Is there a true Church in this world today?

[IowaGuy]

Originally Posted by Pastor Franszwa

Is there a true church in this world today?

I've personally always felt closer to "God" outside of church and a cookie-cutter doctrine.

Originally Posted by Pastor Franszwa

if you can not find God within your self, you will not find God in any Church, building or Temple made by human hands.

Agreed. I dig Muir's thoughts on this:

"The hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself"
- John Muir (1838-1914)

[Nick the Pilot]

I have heard that there are over a thousand Christian denominations in England alone. (Hey, people in England, is this true?)

[wil]

Is there a true Church in this world today?

Yes it is mine, screams each of the 33,000 denominations....

List of Christian denominations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

How Many Protestant Denominations Are There? the 20,000 30,000 numbers and David Barrett's statistics

[Nick the Pilot]

Hey wil,

According to that web page philvaz.com, five new Christian denominations appear every week. Holy moly!

[radarmark]

And some of them, like Unity, Unitarian-Univeralist, and Religous Society of Friends allow each member to have their own view.... phew, add a million-or-so Christian Churches there.

[wil]

Originally Posted by Nick the Pilot

Hey wil,

According to that web page philvaz.com, five new Christian denominations appear every week. Holy moly!

lol I saw that

Originally Posted by radarmark

And some of them, like Unity, Unitarian-Univeralist, and Religous Society of Friends allow each member to have their own view.... phew, add a million-or-so Christian Churches there.

I represent that remark

[radarmark]

As Mark I remark it is good you represent that remark, as do I.

[Servetus]

Originally Posted by Pastor Franszwa

Where is God’s True Church to Day?
Is there a true church in this world today? And if so, how can it be identified?

From my standpoint, there is, in fact, a true church today. I call it the Philadelphian (not to be confused with the city by the same name) Church, distinguished, as it is, by love, and I think its members are scattered abroad and do rarely meet. I met a member (or two) once. They were Freegans (I cannot provide links yet because I haven’t posted enough, but, if you are interested, please search Google for the term) and were identifiable not only by their obvious compassion but also by the halogen glow of their bright eyes in what would otherwise have been a dark place. I saw that same halogen glow in some Sufi Muslims in India and figured they were the “other sheep of other folds” to whom Jesus referred and, therefore, that the Philadelphian Church also had some representatives from Kashmir, living in New Delhi and trading in carpets.

[radarmark]

Let's take that a little further. I saw the same glow in some (not all) Hasidim I have met and Native American Church members. “Other sheep of other folds” = "in my Father's house are many mansions" = "when you call out any of the ten thousand names of God, it echoes inside you"

Pax et amor vincunt omnia--radarmark

[Servetus]

Now that you mention it, during a Simchat Torah celebration in Safed, I watched as a synagogue filled with brothers of Jesus, largely Sephardic by the looks of things, practically levitated with spiritual energy. I wasn’t even sure I was supposed to be there, witnessing the event, but a polite, young (Hassidic) man from Brooklyn who greeted me assured me that everything was fine, provided I wear a yarmulke, which was fine with me. I haven’t had much experience with what I would consider genuine Native American spirituality, but hope someday that I shall. Meanwhile, I think the Philadelphian Church is largely in diaspora, but, like Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones, it might be joining together as the need arises.

[donnann]

Just as jesus body was considered the word the true church would also be a body sent from heaven that is human and divine. The point is that the true church is the KNOWLEDGE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN which divine beings possess so through that being an increase of this knowledge here on earth leads to salvation.

[donnann]

To add something else I believe that the 7 seals of revelation are 7 miracles involving the body of the divine and human being starting at coneption to reveal hidden truths.

[radarmark]

Originally Posted by donnann

To add something else I believe that the 7 seals of revelation are 7 miracles involving the body of the divine and human being starting at coneption to reveal hidden truths.

Huh? I need a little help comprehending what you mean.

Pax et amor vincunt omnia. radarmark

[donnann]

Hi radar,

To give you an example christ was called the living word. The truth about the kingdom of heaven came from him because he was a divine being who incarnated into the human body. Miracles happened to him and he did miracles. Revelation seals refer to a divine body that incarnated into the human body and the divine being is revealed with the seal openings and closings. An example is resurrection which is one of the seal openings and bindings. The body goes from the human condition and is raised up to a giant spirit being , then sealed back down into the human condition. Each opening and binding is a revealing, a revelation and an identification. And there are always witnesses to these.

[donnann]

Remember the church is always referred to in the female sense. The bridegroom is always the male. Even the arc of the covenant , although an actual sacred chest, has a living counterpart that it represents. The woman in revelation with 12 stars, the 12 stars representing the universe, is the arc. This is because the woman is human and divine in a prophecy sense of the word. The birth is the restoration of the universe back to its original state the human child being the center. The human child in the larger sense is mankind and the universe extends outward from here so the woman represents the whole universe as far as salvation.