The Bible says a lot of things

Matthew 18

15“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16“But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. 17“If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.


1 timothy 3

15but in case I am delayed, I writeso that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.


We also are given an example of a resolution and this being put into practice in ACTS 15.

In acts 15 the Judaisers wanted Jewish law to be enforced like require folks to have circumcision.

If our authority was scripture we would enforcing circumcisions even today, because scripture completely backed the Judaisers.

The church held a council, stepped in and made a ruling made a definite change.

 

I think it depends on whether you agree with Cessationism or disagree with it, too. Also whether you agree or disagree with apostolic succession.

Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit and had authority.

But does that mean there is also apostolic succession, with each Pope having as much inspiration and authority as Peter did?

 

"I would not DARE consider my own church as the final authority over Christendom "

Then leave it.

One race, Humanity.
One religion, Love.


You quoted right on the edge of your own answer.


Ephesians 5

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30because we are members of His body. 31FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.


The Church is Jesus Christ. It is ONE FLESH. Jesus Christ is its head.

What ever Jesus commands, the Church has spoken.


The church is also God breathed:

22And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23“If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

Given direct authority to forgive and retain sins.


If Jesus Christ was not the head of my church, not one flesh, I'd be gone in the heartbeat, church-less.

Its not my place to start a new club then try to live up to the ideal of what I guess how his church would behave.

He personally started a church it is a living church and in his prayer he prayed that it would never disappear from earth. That his church is divinely guarded. He also prayed for unity.


John 17
13“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19“For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

 

How do you figure that the above scriptures support your proclamation of "One religion, Love"?

 

God is Love. 1 John 4.
8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

If one abides in Love, They abide in God.

1 John 4
16We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Love is the Highest priority. 1 Corinthians 13


The entire Goal of Christianity is Love.
1 timothy 1

5But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.


Love, Kindness Mercy, Compassion, Caring and Sharing.

All evil is built around undermining these things suffer, fear, pain, power, bully.

 

Thanks, but I wasn't questioning the concept of love. I was questioning the concept of a one world religion.

 

The Church is God or its not a church period. Churches is not some club you bet on. The family of God is his church.

Scripture states Jesus Christ is the head of the church, You either sincerely believe it and act like it, or don't do it at all.

We are not here to pretend. We don't pretend Jesus is the head of the church in some fairy tale way where oh man we really hope it comes true.

Your in his church or NOT, make up your mind. Either he is in charge and running it OR NOT.

If Christ is running the church and the Church says GREEN LIGHT then GOD has said it is a GO.


If your church says you are WRONG and you don't believe God is telling you that you are wrong, then who is the head of your church if its not Jesus?


As far as "faulty". Your church can be packed with thieves and if thats where God told you to go, then what?

I'm not saying your current church is wrong, but your attitude towards it could be better.

If serving the church and serving your brothers and sisters and serving Jesus doesn't mean the same thing, you have a problem.

As is you are throwing out the BABY(Jesus) with the BATHWATER(church). You think "Church" Oh thats = clergy and bureaucrats.... no no no #1 Church is Jesus Christ.



I can tell you ridiculous story where instead of a battle tank to shoot a Giant God chose some child to beat him.

Your problem is a matter of FAITH. Your sense of reliability vs God's sense of reliability. I happen to think God loves an underdog.

You look at something like Catholic church. If you are fixated on titles of authority, power of clergy, or somehow pope is boss...... you are never going to get it.

There is another level, a different league called a Saint. They can be loose cannons, they will tick off angels and demons, they will operate against all odds and they are not obsessed with salvation and selfish goals. They don't give up on their family, they are not divisive They don't blame OTHERS for whats wrong and take responsibility.

 

Well maybe you can help my misunderstanding with an example of the type answer you expected from me?

I don't think we should look at religion as a brand name but rather its our understanding of matter of factly how things work and are.

The truth objectively will be what it is.

Love is a pretty safe common denominator. You take away love from any religion it will be useless. And if love can't be differentiated from a religion, my opinion is your in the right place.

For me 1 Corinthians 13 represents the perfect constitutional writing for Christianity.

1 Corithians 13

1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Even if I sound divine or not if the content doesn't support love, you should consider it trash, even if it comes from me.

I think your a pretty understanding and reasonable person, I don't think you want to burn me at the stake at all, my belief is God is more understanding and reasonable then us put together.

 

I thought you were quoting from scripture to support a one world religion. I asked you how the scriptures you quoted supported what you implied they did.

Zen?

I think your emphasis on love is correct. But lots of people have talked about love, from Jesus to the 60s flower children to the marchers with their "Love Trumps Hate" signs. Does that make them all alike? Do I only need to sing along with the Beatles song, "All You Need Is Love," and leave the Bible on a nightstand unopened?

Even if I sound divine or not if the content doesn't support love, you should consider it trash, even if it comes from me.[/QUOTE]

Do you think anybody here wants to burn you at the stake?

No doubt about your last statement about God. But God also tells us to lean not on our own understanding and that His ways are not our ways.

 

Romans 3:10-18.
'As it is written:
"There is none righteous, no, not one; The is none who understands; that is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside: they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one............."'

And yet:

Luke 11:9-13.
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened......."

May I suggest that if you are really concerned about people who never heard of Jesus going to hell, you won't save any of them by complaining about it. Go and do something about it; become a missionary.

 

Except that the Bible doesn't work as a stand-alone objective standard of doctrine - a casual glance in the Calvinism-Arminianism Forum will demonstrate that to you

 

...which is exactly the point: your interpretation of the Bible (and thus your definition of 'truth') is utterly dependent on the pre-loaded beliefs you have which you bring to the Scriptures. Hence sola Scriptura is a nonsense epistemologically.

It's the only viable alternative that works

But he was an Apostle

I think so: the alternative is doctrinal chaos which "each man doing as he sees fit in his own eyes" as per Judges

 

But now Pope Francis is introducing doctrinal confusion.

 

If people are saved without ever hearing of Jesus Christ, then if God really wills that none be condemned the best thing is for Christ never to have come, so then none would be,.

 

Not really; very little of what he says has affected Catholic doctrine - it's his own opinion to which he's entitled and which carries more weight as Pope and a public personage - but it's the Magisterium which decides doctrine, not the Pope giving an interview to reporters on a plane (for example)

 

Until the Reformation, when the political corruption within the church became so great that it didn't work. Remember the RCC was selling forgiveness for dead relatives so the Pope could raise cash to recover the vast bribes he paid to buy the papacy.

Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Christians (who are also Catholics, just not Roman Catholics) would say it stopped working even earlier ... when the Bishop of Rome stopped being 'first among equals' and attempted to become political master of the church. Before that, Church Councils decided doctrine (not the Pope) starting with the First Council of Jerusalem in the book of Acts.

 

At the very least though, we have the ECFs and the Seven Ecumenical Councils providing us with a solid body of teaching in the first millennium of the Church