Pope Says, "Christian Churches not real Churches."

Originally posted by Boondock78
this reminds me of the schoolyard 'my daddy can kick your daddy's butt arguments'....my church is the bestest and your church is not....what a load
yet another reason why i view religion as a plague.
i really don't care the context of the words that the pope said. what i see is people on a message board essentially arguing, yet again, about religion.
i after seeing this i started a thread about this on another board. same thing...arguments and interpretations.

why people can not see this is beyond me.

But your point of view is religion in a way, too. And you think you are better than religious people. So therefore you are just as "bad" as us.

Originally posted by timeless test
The basic concept of Christianity is faith in an omnipresent God.

That might be the case, if one is entirely missing the point.

Christianity has lost the way.

It is time for believers in Christ to practice the religion of Christ, not a religion about Christ.

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.–Matt. 18:20

Bible, King James Version

[edit on 2007/7/10 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by L4md4it suggests that he is less of a "go-getter" as described, and more of a "kid-with-a-microscope-and-an-ant-farm", whereas "just create some stuff and see what happens."

And then one day when the kid gets ticked off at the ants he pours a bucket of water into the ant farm and watches what happens...



And why are there still ants today? Because according to ancient documents a few learned how to float on things like leaves... and other means




[edit on 10-7-2007 by zorgon]

lol!!

And then we notice, upon closer examination, that not all the ants, are ants. In fact, the ants are being presided over by beetles. And gasp, some have become part ant, part beetle. And part ant, part beetle variety sit atop the ant hills and direct the movements of the ants. when the food grows scarce because the part ant, part beetle overlords are huge consumers of food, they start picking out ants to eat, to subsidize their diets. then one day the God of the ants says, okay, that's it. you ain't gonna eat my ants out of creation. and so he tosses a nice big stick on the ground with instructions on how to use it to escape the coming bowl of water. the ones that believe, get on the big stick. the ones that don't well...lets just say we're still digging up their exo-skeletons

[edit on 10-7-2007 by undo]

I totally get what Ratsy is doing with this. He's taking advantage of the schism developing in the Protestant churches over gay marraiges, etc. You know, all the controversial stuff which is causing people to tear their hair out and question the ministries. Hair shirts for everyone.

It's like a chess game... you see a weakness in the opponent and you apply the pressure.

Forget all that disruptive and confusing browbeating and return to a place where we will figure it all out for you. Ri-i-ight...

Interesting how board wars resemble this situation... church wars.

But, whatever they say, I'll always ignore them because I believe the real church is in a place we all share. A place commonly thought of as being our heart. It doesn't need pews, a pulpit nor fancy walls. Best of all, it doesn't require any more maintenance than a healthy lifestyle and a loving attitude towards others. We are all brothers and sisters no matter what our beliefs are and the sooner we come to respect that truth, the better things will be.

IMO

Divide and conquer or come together and find freedom... the choice is ours to make.

The people , human souls . WE are the church. Not some building of stone or other earthly materials. Strip away the building and pews.What have you got? People/human souls. Jesus didn't say " If you want to meet me and know who I am come on down to the bla bla bla church on the corner". No, He wants to reside inside, of the human soul. Making the change inside.
What happens when all hell brakes loose and because of war, pestilence, poverty, there are no more institutional churches around anymore? Is God going to ignore you because the church is gone? I don't think so, even a little bit.
Is God not going to hear your prayers because a MAN that belongs to an institution created by MAN, tells you your wrong? There again. I am just a man as well. But then again, I'm not going public to billions of people saying if you don't follow the catholic way of life your *snip* up.
No offense to Catholics. My problem is with society not you.

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[edit on 10-7-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black, research Catholic involvement with Nazi Germany during WW2. And the way they deal with molesting priests, off to a new perish where nobody knows what they did.

What a joke, regardless of what you think of christianity, the catholic church never truely followed what Jesus taught. And they never encourged bible reading too, because they were scared people who read the bible would find out they weren't following it, this produced heratics that had to be killed in the dark ages. A priest once told my grandmother who was in a very strong catholic family of nuns and priests, to not read the bible and stick with cleaning and cooking and making babies.
Well she took his advise on 3 out 4 of those things, but kept reading the bible, eventually she left the church, because they never taught what the bible taught. In fact they exerted terriable control on the people demanding money to get there dead loved ones out of pergatory, this was going on in the 20's and 30's, dont' know if it still is. Also the more money they paid the closer the coffin would be brought up to the priest and the front of the church. My family has 100 more stories like that.

And so I can say The Catholic church is not the correct path to God. The Pope is wrong, but then again what else can he say, he is the head of his church.

Originally posted by dbates

Originally posted by DarkStormCrow isnt there supposed to be no way into heaven except through Jesus Christ meaning you dont really need a church in the first place?

You're 100% correct. Reading John 3 it doesn't say that "God so loved the world that whoever went to church would have everlasting life." It says whoever believes in him.

Thanks for saying what most were probably thinking dbates, the pope knows full well that his statement is divisive and liable to cause unrest within christian community, and as a christian I find his statement troubling for a few different reasons, the first one is obvious in that the pope being a man could have the audacity to judge who is truly a spiritually regenerated being through their house of worship. His statement leaves little doubt about his own spiritual state in my opinion. It has never been about where one goes to worship God, but has always been about the spiritual state of an individual. Jesus said; "unless a man be born again he can by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" that statement pretty much takes a man's denominational standing out of the equation.

Secondly, the word church in the new testament is never equated with a building or banner worn by a group of people, but rather a group of people scattered and mixed within many different groups of people, these are the sheep among the goats referred to in scripture, the wheat with tares sown among them, the bible says that the lord himself will separate the sheep from the goats. not the pope. perhaps the pope thinks himself to be God?? if so perhaps we are seeing yet another footstep in the march to Armageddon.

Alright, I would finally like to address Speaker's point. His only strong point is "we don't have the original manuscripts!!!".

What does this prove?

We have almost no change b/w the manuscripts we DO have, many of which are very ancient, so based off that fact, we have no reason to believe that change did in fact happen.

I am not saying that change is impossible, just that there is no evidence that it did in fact happen.

Originally posted by uberarcanist
And you think you are better than religious people. So therefore you are just as "bad" as us.

are you that bad at interpreting the good book too?
this is part of the problem

Originally posted by Boondock78

Originally posted by uberarcanist
And you think you are better than religious people. So therefore you are just as "bad" as us.

are you that bad at interpreting the good book too?
this is part of the problem

Don't be so oblique. What are you getting at?

Originally posted by uberarcanist

Originally posted by Boondock78

Originally posted by uberarcanist
And you think you are better than religious people. So therefore you are just as "bad" as us.

are you that bad at interpreting the good book too?
this is part of the problem

Don't be so oblique. What are you getting at?

what i am getting at is religion spews crap and imo, people would be better off without it. it's not 'you'...it's the crap you follow.
i see nothing good in religion and as i was saying, even the religious poeple in this thread can't agree, not argue the finer points of bs in religion.
where is the good my man?
forget about god, jesus, all that crap...believe what you want in your heart but keep it there, at home, within you family.
who gives a rats balls what other people do, believe?
maybe if there was not this church and it's followers and that church and it's followers time a thousand, people wouldn't care so much and could actually pursue happiness.
i know i seem bitter but it is because i am.

Originally posted by Boondock78
who gives a rats balls what other people do, believe?

Don't you realize that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has just declared everyone except for his church as the enemy?

Originally posted by johnsky
This is one of the things I love about having come to the realization that made me atheist... I can step back, look at all the religions of the world, and realize just how childish and vicious they are at the same time.

John please don't give up on God due to the short comings of man. Get you a bible not the today KJV but the 1611 KJV version. Just look on the net. That is if you want to.

Man had no business changing the word of God. Now it thanks to that there is more versions then they should be. The only autorized version was the KJV now to find out thats not the original.

While several men did attempt to translate the Bible most were jailed or excuted.For 1200 years the scriptures were forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church. Hmm and the pope has the nerve to say churches are corrupted? Where on earth did he get that? Do not be fooled by this man.
Any church who holds back scriptures from people is corrupt. And if any religion is orginized it the Roman Catholic Church.

Went to the Booksamollion and it took me several minutes just to find this bible it wasn't a KJV but The Renovare' Spiritual Formation Bible its a NRSV but thats the only version I could find that had the Deutercanonical Books. Its very good and informative. After I finish this post I will search for the KJV.

Originally posted by uberarcanist
Don't you realize that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has just declared everyone except for his church as the enemy?

Yes I did Its the beginning of the NEW Holy Roman Empire

Undo... now might be the time to share that Jesuit thingy

Originally posted by Leyla
Man had no business changing the word of God. Now it thanks to that there is more versions then they should be. The only autorized version was the KJV now to find out thats not the original.

The KJV is my favorite translation of the Bible, but it is just a translation. Where did you get the idea that the KJV is the only authorized version? Authorized by whom? The KJV changed the word of God, according to your definition. I think.

Can you clarify?

Yes, it is true that the KJV is authorized-BY KING JAMES!

Heck, just pick a version you like and try to understand it the best you can.

God'll understand.

Originally posted by zorgon

Originally posted by uberarcanist
Don't you realize that the leader of the Roman Catholic Church has just declared everyone except for his church as the enemy?

Yes I did

Its the beginning of the NEW Holy Roman Empire

Undo... now might be the time to share that Jesuit thingy

Aren't you guy's jumping the gun a little bit here??

I mean come on, let's wait and see if the pope retract's or alters his statement first before you all go marching off to the crusade. I'm sure in time he'll see that he stepped over the line.

Exactly the_sentinal. Why do people always jump to the most sinister conclusions? Can somebody provide me with an answer?