Last week the worldcommunity saw that the one who claims to be the follower of the
apostle Peter stepped down from his position on what many call the 'holy chair'.
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| English: Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter by Pietro Perugino (1481-82) Fresco, 335 x 550 cm Cappella Sistina, Vatican. Ελληνικά: Λεπτομέρεια από την νωπογραφία του Πιέτρο Περουτζίνο, Ο Χριστός Παραδίδει τα Κλειδιά στον Πέτρο, 335 x 600 cm, Καπέλα Σιξτίνα, Πόλη του Βατικανού. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The church community should be found on a good faith base and have clear and undeniable grounds with people who live according to community rules which are according to the
Law of God. They should try to be living by the standard of the “One Body” of
Christ. The Nazarene man who did not appoint one or the other above one another. Though perhaps many might think that the apostle Peter was chosen to be a leader, he certainly was not the leader of the church community at the time of the first years after Christ his death. All apostles had their particular duties but worked together and even where not afraid to criticise each other.
In the
Acts of the apostles is given a very clear picture of the working of the first church as one united body in Christ. when you read the chapters you shall not find any decent reason to believe that the
Pope is the real acceptable leader of the Church of God.
Could it also be that the church became subdivided into local churches but that along the way into history that church their members (of each local church) still make up the universal body of Christ? There is no one church that monopolizes the body of Christ.
History proves that contamination was brought in very soon after
Jesus' death. Several apostles warned the followers of Christ to be careful and to look out for false teachings. People also had to be careful not to mingle with weak or sinful men, who would love to see them being diverted from the unworldy ideas of their religion.
Though we are never to judge or condemn others; we just have to politely “stand aside” from them!
When we look at the world we should consider that there are many people with different beliefs, but that there might be different opinions between the many persons that does not mean they would not be considered as being part of one and the same united people under Christ.
Some teach that if you are not part of this denomination or that denomination then you cannot be part of the body of Christ. There exist many denominations which believe people do have to belong to them, because otherwise they would be doomed into damnation or when people do not belong to their denomination they would not be able to enter the
Kingdom of God. What most of those denomination forget is that before they came into being ther where also people who loved God as the Most High, and honoured Him at their best. Those people are also saved by Jesus his offer and got the right to enter the Kingdom of God. It is he, Jesus who shall decide who is able to enter the
Kingdom of God and not one world church organisation or denomination who is going to decide that. God knows the heart of each person and He shall see if that person is worthy or not to enter the Kingdom. Jesus as the
mediator shall be the person who can mediate for those who tried to do their best on earth and who followed one or another path according to a path laid in front of them by one or another denomination. but the people themselves shall have to carry the responsibility of their choice. They also shall not be able to blame their
congregation or denomination for the choices they have made.
As part of the body of Christ we should be people working under the guidance of the Bible, to serve each other and the body,
not taking into account language, ethnicity, gender, nationality etc. When we are unified with One Spirit in One Body that means we are unified under Gods Spirit to have and show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and awareness for each other, treasuring the same hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ together with Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of his Father.
Every person has received the gifts to think and to have his mind working to find out certain things. Every person, in his or her life shall get opportunities to be able to be confronted with certain values, certain truths, certain ideas ... and shall be confronted with the possibility to make a certain
choice.
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| The 1st English edition of The Kingdom of God Is Within You. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
It is up to us to think about our
faith, about what we do want to believe and about what we do have to
believe.
Every transition in a movement should be followed up and registered, looked at in function of the
Will of God and the Biblical writings. They are given to us to help us to direct the right way. We should listen to the
voice of God and follow the directions given in the
Holy Scriptures. They should be the most important guide for our life and way of life.
The guidance from the
Bible should give us insight in what the world offers, also on religious matters and on actions of
faith.
We must remember that the
ecclesia does not exist to keep the Truth pure
as a theory (i.e., “The purer our
ecclesia, the better!”). The Truth
(as an abstract principle, or set of principles, communicated from God)
cannot be anything but pure! It might sound strange that the ecclesia does exist to help impure men
and women (with imperfect beliefs and impure ways) to move toward
purity, even if their progress is slow… Some expect that the people who enter the ecclesia or church-community would be already very pure from their
baptism, but that is not so. The baptism is only the starting point to the way of purity to the small gate to the
Kingdom of God.
Out of
love for each other each member of the ecclesia should help each other to grow and to make every day a step closer to that set-apartness or
holiness of purity.
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Read also:
Fellowship 101: A Short Course by George Booker – Class 5
Those who believe the gospel and are baptised into Christ become
‘brethren in Christ’, without regard to nationality. They also become a
part of the ‘one body’, with Christ as their head. God calls them His
children, and they become partakers of His grace and love” (BASF 22).
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- Handbook to the Christadelphian Statement of Faith
- Reasons to come to gether
- Philippians 1 – 2
- Look for your Refuge by God
- A day without taking the symbols
- Breathing to teach
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #1 Kings Faith
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #2 Instructions and Laws
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #3 A voice to be taken Seriously
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #4 Words in Scripture
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
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