Global Christianity Overview

Hello, I know these things because , its all written in the Bible, this is why its a a Good thing to read your Bible, its always Good to know what the truth is, reading the word is one of the ways that bults our faith up,

Could this be true?

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

start reading the new testament, Mathew , Mark, Luke, and John, if you are born again, read John chapter3 Jesus is talking to nicodemus about the new birth, and when your done reading that read romans chapter 6 , this pauls writings about sin, so read chapters6 and 8 I think your going to love it,

You haven’t said so I will assume you don’t go on sinning?

Satan believes…. Must be saved?

hello good morning, let me ask you something, are you saved? and what church do you belong to?

I am being saved (remember Paul never considered himself saved: 1Cor 9: Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.)

I attend Friends Church, Yorba Linda but I am considering becoming Orthodox. The Orthodox church and its traditions go back to the Apostles. Yes Martin Luther was right about indulgences, but continued a decline in the church (the first decline was the splitting of the Roman Catholic church from the Orthodox East (Great Schism), out of pride of the Pope and politics. Attacking Constantinople and killing Christians there proves the malignant mean spirit of the Latin church. For 1045 years the church had plurality of leadership (council decisions on matters of faith) until the great schism.The next 40,000 denominations after Luther prove that Sola Scriptura is not enough, that tradition and the church is important in defining what the scripture means (cannot be whatever a person thinks the Spirit is saying to him without the checks and balances of what the church teaches), that the teachers, fathers and saints of the church are important for our instruction. The very words Sola Scriptura comes from men, not scripture. The words of Jesus: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom ... Its true, the teachings of the Orthodox church and its tradition has never changed, and the Orthodox church may have been shaken from time to time but still exists (not prevailed against).

HELLO Good morning, its nice to meet you, God bless you and your family, I was catholic, I new about Jesus, but I did' not know Jesus, I was a good sinner, I new about Jesus, but I did not know him, until I repented and I gave my self to him, I made him my lord and Saviour, then I got baptize, we follow the bible, John 1 in the beginning was the word ,and the word was with God and the word was God and verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us; Jesús, I Believe in the hole bible, I worship God in spirit and truth, I found out that I can have a real relationship with Jesus, all I have to do is just believe and just trust him, and believe his word, and I started to learn the ways of God, and learn how to do what he did, though faith, in him, and the joy and the peace, and the love, his love, there's nothing like having a relationship with the father, I go to EAGLE MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL CHURCH we are on line, I like to go ware the spirit of God is moving, its a non denominational church, we believe in the hole bible,

Ah! One of the 40001 churches only believing the Bible (Sola Scriptura) that has interpreted the Sola differently than the other 40000. Democratic truth?

Not all Roman Catholics or Orthodox Catholics believe the same things either. Sure, there's the official church dogma, but to say that there's perfect unity is nonsense. Besides, Roman and Orthodox Catholics can't even come to agreement on doctrine.

This is ware you to have faith, have faith in the power of the holy spirit, for God has a plan, put your faith in Jesus, and his word, theres differents between religion and having a relationship with Jesus,

The comparison between the levels of theological disunity in the Protestant divisions is very great compared to Orthodox differences, which as far as I know are not significant. Must be one of those 40000 is right?….unlikely.

Yes you are right the Great Schism was a sad thing. The way I see it is that the Catholic Church is the first Protestant division. A protest of what was believed for 1000+ years!

Its an amazing thing: The Protestants take the very thing that was guarded (at the cost of many lives) by the Orthodox for centuries, ignore the setting (tradition) it was created in and run with democratic interpretation, not authoritative (aka now 40000 versions of interpretations).

Protestant emphasis is given to the interpretation of the individual under inspiration of the Holy Spirit without even consulting the guidance of the church which for over 2000 years has defended the correct interpretation and understanding with plurality of leadership in significant issues by councils. Godly men that spent their whole lives in growth in holiness compared to chatterboxes of verses without much understanding of the whole of scriptures and having the idea of easy believism will be salvation for them.

Well, at least we agree there's disunity all around; only difference is in the degree. How do you know there's more disunity in Protestant sects than in Catholic? Protestants are up-front about their differences; Catholics pretend to unity so its harder to get accurate numbers on them.

I am not defending Catholic unity. Orthodox is the church that has stood the test of time and has not changed. Since all splitting away has occured from it, no disunity!

The Orthodox church in terms of Administration is broken up into 14 Patriarches with local rule (Autocephalous Rule, meaning they govern themselves in the particular region of the rule they are in). There exists a unit of doctrine and beliefs.

Here is a link that gives more details of the Orthodox church with a catechism. BTW: I am not a spokesman for Orthodoxy, I am not even Orthodox officially so what I say or link may be wrong. I am writing what I believe to be true from what I have learned.

Have you spoken to every single Orthodox Catholic? You're looking at what's on paper and the external forms and calling that unity.

Orthodox are Catholic by the way. Not Roman Catholic, but: The Orthodox Catholic Church, as per their official name. In their own words they are the: "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." So now we have two "One and Holy Catholic churches." Hmmm . . .

Yes you are right! I don't know all or even part of everything! In fact I hope a real Orthodox person doesn't shudder (meaning I said something wrong) from what I have said.

I love the Word of God, like i assume you do! I assume further we are actually brothers even if we do see things differently.

Orthodox Catholics teach they hold the right to historic Christianity, and it was the Roman Catholics who caused the great schism. Therefore, according to them, Orthodoxy is the true historic church. But what are they measuring this against? It was all one big happy family for a long time (that is OC and RC were the same). Orthodoxy can't trace its origins back further than the RCC; they both had their origins at the same time! When Orthodoxy says it holds the rightful claim to historic Christianity they mean they hold to the traditions that existed in the Catholic Church before Rome went rogue. But they both seem to forget Christianity existed long before Catholicism took over. The only truly historic Christianity is what we find in the pages of the New Testament.