Ecumenical Unification or One True Spiritual Body of Christ?

[Pophead]

According to the discussion between the Messsiah, the Christ, the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh and the one in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily and the woman at the well of Summaria; there is a difference between temple worship and the sort of spiritual worship that the Father requires.

In other words; the idea of one true Church (ie: The Baptists, The Quackers, The Waldenses, The Anabaptists, Roman Catholics), is an idea that should have faded and been replaced with the idea of a spiritual body of believers who do not call themselves by the name of a country, person, idea but only have on head. Jesus Christ.

Is it time to let go of the heretical idea of ONE TRUE CHURCH, and instead just have ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM ? A spiritual home under ONE LORD = JESUS CHRIST, instead of the Ecumenical Unification of Denominations, the dismanteling of a heresy and the embracing of what the Son of God prophecied would be ‘in that hour’, we would worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in Jerusalem, or anywhere, but as one body in the spirit, true spirit born of God, children of God, instead of some religious order or denomination ?

Pophead.

 

[davidv]

A “spiritual church” is incomplete. We are human, body and spirit, not spiritual beings. We need the physical as well because in our nature we are physical, as well as spiritual.

 

[Pophead]

A “spiritual church” is incomplete. We are human, body and spirit, not spiritual beings. We need the physical as well because in our nature we are physical, as well as spiritual.

One problem with that sort of reasoning.

The spiritual body, is the real body. The physical body does not always have genuine parts…false brethren. Look without your eyes.


Pophead.

 

[Genesis315]

One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism necessarily implies one true Church. For Baptism is the door by which we enter the Body of Christ, the Church. That Body is governed by its Head, the One Lord Jesus Christ in the unity of faith. Therefore, in order to be subject to the One Lord, in the One faith, one must receive the One Baptism and become a member of the One Flock under One Shepherd–the one true Church.

 

[davidv]

One problem with that sort of reasoning.

The spiritual body, is the real body. The physical body does not always have genuine parts…false brethren. Look without your eyes.


Pophead.

I don’t understand.

What is a spiritual body?

 

[Pax]

There is but one Church. Jesus said that “…upon this rock I will build my Church.” If we are to dismiss the idea of one Church then we must dismiss what Jesus said. Likewise, we must dismiss any and all references to the Church as they appear in the NT. This, in turn, means that we must dismiss the importance and intentions of the passages that contain the word Church in the NT.

Surely, if we take the word of God in scripture seriously we simply cannot ignore what God is telling us about his Church. There is but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Likewise, there is but one Church. It is within this Church that the Lord’s teachings through the apostles are preserved. It is this set of teachings that provide the complete articulation of the one faith.

The NT letters do not show a tolerance for heterodox teachings. Instead, they inform us that certain people are to be forbidden to teach and that heresies will arise. Likewise, they inform us that the “…church is the pillar and bulwark of the truth.”[1 Tim 3:15] Moreover, Jesus prays for unity in John 17 and his prayer cannot be fulfilled if we tolerate/encourage multiple doctrines and denominations.

I hope this helps.

 

[JuanCarlos]

One problem with that sort of reasoning.

The spiritual body, is the real body. The physical body does not always have genuine parts…false brethren. Look without your eyes.


Pophead.

One problem with this reasoning- it is filled with Gnostic notions of body and spirit.

God saw creation, and saw it was good. It would not be a sacrilige to have a physical Church

 

[Pophead]

One problem with this reasoning- it is filled with Gnostic notions of body and spirit.

God saw creation, and saw it was good. It would not be a sacrilige to have a physical Church

Juan,

Lose context and everything sounds mystical. The truth is that not everyone who goes to the physical Church is part of the body of Christ. (I know that is a bit of a stretch but just look around you next time and wonder how many of the people you gather with are genuine ‘spiritual born children of God’ or ‘the Body of Christ.’

This is either something you get or you don’t get. Belonging to a physical church does not make you a member of the body of Christ as much as sitting in first class does not make you and airline pilot. Keep thinking it may hurt but eventually it will set you free from religious nonesense.

Pophead.

 

[Contarini]

According to the discussion between the Messsiah, the Christ, the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh and the one in whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily and the woman at the well of Summaria; there is a difference between temple worship and the sort of spiritual worship that the Father requires.

In other words; the idea of one true Church (ie: The Baptists, The Quackers, The Waldenses, The Anabaptists, Roman Catholics), is an idea that should have faded and been replaced with the idea of a spiritual body of believers who do not call themselves by the name of a country, person, idea but only have on head. Jesus Christ.

Is it time to let go of the heretical idea of ONE TRUE CHURCH, and instead just have ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM ? A spiritual home under ONE LORD = JESUS CHRIST, instead of the Ecumenical Unification of Denominations, the dismanteling of a heresy and the embracing of what the Son of God prophecied would be ‘in that hour’, we would worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in Jerusalem, or anywhere, but as one body in the spirit, true spirit born of God, children of God, instead of some religious order or denomination ?

Pophead.

Jesus is not a Gnostic redeemer of spirits. He is God in the flesh. Either you confess this or you are the heretic.

Do you believe in the real Jesus, or in a ghost of your own imagination? From your post it unfortunately appears that the latter is the case.

A real, bodily Jesus means a real, bodily Church. You can’t have one without the other.

You are taking the passage about worshiping God in spirit and truth ut of context and interpreting it in a Gnostic sense. We all agree that you don’t have to worship God in one particular place. But we are called to worship God as one Body, and nothing in Scripture indicates that this is supposed to be spiritualized away.

Edwin