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My brief (and polemical) thought about Christianity...

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  • Originally posted by 3 Resurrections View Post
    I would like to "Amen" Rushing Jaws' comment #102 above. Beautifully stated explanation for the various divisions among believers of like precious faith. Can someone please give a quick tutorial to an absolute newbie as to how "Amens" can be given? This fellow cat-lover would be grateful.
    Bottom right corner of the post where it says "Quote", "Flag", and "Amen". Click "Amen". If there is a number in the box, you can click on the number and see who "amened" the post.
    P1) If , then I win.

    P2)

    C) I win.

    Comment


    • Thank you Diogenes! I confess to being nearly illiterate with computer-speak...

      Comment


      • Originally posted by Rushing Jaws View Post
        I have often thought all that. And more like that.

        My guess: God is not hindered by our divisions, which are often far from trivial, and must be honestly faced as what they are. Instead (I think) God judges that there is unity, not where there is unity of external organisation. but where there is unity of shared allegiance to Christ. So it doesn’t matter too much that (say) Baptists and Catholics differ about Baptism, or the Papacy - they have genuine unity, the one that Christ prayed for, if, and to the extent that, they are in union with Christ. Union between Christians and Churches is first, foremost, in all things, and always, union in Christ & in the Holy Spirit of Christ. Unity in doctrine is, at most, a manifestation of it - but not the basic cause of it.

        Unity in doctrine is like the cement that keeps a house together - the true source and cause of the unity of the house is not the cement or the bricks, or even the plan, but the creative vision and intention of the architect. God is the Architect of the Church, and as God sees the Church, it is “without blemish or spot”, because He sees it “in Christ”, as it is intended to be - and in the end, genuinely will be. This is not God refusing to “face reality” - this is God, Who loves His Church, seeing past the countless deformities and ills that plague her, to who the Church herself is. So He can say, of the Church as she genuinely is in Christ, “Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no blemish in thee”. We see our friends’ deformities and sicknesses - but because our friends are dear to us, we see past the uglinesses in them (which on Earth are often real), to them as the people they are meant by God to be. Our friends are not their diseases or faults - and they cannot be reduced to their diseases or faults. Neither is the Church reduced, or reducible, to the uglinesses in her. She cannot be un-created or un-called. because God has called and created her, in Christ.

        As to the other objections: IMHO, the Church and her life can be seen correctly, only if she is loved. I think love is absolutely vital for sound theology; otherwise, what we mean to be theology, can all too easily become a useless shuffling of ideas, a barren intellectualism. Criticisms of the Church’s life and conduct can become unhelpful, not because they are unwarranted - they often are - but because denouncing evils and corruptions that need to be denounced. and corrected, can easily taint or smother ability to love the Church. The Church is to be loved not because she is loveable in her behaviour - she often isn’t - but because God loves her. Any fancied prosperity or praiseworthiness of the Church, or any other good in her, of any kind, is a manifestation of God’s favour to her.

        Hope that helps.
        Thank you for sharing this reflection. It is much appreciated.

        Comment

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