Wait! I almost overlooked all of THIS and then my Lord said to go back and read "more thoroughly". So, THANK you (and peace to you!), dear Char... for giving me yet another opportunity to share the TRUTH... and set some SERIOUS errors on YOUR part straight! (And thank YOU, my Lord... for so directing me, as I did almost overlook this...):
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Well, Paul, because he explicitly built his church on Peter,
Yet, the APOSTLES are the Foundation. ALL of them. NOT just Peter. As you next state:
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and because Peter and the apostles received the Holy Spirit,
Yep! ALL of them, not just Peter. But, oops... there you go: contradicting yourself again. Not only that, you apparently think Peter wasn't one OF the Apostles ("Peter... and the apostles"). The term "apostles" INCLUDES Peter, dear one.
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who you and I know is NOT Jesus but the third person of the Trinity.
Both Paul and John, who were apostles... and John one of the 12... disagree with you:
Paul -
"For the Lord is the SPIRIT..." 2 Corinthians 3:17John -
"And we have an Advocate/Helper/Comforter/Paraclete with the Father... [Jesus] Christ..." -
1 John 2:1I don't think you and dear Paul (peace, luv!) agreeing on this (and I'm not all that sure dear Paul DOES agree with you) overrides what Paul and John wrote. Maybe... but I don't think so. You'll have to show me some kind of backup to get ME to believe it.
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Roman Catholics are not the only ones who believe that.
Well, girl, no one said THAT. Of COURSE, they're not the only ones who believe it. Still doesn't make it truth.
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The Eastern Orthodox Church also believe that, and that Basil and they did not diverge from the Western Church until the eleventh century.
See, though, no one from the EOC is here trying to get others to believe it. Even so... there WAS a divergence... regardless of when. The Christ is not divided, though.
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Saint Andrew, one of the apostles, is believed to have taken Christianity to Russia, and so he was able to take there the Church built on Saint Peter with Jesus Christ as its cornerstone.
Now, why in the WORLD would Andrew, a FOUNDATION stone himself... take a church built on PETER to Russia? Why wouldn't he take a church built on HIMSELF? Peter wasn't greater than him! I mean, if ANDREW... one of the TWELVE... took Peter to Russia... why didn't PAUL take Peter to... Corinth? Galatia? Thessolonica? Philippi? Colossae? Rome? Lystra? Iconium? Ephesus? Antioch?
If PETER was the "head" of the Church... why did PAUL, who wasn't even one of the TWELVE... have to PUBLICLY... CALL him on his hypocrisy... even saying he was to blame/accused/condemned??
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As Christianity spread across Europe and across the world, that same faith (remember, those of you who disliked that word when I used it before...it is synonymous with, means the same as belief....) that same faith and hope and trust in Jesus, passed on from Peter and the apostles, spread across the world. Saints Basil and Methodius took it to Eastern Europe, Saint Bartholomew to western India, now Goa, and so on. Those apostles knew Jesus. Do you think they would have gone against what Jesus did?
I have no argument with this, dear Char. I am in TOTAL agreement with you that many took "that same faith and hope and trust IN [JESUS]... NOT Peter, as you assert... which Christ passed on to ALL of the Apostles, INCLUDING but not limited TO Peter... and spread it across the world. Christ SAID they would be witnesses... of HIM "in all Judea, and Samaria, AND to the distant parts of the earth." So, we are in agreement here. I also agree that those who did take that message knew my Lord. And no, I don't think they would have gone against what my Lord DID... which was built his church upon faith in HIM... NOT faith in PETER... as YOU assert.
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Those are the reasons that people choose to be Roman Catholic.
Well, if THAT's the reason, well, then...
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I was not brought up Catholic. I was actively Anglican, and interested in history. When, at the age of fourteen, I studied and learned about the Reformation
Wait... WHY would the Body of Christ... which is led BY Christ... need REFORMATION??? Would not Christ have full control over HIS Body/Church?
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and how one by one the different churches and groups split away from the Catholic Church which had been almost without exception united for 1500 years, apart from the divergence with the Church in the East.
Do you not SEE the contradictions, dear Char? Do you not SEE.. no, I guess you don't. So let me point out to you what you want US to believe is bound to Christ:
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one by one the different churches and groups split away from the Catholic Church
If the Catholic Church was Christ's BODY, though, how could that BE? What, the hands no longer needed the eyes? The feet wanted to be ears?? And where/what are those "DIFFERENT churches" and groups? Is there not ONE Body? How can there be DIFFERENT churches and groups in Christ's ONE Body???
AND... the split FROM the "Catholic Church". Which means THAT "church" became fragmented... yes? But how can THAT be??? HOW... can the BODY of Christ... fragment??
Then you say:
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from the Catholic Church which had been almost without exception united for 1500 years
ALMOST without exception??? Girl, you are REALLY clutching at 'em, aren't you? ALMOST without exception? Doesn't that mean there WAS exception?? But... how can THAT be... when we're talking about the BODY OF CHRIST?? If everyone in that Body has received the SAME Spirit... on what BASIS can there BE splits and "different" churches and groups... and exceptions??
THEN you state:
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apart from the divergence with the Church in the East
Yet another split... west from east. But... the Body is "united" according to you. HOW... Char??? HOW can their be "different" churches and groups and splits and divergences... yet... unity???
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There is full intercommunion between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.
NOW, perhaps... and even that's not totally accurate, IS it? Sure, they outwardly support one another, but if there was TRUE communion... there would BE "the Catholic and Orthodox
churches. There would be ANY "churchES"... but there is only ONE Body. ONE hope, ONE faith... ONE Lord. So, while these may have a sharing of some sort... it CANNOT be a sharing in CHRIST... because CHRIST... ONLY HAS ONE CHURCH... and it is NOT divided, dear Char.
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The reason for pointing all that out is to illustrate how united Christianity always was,
Dear one... you just pointed OUT... how Christianity is NOT united... but how it is DIVIDED. Do you not SEE that? No, I don't suppose you don't. I am most grateful, though, for giving ME the opportunity... and support... to show it!
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just as Jesus prayed to his Father that his followers should be.
You're kidding, right? You truly believe he prayed that his followers should have different churches... with one of them built on Peter... and the others built on... well, per you, Peter, too... and not HIM? You TRULY believe that, dear Char?
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Since the Reformation there has been split after split, little tiny groups splintering off and choosing their own way.
I'm sorry but... LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! Char... dear, DEAR Char... "since the REFORMATION"... and "split... after split"... and "little tiny groups"... and "splintering off"... and "choosing their OWN way"... ISN'T UNITY, girl! It's DIVISION! You know: REFORM. SPLIT. SPLINTERING. CHOOSING their OWN way (versus Christ, the Way).
To make it even more hilarious, I marvel that you don't seem to have problem with this... OR "little tiny groups"... yet cannot seem to refrain from repeatedly condemning US... for being... well, little and tiny! Or OUR choosing CHRIST as our Way! LOLOLOLOLOL! Dear one, you seriously cannot seem to stop contradicting yourself!!
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It is organised Christianity that has kept the Church together,
Dear Char... dear, dear, DEAR Char... split after split... and splintering... isn't "together," luv. It really isn't. It is DIVISION... and SEPARATION. Please... look up the words!
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and which ensured the word of the Gospels was spread thought the world.
Holy spirit is the only thing that ensure the spreading of the good news, dear one. Christ... through holy spirit. Because it is only those who HAVE holy spirit who can SHARE the good news... and its TRUTH. The rest is nothing more than rhetoric, falsehoods, and propaganda.
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The Watchtower rather desperately indoctrinated its members and such new people as they can get into thinking that they are the true followers of Jesus.
Well, we can agree on that, too. And that they are in error. But they don't do it make disciples of Christ, though. Not by any stretch. The corporation does it to make money - the people do it make disciples of the corporation.
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There's. book, whose name I don't remember, that actually even calls the apostles the first Governing Body! Such has been the fragmentation.
Yeah, they really made a stretch there, didn't they? But did you know that the Vatican officials who pass down theological law, who write catechisms and such... ARE a "governing" body? With the Pope as CEO? Well, figuratively. I am sure that just as with the WTBTS GB, there are those pulling the strings behind him, too. Else, I don't think the previous one would be in seclusion. SOMEONE (besides himself) made THAT decision FOR him.
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That's why people are Catholics.
MOST are Catholic because that's the religion they were born into/raised up in. Or one that is close. Like Anglican.
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That's why they continue to follow Peter,
Well, then, THAT explains it! But at least be consistent and SAY that, dear Char, that they follow PETER... and STOP trying to say they follow CHRIST. Because they can't being doing both, can they? I follow Christ. Not Peter, not Paul, not James, not Jude, not Andrew, not Benedict, not Henschel, not Robertson, not Ghandi, not the Dali Lama, not Buddha, not Timothy, not Mary, not anyone else... but Christ.
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and that is one reason why they remain loyal to the One Holy and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus himself on Peter.
So... no need for Christ... because he put PETER in his seat, right? That's what we're supposed to believe? Sorry, dear one... but no. I can't buy THAT particular bit of melarkey. Peter can't save me. He couldn't even save himself. Couldn't even walk on water... couldn't stop himself from denying my Lord... couldn't help his own hypocrisy... and cannot save me. So, I'm gonna stick with the One PETER looked to: the HOLY ONE of Israel, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischaJah). For ME... there is no other. Not even Peter.
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And that's all quite apart from the sheer beauty and love within the Church, found there because of the Real Presence of God, the forgiveness of God, in his mercy and by his good grace, constantly poured out by him on each and every humble penitent, together and individually.
That does sound nice, dear Char, it really does. I don't think some of the "Churches" victims would share your view... but it does sound nice, girl. You keep on putting your faith in Peter, then...
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Peace and joy and hope and love envelope all there,
Except the victims, though, right? And not just the sexually abused, but... say, the hung, racked, burned (at the stake AND in ovens), tortured, drowned, dunked/waterboarded, impaled, torn apart, sawn asunder, disembowled, aborted, poisoned, stabbed, shot, put in iron maidens, blinded, detongued, castrated, crushed, buried alive, boiled, flagelated, whipped, beaten, tarred and feathered, fed alive to all manner of beasts, had burning oil poured in their ears, left naked and exposed so as to have their flesh picked from the bone by carrion and/or scavengers, starved, decimated,
hornswaggled... and whatever other way one could be hurt, harmed, maimed, blinded, and/or [ultimately] put to death... or wish they were...
Yeahhhh, I'm thinkin' THOSE folks didn't really experience all that peace, have all that joy, look toward all that hope... or feel all that love... enveloping THEM. More like wanting death to envelope them, just to end the torture and pain.
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and Jesus comes to us spiritually and physically in every Mass,
Really, Char? REALLY? Hmmm... well, he musta' missed Mass last week, 'cause he was somewhere in Fresno, California... making a tree cry "real" tears:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ysotAOjLQ(I hate to burst your bubble, luv... well, that of your faithful brethren... but expert arborists state that those "tears"... believed by your faithful brethen to be GOD's tears... is really just aphid poop. Not sure how that equates to tears from God... but, well, I mean, if one MUST have their faith in something... other than Christ... why NOT aphid poo?)
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the Lamb of God sacrificed for us upon the Cross
Was in Fresno this past weekend crying aphid poo on the "faithful"? I don't think so, dear Char. Truly. I truly think he has MUCH better things to do. Like lead those who are TRULY faithful... such as they HEAR his voice when he speaks to them... into ALL truth.
My wish for peace for you remains... along with my wish that you would really consider what you post. Really.
A slave of Christ,
Shellamar