(November 9, 2015 at 12:21 pm)Crossless1 Wrote:(November 9, 2015 at 11:54 am)Drich Wrote: The idea of multiple churches all containing the Gospel truth of Christ is also reflected in the various books of the NT. Each book was unique to s specific region/culture. Each region had it's own way to worship and therfore needed indivisual attention, which is why their are books written to specific regions and not just a blanket book of doctrine written to the church as with all other religions.
Yes, each book was specific to a region, and your take-away from that is not that there were competing views of Christianity in those early days but that each represented the True Faith with a little local color thrown in, courtesy of God's broad-minded concern for regional differences. Cute story. How did that work out for the various Christian communities who were declared heretics and whose books were banished to the dustbin of history? I assume you are aware of how the NT canon was decided upon, no? Hint: the promptings of the Holy Spirit was the veneer of respectable bullshit the people who voted on the question used to justify their very political decision.
I am not disputing the consolidation of the church durning the 'dark ages', but again is that where the church remained?
So it started out as a handful of truly different churches and in the Last of the last days (The book of Revelation) It all goes back to that same model...
Hmmm.. Look like it ends up the way it was supposed to be.
Besides that (Speaking to those deemed as heritics) 'we' do not get to decide who is and who is not saved/Who is and is not 'Christian.' Jesus in Mt 7 Speaks on this directly.
