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Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1

 
Anonymous Coward
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11/28/2011 07:57 AM
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Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
When Jesus Christ was on Earth over 2000 years ago, he led a ministry and established a church that has led to the largest, most divided and most misunderstood faith in history. This essay will briefly explain how the Christian church has become so large, so divided, and so misunderstood, even by many of its followers.
The New Testament book of Acts describes in plain detail how the early Church was formed, leaving no doubt that the same people Christ had walked with and taught established a church with its own set of traditions and teaching. To further reinforce the fact that a true church organization existed one need only read the New Testament Epistles. The letters to the Hebrews, Galatians, Corinthians, Romans, etc. are full of guidelines for particular communities in a vast geographic area all practicing the same religion. It was, in very real way, one holy catholic and apostolic church. It was holy because it was established by Christ and blessed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; it was catholic because it was the one and only expression of Christianity; and it was apostolic because it was led by Christ's Apostles and those taught by them directly. It had no pope, it had no band and it had no bible. It did have a life-changing message and because of it continued to grow, usually in the midst of violent persecution.
The Christian Church was not recieved well among the pagan population of the Roman Empire and as such Christians were often killed for their beliefs and practices. Christians were fed to lions in spectator events, hung on crosses, stoned, beheaded and all manner of horrendous violence perpetrated upon them simply for being Christian and not denying their faith. Persecuting Christians was even official policy of the empire for several years. But Christianity still grew and maintained its identity, its traditions and its teachings. Still pope-less, band-less and bible-less (although by the time of official persecutions what would later be canonical scripture was already widely agreed upon).
As Christianity continued to grow despite persecution, the western part of the empire was dealing with invading warriors and an internal political meltdown. Generically called "barbarians", the warrior tribes of Europe including the Goths, the Vandals and the Franks among others, were almost constantly knocking at Rome's door and causing strain on the imperial army and the economy. In the early 4th century, the empire was divided officially into East and West. While the Eastern empire flourished and Christianity was not only made legal, but became the official religion, the western empire was essentially left to the barbarians. In fact, by the middle of the 6th century Rome was reduced to only 30,000 residents while Constantinople swelled with over a million. With invasion after invasion of the territories of the west, by the 6th century the invading tribes had gained control of the western empire and former "barbarians" would soon become Roman Emperors and the eastern empire would become known as "Byzantium" or the Byzantine empire (though not by anyone who lived in it, they still called it "Rome"). It is the post-barbarian invasion history of Christianity that is most often taught in schools and churches in the west.
Most of us learn that the pope is and has always been the head of the church and that the Roman Catholic Church in its present form is the original Christian church, but this is not entirely true. The Christian Church had never given special authority, or any authority other than administrative, to any bishop. The Church was led by the Holy Spirit under the guidance of bishops and presbyters but what had always been taught, practiced and believed were never altered. When disputes arose, the bishops met in councils to clarify the Church's beliefs and define the nature of heretical teaching. It wasn't until the barbarian King and Bishop of Rome, Charlemagne and Leo were in control of the western emipre that the Pope began to alter the tradition and teaching in the western church. The eastern Church remained unchanged but also unable to prevent the Bishop of Rome from engaging in heretical teachings such as the "filoque" and the unprecedented idea of papal supremacy. In 1054, after several decades of heretical teaching, the Roman Bishop (the "Pope") was excommunicated from the Christian Church.
What happened from there changed the course of history and Christianity forever; in 1054, the "Roman Catholic Church" was officially born; and, by default so was the name "Orthodox" for the eastern churches. The Churches of the east were still the same as they ever were and would maintain the same structure and teachings to this day, while the schismatic Roman Catholic Church (or "Roman Cult" as many have called it) became the most powerful organization on earth; not often through peaceful means. This is the history of the church that everyone is familiar with; inquisitions, crusades and generally using the church as a way of controllling large populations. And the barbarian kings of the old Roman empire were very interested in controlling populations.
During the first 500 years of the existence of the Roman Catholic Church in western europe there were many examples of decidedly un-Christian acts of violence and persecution, but to demonstrate further how far they had strayed from the Christian Church one need only look at the 4th crusade. In 1204, the Roman church sent an army to Constantinople and the result was the death of many Orthodox Christian bishops, presbyters and laity along with the theft of priceless relics, art and other possessions. In fact St. Mark's cathedral in Venice is comprised almost entirely of items stolen from Byzantium. The famous inquisitions of the middle ages were also targeted at the remaining body of Orthodox Christians who were called heretics by the Roman church. Western Europeans by the 14th century were either Roman Catholic or dead. But the church wasn't the only source of suffering at that time either.
In 1347, the "Black Death" struck western Europe and over 20 million people died. According to Norman Cantor, “The Black Death of 1348-49 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European and possibly world history”. The result in the Roman church was more corruption and power-grabbing. It was said by an observer, Petrach, commenting on the state of the Roman papacy “Instead of holy solitude we find a criminal host and crowds of the most infamous satellites; instead of soberness, licentious banquets; instead of pious pilgrimages, preternatural and foul sloth…”. This was over 100 years after laity were prohibited from reading the bible (Council of Valencia, 1229) so it had become at that point rare for anyone even clergy to be familiar with scripture, besides it had already been close to 1000 years since anyone besides elites could read or write Latin, the official language of the Roman church.
It is important to note that absolutely none of this was going on in the eastern Orthodox Church as the Byzantine empire had been conquered by Muslims and Christians once again lived under persecution. The teaching, traditions and doctrine remained unchanged as evidenced by the writings of Justin Martyr as early as 148, the Diadache and continuing to the present. (The Orthodox Church did flourish in Russia and what we now call the Eastern Block states like Romania and Poland. It wasn't until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 that over 30,000,000 Christians were killed for being Christian that the Orthodox Church in Russia was ever challenged.)
In the midst of all the issues the Roman church was having Gutenberg invented the printing press and books became affordable for average people. The first book to be widely published was The Bible and suddenly it became very clear to people that the issues concerning many of them couldn't be found in the Bible. One Roman Catholic monk, Martin Luther, famously hung his "95 Theses" on the door of the Roman church in Wittenburg, Germany and sparked what has become known as "The Reformation" or "Protestant Reformation". This act opened the door for a large variety of reformers, whose ideas and interpretations have become the backbone of modern protestant doctrine. Because the Roman church was still very powerful on the continent, the followers of these reformers were often persecuted and many fled to America. The core of American protestantism is the teaching of these groups like the Mennonites and Anabaptists.
The people of western Europe had been through inqusitions, plagues, wars, famines and a corrupt church that wouldn't allow them to read the Bible or learn about the Christian faith in its fullness, and now with many under persecution for holding beliefs the church disagreed with, fleeing to a "New World" seemed to be the only option for the new "protestants". In America, new groups splintered off one another at a fast pace and continue splitting from each other until this day over doctrinal, interpretational or even personal disputes. Because the Roman church was teaching and engaing in practices that were neither Biblical or Christian in nature, the protestant groups had no way other than what was in the Bible of what was original to Christianity and what had been added by the Roman church, so they started from scratch and each began attempting to become the true New Testament Church. What they did not know, was that the New Testament Church still existed unchanged in the East and that in their attempt to cleanse the faith, they may have unknowingly "thrown the baby out with the bath water".
Because the Roman church claimed the full history of Christianity as its own, pretending to be the original Church, and because the history of the Roman church was so scarred, the only logical conclusion was that the original church was wrong on all accounts. So it was on accounts that the church was challenged and from which new groups were formed. New interpretations of scripture and church practices developed rapidly as the only guideposts were the Bible and imagination. Without the solid foundation of almost 2000 years of Christian teaching and unchanged interpretation, the new churches of various interpretations of the Bible began splintering into sub-groups and denominations. What began as an attempt to reform what they believed was the true Church became a virtual free-for-all. If, however, the reformation is viewed as it was intended, as reforms in the Roman church, then the Roman church has splintered no less than 20,000 times in the last 500 years.
Anonymous Coward
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11/28/2011 07:59 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
Anonymous Coward (OP)
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11/28/2011 08:12 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1

 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 847175

It's not unChristian to believe species evolve. That's part of the CONFUSION. You're opposed to something you have no clue about because you've learned from clueless people who call themselves "Christian".
Spitting Into The Wind

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11/28/2011 08:33 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
The Church was led by the Holy Spirit under the guidance of bishops and presbyters...
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1524241


Yes, led by the Holy Spirit, but not under bishops and presbyters (both positions are the exact same word in the Greek and Aramaic, which includes the word pastor, so redundant). They were a part of the group listed in Ephesians 4:11.

Apostles still exist today-they are the "Sent-Ones" appointed by the Holy Spirit to start assemblies. Did you know there were 13 more apostles (including Paul) in the NT besides the original? Translators usually had an agenda; dependence upon the Holy Spirit is a MUST.

Last Edited by Spitting Into The Wind on 11/28/2011 08:35 AM
Anonymous Coward
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11/28/2011 08:36 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
When Jesus Christ was on Earth over 2000 years ago, he led a ministry and established a church that has led to the largest, most divided and most misunderstood faith in history. This essay will briefly explain how the Christian church has become so large, so divided, and so misunderstood, even by many of its followers.
The New Testament book of Acts describes in plain detail how the early Church was formed, leaving no doubt that the same people Christ had walked with and taught established a church with its own set of traditions and teaching. To further reinforce the fact that a true church organization existed one need only read the New Testament Epistles. The letters to the Hebrews, Galatians, Corinthians, Romans, etc. are full of guidelines for particular communities in a vast geographic area all practicing the same religion. It was, in very real way, one holy catholic and apostolic church. It was holy because it was established by Christ and blessed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; it was catholic because it was the one and only expression of Christianity; and it was apostolic because it was led by Christ's Apostles and those taught by them directly. It had no pope, it had no band and it had no bible. It did have a life-changing message and because of it continued to grow, usually in the midst of violent persecution.
The Christian Church was not recieved well among the pagan population of the Roman Empire and as such Christians were often killed for their beliefs and practices. Christians were fed to lions in spectator events, hung on crosses, stoned, beheaded and all manner of horrendous violence perpetrated upon them simply for being Christian and not denying their faith. Persecuting Christians was even official policy of the empire for several years. But Christianity still grew and maintained its identity, its traditions and its teachings. Still pope-less, band-less and bible-less (although by the time of official persecutions what would later be canonical scripture was already widely agreed upon).
As Christianity continued to grow despite persecution, the western part of the empire was dealing with invading warriors and an internal political meltdown. Generically called "barbarians", the warrior tribes of Europe including the Goths, the Vandals and the Franks among others, were almost constantly knocking at Rome's door and causing strain on the imperial army and the economy. In the early 4th century, the empire was divided officially into East and West. While the Eastern empire flourished and Christianity was not only made legal, but became the official religion, the western empire was essentially left to the barbarians. In fact, by the middle of the 6th century Rome was reduced to only 30,000 residents while Constantinople swelled with over a million. With invasion after invasion of the territories of the west, by the 6th century the invading tribes had gained control of the western empire and former "barbarians" would soon become Roman Emperors and the eastern empire would become known as "Byzantium" or the Byzantine empire (though not by anyone who lived in it, they still called it "Rome"). It is the post-barbarian invasion history of Christianity that is most often taught in schools and churches in the west.
Most of us learn that the pope is and has always been the head of the church and that the Roman Catholic Church in its present form is the original Christian church, but this is not entirely true. The Christian Church had never given special authority, or any authority other than administrative, to any bishop. The Church was led by the Holy Spirit under the guidance of bishops and presbyters but what had always been taught, practiced and believed were never altered. When disputes arose, the bishops met in councils to clarify the Church's beliefs and define the nature of heretical teaching. It wasn't until the barbarian King and Bishop of Rome, Charlemagne and Leo were in control of the western emipre that the Pope began to alter the tradition and teaching in the western church. The eastern Church remained unchanged but also unable to prevent the Bishop of Rome from engaging in heretical teachings such as the "filoque" and the unprecedented idea of papal supremacy. In 1054, after several decades of heretical teaching, the Roman Bishop (the "Pope") was excommunicated from the Christian Church.
What happened from there changed the course of history and Christianity forever; in 1054, the "Roman Catholic Church" was officially born; and, by default so was the name "Orthodox" for the eastern churches. The Churches of the east were still the same as they ever were and would maintain the same structure and teachings to this day, while the schismatic Roman Catholic Church (or "Roman Cult" as many have called it) became the most powerful organization on earth; not often through peaceful means. This is the history of the church that everyone is familiar with; inquisitions, crusades and generally using the church as a way of controllling large populations. And the barbarian kings of the old Roman empire were very interested in controlling populations.
During the first 500 years of the existence of the Roman Catholic Church in western europe there were many examples of decidedly un-Christian acts of violence and persecution, but to demonstrate further how far they had strayed from the Christian Church one need only look at the 4th crusade. In 1204, the Roman church sent an army to Constantinople and the result was the death of many Orthodox Christian bishops, presbyters and laity along with the theft of priceless relics, art and other possessions. In fact St. Mark's cathedral in Venice is comprised almost entirely of items stolen from Byzantium. The famous inquisitions of the middle ages were also targeted at the remaining body of Orthodox Christians who were called heretics by the Roman church. Western Europeans by the 14th century were either Roman Catholic or dead. But the church wasn't the only source of suffering at that time either.
In 1347, the "Black Death" struck western Europe and over 20 million people died. According to Norman Cantor, “The Black Death of 1348-49 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European and possibly world history”. The result in the Roman church was more corruption and power-grabbing. It was said by an observer, Petrach, commenting on the state of the Roman papacy “Instead of holy solitude we find a criminal host and crowds of the most infamous satellites; instead of soberness, licentious banquets; instead of pious pilgrimages, preternatural and foul sloth…”. This was over 100 years after laity were prohibited from reading the bible (Council of Valencia, 1229) so it had become at that point rare for anyone even clergy to be familiar with scripture, besides it had already been close to 1000 years since anyone besides elites could read or write Latin, the official language of the Roman church.
It is important to note that absolutely none of this was going on in the eastern Orthodox Church as the Byzantine empire had been conquered by Muslims and Christians once again lived under persecution. The teaching, traditions and doctrine remained unchanged as evidenced by the writings of Justin Martyr as early as 148, the Diadache and continuing to the present. (The Orthodox Church did flourish in Russia and what we now call the Eastern Block states like Romania and Poland. It wasn't until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 that over 30,000,000 Christians were killed for being Christian that the Orthodox Church in Russia was ever challenged.)
In the midst of all the issues the Roman church was having Gutenberg invented the printing press and books became affordable for average people. The first book to be widely published was The Bible and suddenly it became very clear to people that the issues concerning many of them couldn't be found in the Bible. One Roman Catholic monk, Martin Luther, famously hung his "95 Theses" on the door of the Roman church in Wittenburg, Germany and sparked what has become known as "The Reformation" or "Protestant Reformation". This act opened the door for a large variety of reformers, whose ideas and interpretations have become the backbone of modern protestant doctrine. Because the Roman church was still very powerful on the continent, the followers of these reformers were often persecuted and many fled to America. The core of American protestantism is the teaching of these groups like the Mennonites and Anabaptists.
The people of western Europe had been through inqusitions, plagues, wars, famines and a corrupt church that wouldn't allow them to read the Bible or learn about the Christian faith in its fullness, and now with many under persecution for holding beliefs the church disagreed with, fleeing to a "New World" seemed to be the only option for the new "protestants". In America, new groups splintered off one another at a fast pace and continue splitting from each other until this day over doctrinal, interpretational or even personal disputes. Because the Roman church was teaching and engaing in practices that were neither Biblical or Christian in nature, the protestant groups had no way other than what was in the Bible of what was original to Christianity and what had been added by the Roman church, so they started from scratch and each began attempting to become the true New Testament Church. What they did not know, was that the New Testament Church still existed unchanged in the East and that in their attempt to cleanse the faith, they may have unknowingly "thrown the baby out with the bath water".
Because the Roman church claimed the full history of Christianity as its own, pretending to be the original Church, and because the history of the Roman church was so scarred, the only logical conclusion was that the original church was wrong on all accounts. So it was on accounts that the church was challenged and from which new groups were formed. New interpretations of scripture and church practices developed rapidly as the only guideposts were the Bible and imagination. Without the solid foundation of almost 2000 years of Christian teaching and unchanged interpretation, the new churches of various interpretations of the Bible began splintering into sub-groups and denominations. What began as an attempt to reform what they believed was the true Church became a virtual free-for-all. If, however, the reformation is viewed as it was intended, as reforms in the Roman church, then the Roman church has splintered no less than 20,000 times in the last 500 years.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1524241


where is YOUR MIND? He did NOT establish a church. NONE of them do, not him, not buddha, not krishna, not the chinese ones, not mohammed. NONE of them do this ! They teach, nothing more. There was no "Christian" teaching, there was just teaching. You ones live under a delusion and guess what, the returned Jesus who has been back since 1954 permanently, doesn't think much of your religion. it stinks and you ones have done more to destroy this world than any other religion on the face of this earth. You are reproducing CRAP my friend. grow up. God does NOT work this way.

Paul established the church. and mucked it up and it has been mucked worse since then.

The HOLY SPIRIT has NOTHING to do with any religion. ONLY YOUR OWN mind can access the Spirit of Truth. it is NOT the "holy spirit" even your KJV has that RIGHT. The holy spirit is a library of information, of TRUTH. It is accessed by meditation thru your Father Fragment and not any other way.
Anonymous Coward (OP)
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11/28/2011 08:49 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
When Jesus Christ was on Earth over 2000 years ago, he led a ministry and established a church that has led to the largest, most divided and most misunderstood faith in history. This essay will briefly explain how the Christian church has become so large, so divided, and so misunderstood, even by many of its followers.
The New Testament book of Acts describes in plain detail how the early Church was formed, leaving no doubt that the same people Christ had walked with and taught established a church with its own set of traditions and teaching. To further reinforce the fact that a true church organization existed one need only read the New Testament Epistles. The letters to the Hebrews, Galatians, Corinthians, Romans, etc. are full of guidelines for particular communities in a vast geographic area all practicing the same religion. It was, in very real way, one holy catholic and apostolic church. It was holy because it was established by Christ and blessed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; it was catholic because it was the one and only expression of Christianity; and it was apostolic because it was led by Christ's Apostles and those taught by them directly. It had no pope, it had no band and it had no bible. It did have a life-changing message and because of it continued to grow, usually in the midst of violent persecution.
The Christian Church was not recieved well among the pagan population of the Roman Empire and as such Christians were often killed for their beliefs and practices. Christians were fed to lions in spectator events, hung on crosses, stoned, beheaded and all manner of horrendous violence perpetrated upon them simply for being Christian and not denying their faith. Persecuting Christians was even official policy of the empire for several years. But Christianity still grew and maintained its identity, its traditions and its teachings. Still pope-less, band-less and bible-less (although by the time of official persecutions what would later be canonical scripture was already widely agreed upon).
As Christianity continued to grow despite persecution, the western part of the empire was dealing with invading warriors and an internal political meltdown. Generically called "barbarians", the warrior tribes of Europe including the Goths, the Vandals and the Franks among others, were almost constantly knocking at Rome's door and causing strain on the imperial army and the economy. In the early 4th century, the empire was divided officially into East and West. While the Eastern empire flourished and Christianity was not only made legal, but became the official religion, the western empire was essentially left to the barbarians. In fact, by the middle of the 6th century Rome was reduced to only 30,000 residents while Constantinople swelled with over a million. With invasion after invasion of the territories of the west, by the 6th century the invading tribes had gained control of the western empire and former "barbarians" would soon become Roman Emperors and the eastern empire would become known as "Byzantium" or the Byzantine empire (though not by anyone who lived in it, they still called it "Rome"). It is the post-barbarian invasion history of Christianity that is most often taught in schools and churches in the west.
Most of us learn that the pope is and has always been the head of the church and that the Roman Catholic Church in its present form is the original Christian church, but this is not entirely true. The Christian Church had never given special authority, or any authority other than administrative, to any bishop. The Church was led by the Holy Spirit under the guidance of bishops and presbyters but what had always been taught, practiced and believed were never altered. When disputes arose, the bishops met in councils to clarify the Church's beliefs and define the nature of heretical teaching. It wasn't until the barbarian King and Bishop of Rome, Charlemagne and Leo were in control of the western emipre that the Pope began to alter the tradition and teaching in the western church. The eastern Church remained unchanged but also unable to prevent the Bishop of Rome from engaging in heretical teachings such as the "filoque" and the unprecedented idea of papal supremacy. In 1054, after several decades of heretical teaching, the Roman Bishop (the "Pope") was excommunicated from the Christian Church.
What happened from there changed the course of history and Christianity forever; in 1054, the "Roman Catholic Church" was officially born; and, by default so was the name "Orthodox" for the eastern churches. The Churches of the east were still the same as they ever were and would maintain the same structure and teachings to this day, while the schismatic Roman Catholic Church (or "Roman Cult" as many have called it) became the most powerful organization on earth; not often through peaceful means. This is the history of the church that everyone is familiar with; inquisitions, crusades and generally using the church as a way of controllling large populations. And the barbarian kings of the old Roman empire were very interested in controlling populations.
During the first 500 years of the existence of the Roman Catholic Church in western europe there were many examples of decidedly un-Christian acts of violence and persecution, but to demonstrate further how far they had strayed from the Christian Church one need only look at the 4th crusade. In 1204, the Roman church sent an army to Constantinople and the result was the death of many Orthodox Christian bishops, presbyters and laity along with the theft of priceless relics, art and other possessions. In fact St. Mark's cathedral in Venice is comprised almost entirely of items stolen from Byzantium. The famous inquisitions of the middle ages were also targeted at the remaining body of Orthodox Christians who were called heretics by the Roman church. Western Europeans by the 14th century were either Roman Catholic or dead. But the church wasn't the only source of suffering at that time either.
In 1347, the "Black Death" struck western Europe and over 20 million people died. According to Norman Cantor, “The Black Death of 1348-49 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European and possibly world history”. The result in the Roman church was more corruption and power-grabbing. It was said by an observer, Petrach, commenting on the state of the Roman papacy “Instead of holy solitude we find a criminal host and crowds of the most infamous satellites; instead of soberness, licentious banquets; instead of pious pilgrimages, preternatural and foul sloth…”. This was over 100 years after laity were prohibited from reading the bible (Council of Valencia, 1229) so it had become at that point rare for anyone even clergy to be familiar with scripture, besides it had already been close to 1000 years since anyone besides elites could read or write Latin, the official language of the Roman church.
It is important to note that absolutely none of this was going on in the eastern Orthodox Church as the Byzantine empire had been conquered by Muslims and Christians once again lived under persecution. The teaching, traditions and doctrine remained unchanged as evidenced by the writings of Justin Martyr as early as 148, the Diadache and continuing to the present. (The Orthodox Church did flourish in Russia and what we now call the Eastern Block states like Romania and Poland. It wasn't until the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 that over 30,000,000 Christians were killed for being Christian that the Orthodox Church in Russia was ever challenged.)
In the midst of all the issues the Roman church was having Gutenberg invented the printing press and books became affordable for average people. The first book to be widely published was The Bible and suddenly it became very clear to people that the issues concerning many of them couldn't be found in the Bible. One Roman Catholic monk, Martin Luther, famously hung his "95 Theses" on the door of the Roman church in Wittenburg, Germany and sparked what has become known as "The Reformation" or "Protestant Reformation". This act opened the door for a large variety of reformers, whose ideas and interpretations have become the backbone of modern protestant doctrine. Because the Roman church was still very powerful on the continent, the followers of these reformers were often persecuted and many fled to America. The core of American protestantism is the teaching of these groups like the Mennonites and Anabaptists.
The people of western Europe had been through inqusitions, plagues, wars, famines and a corrupt church that wouldn't allow them to read the Bible or learn about the Christian faith in its fullness, and now with many under persecution for holding beliefs the church disagreed with, fleeing to a "New World" seemed to be the only option for the new "protestants". In America, new groups splintered off one another at a fast pace and continue splitting from each other until this day over doctrinal, interpretational or even personal disputes. Because the Roman church was teaching and engaing in practices that were neither Biblical or Christian in nature, the protestant groups had no way other than what was in the Bible of what was original to Christianity and what had been added by the Roman church, so they started from scratch and each began attempting to become the true New Testament Church. What they did not know, was that the New Testament Church still existed unchanged in the East and that in their attempt to cleanse the faith, they may have unknowingly "thrown the baby out with the bath water".
Because the Roman church claimed the full history of Christianity as its own, pretending to be the original Church, and because the history of the Roman church was so scarred, the only logical conclusion was that the original church was wrong on all accounts. So it was on accounts that the church was challenged and from which new groups were formed. New interpretations of scripture and church practices developed rapidly as the only guideposts were the Bible and imagination. Without the solid foundation of almost 2000 years of Christian teaching and unchanged interpretation, the new churches of various interpretations of the Bible began splintering into sub-groups and denominations. What began as an attempt to reform what they believed was the true Church became a virtual free-for-all. If, however, the reformation is viewed as it was intended, as reforms in the Roman church, then the Roman church has splintered no less than 20,000 times in the last 500 years.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1524241


where is YOUR MIND? He did NOT establish a church. NONE of them do, not him, not buddha, not krishna, not the chinese ones, not mohammed. NONE of them do this ! They teach, nothing more. There was no "Christian" teaching, there was just teaching. You ones live under a delusion and guess what, the returned Jesus who has been back since 1954 permanently, doesn't think much of your religion. it stinks and you ones have done more to destroy this world than any other religion on the face of this earth. You are reproducing CRAP my friend. grow up. God does NOT work this way.

Paul established the church. and mucked it up and it has been mucked worse since then.

The HOLY SPIRIT has NOTHING to do with any religion. ONLY YOUR OWN mind can access the Spirit of Truth. it is NOT the "holy spirit" even your KJV has that RIGHT. The holy spirit is a library of information, of TRUTH. It is accessed by meditation thru your Father Fragment and not any other way.
 Quoting: Nobody in Particular


You can't trust the bible if you don't accept that there was a church. And Jesus mentioned creating his Church several times, and pentecost was pretty obviously a church meeting.
Anonymous Coward
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11/28/2011 09:12 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
it was catholic because it was the one and only expression of Christianity.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1524241


Don´t be a fool.
Anonymous Coward
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11/28/2011 09:49 AM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
Jesus is Lord , believe it and be saved!

Repent(Change you mind), be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
Anonymous Coward (OP)
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11/28/2011 01:14 PM
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Re: Clearing up confusion about Christianity Part 1
it was catholic because it was the one and only expression of Christianity.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1524241


Don´t be a fool.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1090326

Try reading the actual post.





GLP