I asked the question what do your think of when you hear the word church, and many of my friends immediately thing of buildings, or about being a member of church.
I think about the forests, the ocean, the deserts I have seen. About the garden in my yard, or the many other places where i observe the miracles of our world.
I started to write a blog about church, what it means to people, whether its the building, or the community of worship, and decided to not continue writing.
Because when it comes down to it, nothing I write will change anything in how you believe or don't believe.
So I will tell you what I believe, because it is my faith, trust, hope. That's what I believe. Any other beliefs i have are irrelevant to you, because they only have meaning to me, and those I associate with who believe like me. My religious views are mine, and I can not and will not try to change your views. That's a real challenge for me, but experience teaches me that those committed to believing things are not easily changed.
I think of "the" Church, and I usually capitalize it. I am Anglican, and I have attended Church in a lot of different places in order to be Anglican. Most recently a renovated store front in town. THE Church is the people and their relationship with God, not the building in which they meet.
ReplyDeleteRoman Catholic Church headed by the god Pope. Went on a murdering spree to kill all gnostics that would not bend to their beliefs. Destroyed all texts of the gnostics that threatened their power, greed, and control.
ReplyDeleteIn AD 1209, the entire population of the Albigens was slaughtered at the order of Pope Innocent III. The Albigens, in the south of France, was then the most populous, the most technically, socially, and economically advanced part of Europe. Its population was largely Gnostics and Arian Christians, and were a sanctuary for Jews who were persecuted almost everywhere else in Europe. All of these groups had a high percentage of literacy and read the Bible, which was prohibited by the Vatican. Innocent III was seeking to put a stop to the "Gnostic heresy", but found it to be entrenched throughout Europe, so he followed the "Cathar Crusade" with the creation of the Inquisition, resulting in countless millions of people being slowly and brutally tortured to death over the next 500 years for even the mere suspicion of being witches. Innocent also reinstated a prohibition against the owning or reading of Bibles by anyone other than clergy, under penalty of death.
The Websters I have refers to Church as a building.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child the reference to church from the Christian churches according to what was in the Bible was a church was a gathering of people.
Where I am now at 68yrs in my personal belief says all things be it a building or a religion belief it's a man made concept from individual perception.........
as in truth there was from Source/Creator/God no belief only creation to be experienced and all things are accepted with love as an expression of Oneness of the All
and since we are just here for the experience to expand the consciousness within all things there is now right or wrong it's all just an expression of Source.
That is only one very small part of the story. When you add in the Inquisitions, and the continual evil perpetrated against all people by both Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches, it is nothing less than horrifying. Here is one small incident - http://calum33.multiply.com/journal/item/247?mark_read=calum33:journal:247&replies_read=12 The Amersham Martyrs - burned on pyres simply for reading the Bible in English.
ReplyDeleteToday Church news focusses on child abuse, but much more is going on as we can see when we read all news reports. In the 60's to early 90's the Magdalene Sisters brutalised poor girls who were used as slaves to earn money for their order. More recently we had the baby bashing Sisters of Nazareth in Scotland.
The Cathar story is horrific and all they did was call the Pope corrupt.
Read the whole story here - http://wheresjesus.multiply.com/journal/item/1299?mark_read=wheresjesus:journal:1299&replies_read=11
Canice is very right, Nature is our true church and we can all be a part of it with no chains to organised religion. In any case Matthew forbids public prayer, which rules out much of the activities in Church. Matthew is in fact Egyptian from Ma'at meaning 'Truth or Justice' and the W is the plural, therefore 'Truths'.
ReplyDeleteThe prohibition on public prayer comes from the Maxims of Ani (possibly the Pharaoh named Yanni - John aka Khyan - Cain) and these name public prayer as an abomination.
I appreciate the comments.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like getting into religious discussions, because people are very passionate about their beliefs, and can become pretty offended by dialogue that challenges what they believe. My father was a Methodist, and was openly hostile to Catholicism. None of us ever figured out why. My mother doesn't know, and his brothers cant explain it either. I can't even begin to guess why he married my mom, who was Catholic, although now I have no idea what faith she claims other than Christian. I claim to be a Wesleyan Methodist, my brothers follow the faith of their wives, one Evangelical and one Lutheran, even though we were all baptized Methodists.
My major disagreement with most organized religion I have attended or studied is the manner in which mankind is elevated above nature, when if you think along the lines I do, you believe our Creator caused all things to be; that humans rose to dominate is to me not so much our right, as what we did with the free will we were given. Kind of like here are some choices, chose wisely. My concern is that this in some peoples mind creates an arrogance that all life, all of the planet is ours to treat as we will.
The main thing always, Canice, is to look for the truth. I had to learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and a good deal of the grammar to really find out, since we have been lied to like you would never believe.
ReplyDeleteThe truth when you find it is absolutely fascinating. It is like unravelling an ancient mystery. In fact one of these mysteries is ongoing - with King David V of Egypt commonly known as Twt (DWD in Hebrew which is David). The question is who was he? I think he is the missing prince Twt Ms and I recently found more evidence to prove this. If he is then something very odd must have been going on - like taking the dead body from the tomb which is now empty and pretending that he had resurrected and was now King - in opposition to the hated Akhenaten who was Moses.
All kings of Egypt were believed to be the living 'Jesus' (Same name) and so this could be where the story of the empty tomb and resurrection really came from.
If you have time do have a look at what I and others have found out - http://calum33.multiply.com/journal/item/129?mark_read=calum33:journal:129&replies_read=31
It is best to begin with the evidence which proves the identity of King Solomon. There is so much, I have it in 9 parts, and it is absolutely conclusive without any doubt whatsoever. Even measurements match the ruins of his palace in Luxor to within a couple of centimetres, and you can easily check this for yourself - just follow the links in the part on his palace.