieval monarchies in Europe, perhaps because the church was trying to turn the monarchies into theocracies. Monarchs responded to this by renouncing the Roman Catholic Church. England went so far as to kick the Catholic Church out of England, founding the Anglican Church to fill the gap. New denominations sprouted as splinter groups sought their own religious comfort zones. A good or bad thing? The proliferation of so-called Christian denominations has effectively removed any real sense of Christian commonality. Here in Bowie County, Texas, we brag that we have 700+ churches; social groups of questionable value to their communities. If Jesus was to pop in on a Sunday morning, He would likely be disappointed in all of them.

We are neighbors!!!
 

Krsto

Well-known member
I think I can best answer your question with a poem:

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT.
A HINDOO FABLE.

i.
IT was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

ii.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

iii.

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried:"Ho!—what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 't is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

iv.

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

v.

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

vi.

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

vii.

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

viii.

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

moral.

So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!

Classic!

Another way to put that is God gave us way too big of a book to expect us to all see it the same way. Even a church with a 3 page summary of doctrine has to deal with different people in the church interpreting what the authors meant in different ways depending on their particular perspectives, like the blind men feeling a different part of the elephant.
 

geraldN

New member
The reformation was only half done, the doctrine was reformed along bible lines but the ministry was not reformed along bible lines, the reformers went back only to the fathers [so called] because they relied upon the might of princes every bit as much as the Catholic church.

So the new wine was poured into old wine skins and the new cloth sown onto old....

Doesn't anybody think that it is as wrong to hate the Catholic church as it is/was for the church to hate the Jews? even today it is the Catholics/coptics that break through first in the hard places and protestants follow on behind.

I think by and large Catholic haters do not prosper any more that Jew haters.

pLEASE be clear about what you mean "hate Catholic church."
In my experience, anyone who points out things Catholics believe that are not in the bible is called a 'anti-catholic" or "hates Catholics." What's up with that?
 

IXOYE

New member
In MY EXOERIENCE, anyone pointing out things the RCC has wrong, are parroting something one of the other lemmings told them, and never looked in on it themselves and thusly perpetuate a lie. In other words the most talkative of the "correcting catholics" crowd, are fueled by ignorance that started in bigotry. Not saying you are the bigot, you are just parroting something a bigot started somewhere.

Take for example, Catholic position on works is much more biblically correct than almost all Protestants. Teachings. Yet they are falsely accused of saying works save you. Which is a lie. The churches doesn't teach that. Some Catholics may believe that, but so what, some Protestants believe you have to speak in tongues, or be bit in the butt by a rattlesnake to have God's Spirit.

In my experience Catholic basherrs are ignorant, scared, threatened little people. And rarely have so much as a clue what they are taljing about.

pLEASE be clear about what you mean "hate Catholic church."
In my experience, anyone who points out things Catholics believe that are not in the bible is called a 'anti-catholic" or "hates Catholics." What's up with that?
 

geraldN

New member
Wha ...?

Wha ...?

To IXOYE: I need to read the entire thread. I wasn't expecting that kindof a response. I hope your's isn't at all typical of the dialog here. Be back.
 
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