Note the sheer hypocrisy in what the Philadelphia Church of God says the "one" church. Gerald started his apostate group after rebelling against the Worldwide Church of God. He threw a self-righteous fit because he thought he had a better understanding, just like Bob Thiel, Vic Kubik, Jim Franks, and all the other splinter group leaders thought they did.
The Armstrongite church love to mock the churches of the world for all the different groups that are out there and the divisions between them. Never once do the apostate leaders of the COG's look inwardly at themselves and condemn the hundreds and hundreds of splinter groups that now make up Armstrongism. When you look at it by sheer numbers, Armstrongism is far more splintered and damaged than any Christian church in the world is. They all differ from each other and oppose each other. None of them recognize leaders of other groups as the true rightful leader.
The reality is, Jesus Christ founded one Church, and He actively leads only one Church. No other teaching can be supported by Scripture.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing,” God inspired the Apostle Paul to write, “and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). That is a deep level of unity! We should expect to see this unity within the Christ-led Body of believers. There should be no division in what is believed, taught or preached.
The many differing and opposing churches of Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism definitely do not “all speak the same thing.” When looking for which church to be a part of, the very existence of so many different churches, denominations and sects, believing vastly different doctrines, emphasizes the fact that it is easy to become part of a false church!
8 comments:
As you point out, the Unity Argument does not work well with so much overt division in Splinterland. A particular Splinter may make a dubious claim to unity by asserting that all the other Splinters are apostate. But a cursory examination will reveal that they are all essentially the same - they only differ in what autocrat happens to be in control of the pulpit.
Paul in 1 Corinthians is expressing his earnest hope for an ideal situation with a single monolithic Christian church. This has and has not happened. The denominations in the Christian movement are divided and yet are in unity on the essentials. The hallmark of this is the concept expressed in this statement:
"In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love."
The Christian denominations, hence, have working relationships and mutual acknowledgement of theological validity on the essentials. In Splinterland, there is agreement on the essentials but, unlike Christianity, this does not lead to unity. In marketing terminology, Splinterland consists of a collection of competing products that reflect very little product differentiation.
If there is very little product differentiation, then why is there such sustained hardcore division? It has to do with autocracy. Each faction has its tyrannical pulpit - with the pews cheering inwardly as if they were rooting for the home team. And in this heady atmosphere of personal and sectarian egocentricity, reconciliation can never happen. Splinterland will always be Splinterland.
There is no such thing as "perfect unity" in anything. Every snow flake is unique ,amazingly enough ! Even in a good marriage, there are variances of ideas, thought, goals etc. There is only one flock, but each sheep is different and has its own personality.
Therefore, I believe in the 3.1416... true church!
Whatcha gonna do, Mama, now that the roast beef's gone? Which is to say, what do you do when the one true church is just plain wrong, or displays horrible bad fruits? Then all you are left with is a mantle, an authority structure that you are expected to accept and obey. So, they really should be calling it "one true authority structure" if they believe in truth in advertising!
There is only one true church with Jesus Christ as the leader and Apostle of that Church.
Of course that is a spiritual organism and not physical. So any church where it's leader claims to be the one true leader that Christ is working with is a false church. I don't believe that all the brethren are false Christians, but if they stay long enough they could become false.
If you are following Christ you will eventually recognize His voice. And that is not in a corporate organization of a false leader.
And, I do not think you need to be a member of a certain physical church to be in the Body of Christ. In many cases I believe you must flee from church organizations.
Cults seek uniformity, the scriptures speak of unity. Big difference.
The One True Church versus the 666 False Splinter Groups
Choose carefully!
First, unity is a commie theme, so its importance in the hierarchy of values might not be as claimed by the splinters. Christ said in Matthew 5:6 "blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." This trait is more important than having the "right doctrines," since this attitude allows errors to be quickly corrected. It follows that there could be devout legitimate Christians in other denominations that believe in "wrong" doctrines.
The ACOGs twist, distort, misapply and mangle most everything.
All good comments, save for one.
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