Seems alot of people have gimmicks. It is to be found in every endeavor. For instance in the horse world : Quarter horses are better, no Arabs are better, no Warm bloods are better, no Thorough bloods are better. English is the way a horse would be ridden, no it is Aussie style, no it is Western. A true performance horse is a dressage horse, no it is a reining cow horse, no it is a jumper, no it is a three day eventer....
....well you get my point, so what does that have to do with this section of the forum?
It seems many have religious gimmicks : The only right way to worship is on Saturday, no it is Sunday, no it is every day. His correct name is Jesus, no it is Yeshua, no it doesn't matter. The only right way to read the Bible is in the King James, no it is the original Hebrew and Greek, no it is best to read them all. Calvinists really understand, no it is the Arminian who understands, no it is the Messianic Jew who understands.
Okay back to horses for a second; I love horses therefore appreciate all disciplines and styles of riding and all breeds of horses. Why, cause I love horses.
As for the Spiritual, I appreciate how God has individual relationships and interacts with different people different, Why? ..Cause I love God, and do my best to love people, and enjoy seeing God in them.
My real pet peeve is when religious people with religious gimmicks start spouting things that are not found in Scripture as if they were and therefore everyone else is wrong.
I think I can guarantee that if a person has a gimmick in which the think is the only correct way, they are most likely wrong.
Jesus Never said his way was the best or the only correct way. Jesus said "I am the way"
No I never said do away with Church History. It is just that the Catholic Church says Church History takes precedence over Scripture. I left the Catholic Church for that very reason.
It seems some of you are in the wrong Churches, perhaps it is time to go back to your mother; the catholic church. James you are already living in your mother's sister's house; the 'reformed' catholic church.
James replies:
The Roman Catholic church is an apostate body. They were once of the faith, but by about 600AD they left the faith.
Yes, they put their church traditions BEFORE Scripture.
I am a Protestant, a Reformed believer, and the cry of the Reformation was "Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura", meaning faith alone, and Scripture alone.
Rome said, in the council of Trent that anyone who says that faith in Christ alone saves, is Anathema.
So, I am excluded from the Roman Catholic church because I put Scripture FIRST, before anything, and I also believe that Man is saved by faith alone. This contradicts the Roman Catholic teaching of salvation by ceremonies.
Now, just obeying what the Roman Catholic church says even when it contradicts Scripture is one extreme.
But what would be the OPPOSITE extreme position?
It would be ignoring all the church councils,and all of the body of Christ for two thousand years and instead just reading the Bible and whatever my first hunch is, is construed as the Holy Spirit giving me the infallible truth.
"Church History should NOT rule our interpretation, but
The bible teaches man is saved by faith alone, reformation teaches man is because he is elect, thus he is regenerated and then he believes, and that statement is in complete contrast to bible faith, bible faith believes it receives before it the answer is manifest.
I hope none of you misunderstood what I meant: I still believe the bible to be the final authority on matters of faith. I simply hoped to point out that obsessing over scripture without seeking the will of God (who was called by many names in scripture), is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The greatest importance of scripture is that it reveals to man his relationship with God: -sin, death and separation -sacrificial salvation -Jesus' sacrifice -victory over death through Him.
We can either read scripture and choose to believe it, or we can claim it all as false, but to claim anything other than what scripture says, in context, would be to lie to ourselves and the people around us:
God: "I am that I am"
Jesus: "He and I are one"
Spirit: *the one who gives witness and testament to Christ, and reveals the will of the father. an individual of the trinity*
