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Point to Ponder #1: Misuse of the word “Church”

Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:50 pm
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:50 pm
Meaning of Church as known for 1054 years after Pentecost:

The visible and organic body of Christian believers, especially as accepting the ecumenical creeds of Christendom and as exhibiting a historic continuity of organized life.

When we ask why do churches allow gay preachers or why does church A believe in the “prosperity gospel” ad nauseam we misuse the word Church.

All of these countless denominations that follow their own ways with no accountability to the Traditions and Canons of the Church that is unbroken since Pentecost are not the Church…they’re assemblies.
Posted by fr33manator
Baton Rouge
Member since Oct 2010
124448 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:51 pm to
So...does this mean they don't sell chicken?
Posted by VetteGuy
Member since Feb 2008
28268 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:52 pm to
Good grief.
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
54639 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:53 pm to
quote:

All of these countless denominations that follow their own ways with no accountability to the Traditions and Canons of the Church that is unbroken since Pentecost are not the Church…they’re assemblies.

Which one do you follow?
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 5:57 pm to
Thank you for the question.

I don’t “follow” nor belong to any denomination.

I worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in God’s “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” Holy Orthodox Church.

What our Protestant and Catholic brethren should know re Orthodoxy
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 6:00 pm
Posted by LegendInMyMind
Member since Apr 2019
54639 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 6:01 pm to
Interesting.
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 6:07 pm to
I lived most of my life in the Southern Baptist and “non-denominational” world and just couldn’t live with the cognizant dissonance anymore of being told to live a life according to “biblical principles” yet those same pastors want to ignore or explain away the commands of Christ to “eat of my body, drink of my blood” etc.

When I learned of the Lives of the Saints and the rivers of blood that flowed from the martyrs and continues today and realized I sat without any knowledge of the warriors of the Faith such as St. Ignatius, St. John Chrysostom, St. Mary of Egypt and on and on…

Changed my life brother.
Posted by Alyosha
Member since Nov 2020
6825 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 6:10 pm to
1054 was the reference.
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 6:11 pm
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 6:12 pm to
1054 A.D. is the common year referred to re: Great Schism.

The Schism that split East from West

Also, very interesting re: your screen name, Aloysha!

As Ivan said to Aloysha in Dostoyevsky‘s classic, “ And so I accept God, and I accept him not only without reluctance, but what's more, I accept his divine wisdom and his purpose- which are completely beyond our comprehension.”

This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 6:17 pm
Posted by Willie Stroker
Member since Sep 2008
12933 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 6:52 pm to
quote:

since Pentecost are not the Church…they’re assemblies.

I’m pretty sure even Jesus Christ is saying, “Awe Jesus tap-dancing Christ, is that really a big deal to these literalist English speaking dorks?”

Is this only an issue because you know English, and Jesus did not?

Translate it into Hebrew and Aramaic and then let’s do this topic again.
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 7:36 pm to
The Gospels and Epistles were not written in Hebrew nor Aramaic but in Koine Greek.

The Greek word used often is ecclesia / ekklesia which means a gathering, an assembly.

That is the word used in the New Testament to describe Christian liturgical experience.

“Individual Christians of the early Church left their respective homes on Sunday to assemble and gather in a particular prearranged place - maybe a home, maybe a synagogue, even in fields or barns to remember Christ at the Eucharist as He promised that He would be in their midst, even if the assembly were so small that only two or three were there [Matthew 18:20].

Christian assembly/ekklesia is what happens after the Christians assemble; however the place of assembly is not the Church, it is the people in whom Christ manifests His presence as He promised He would.

One can there talk of the ekklesia or church in the plural because Christians assembled in many assemblies throughout the world. One can also talk of the ekklesia or church in the singular, because wherever one went throughout the world one found the same Christ in every single assembly. The assembly in Thessalonica was the same as the assembly in Corinth because Christ was equally present in both. Christ’s presence made the different assemblies into one Assembly—one Church.

Since 33 A.D., Christians came together with the expectation of meeting Christ there. That is the whole reason for assembling.

Valuable as sermons are and uplifting as the choir sounds one mostly assembles to meet the Lord and to be fed with His Body and Blood. We go in our brokenness to be healed, and in our filthiness to be washed clean. We assemble because the only one who can heal and cleanse is there and He has promised to do both for us if we come in penitence and faith.

Finally, if we plan on assembling on Sunday we must live in anticipation of this event on the six days previous. The priest will call us to the Chalice by saying the words, “The holy things for the holy!”—or, in another possible translation, “The sanctified things for the saints!” The usual New Testament term for a believer is the word “saint” [Greek agios], which is what we are. A saint is not a sinless person, but a person who belongs to God and who is striving to please Him, whatever his or her rate of success. It is as saints that we assemble, which is why the priest uses that term.

As members of the Ekklesia and the Household of God we must strive to become what we are.”
Posted by Champagne
Already Conquered USA.
Member since Oct 2007
48443 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 7:58 pm to
You are a lucky man, spiritually-speaking! I hope you find a beautiful young Greek girl to marry.
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 8:06 pm to
Thank you sir; I - a wretch and the chief of sinners - have definitely undeservedly received His mercy and peace.

I have a beautiful Texas woman who is walking with me to serve Christ in His Church.
Posted by LetTheTigerOut
Member since Dec 2019
753 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 8:07 pm to
quote:

Point to Ponder #1: Misuse of the word “Church”


"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." ~ Scarlett O'Hara

Hell, I'm still pondering the misuse of the word "luxury." They just slap that label on everything nowadays.

(As I toss my luxury silver Prada paper clips into my luxury desk drawer organizer.)
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 9:05 pm
Posted by junkfunky
Member since Jan 2011
33918 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 8:12 pm to
quote:

All of these countless denominations that follow their own ways with no accountability to the Traditions and Canons of the Church that is unbroken since Pentecost are not the Church…they’re assemblies.


Wait until you hear about the pagan that decided what those traditions and canons were
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 8:14 pm to
Please elaborate, as I don’t understand your reference.
Posted by DCtiger1
Panama City Beach
Member since Jul 2009
8783 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 8:59 pm to
Whose alter are you? Fricking pathetic
Posted by MemphisGuy
Member since Nov 2023
3365 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:02 pm to
Um... so anyone who isn't catholic isn't a member of a Church? Nah, that's just flat wrong. Y'all don't own sole claim to decide who are members of the body of Christ, no matter how much you want and try to.
Posted by SeraphimSarov
Member since May 2024
24 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:15 pm to
quote:

Um... so anyone who isn't catholic isn't a member of a Church?


You misunderstood sir. The word Catholic, in the context of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ means the following:

“Orthodox Christians understand the word “catholic” word to mean “whole, complete, lacking in nothing.” Hence, when we say “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church,” we mean that the one, holy, and apostolic Church is “whole, complete, and lacking in nothing.”

The word “catholic” with a small “c” has nothing whatsoever to do with Roman “Catholic” with a capital “C”. If it were incorrect to use the word “catholic” in the Nicene Creed, we wouldn’t use it”

Regarding
quote:

Y'all don't own sole claim to decide who are members of the body of Christ, no matter how much you want and try to.


You’re 100% correct, I have absolutely no right nor claim to decide who is and isn’t a member of the Church.

Jesus Christ as the cornerstone laid the foundation on which the Church is built. After Christ ascended into Heaven and took His seat at the right hand of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost as attested to in the Acts of the Apostles as written by St. Luke.

From there the Church spread like wildfire amongst the darkness with apostolic succession unbroken from 33 A.D. to this very day.

It is Christ Himself who directed us to uphold the Eucharist whenever we gathered together and to walk the narrow way unto salvation.

Any gathering that “teaches another gospel” than that has to make peace with the dissonance.

Posted by Notro
Alison Brie's Boobs
Member since Sep 2011
7884 posts
Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:48 pm to
quote:

Meaning of Church as known for 1054 years after Pentecost:

The visible and organic body of Christian believers, especially as accepting the ecumenical creeds of Christendom and as exhibiting a historic continuity of organized life.

When we ask why do churches allow gay preachers or why does church A believe in the “prosperity gospel” ad nauseam we misuse the word Church.

All of these countless denominations that follow their own ways with no accountability to the Traditions and Canons of the Church that is unbroken since Pentecost are not the Church…they’re assemblies.


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