Understanding the bible

[Godscreated]

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As for things like speaking in tongues, these things must conform to scriptures, this takes deep study with the Holy Spirit guiding one to the truth. These differences make up the many denominations, as long as each believe in salvation through Christ the Son of God then we must consider them Christian churches. Remember the Church is the bride of Christ, and as biblical speaking, the bride is to serve the Groom and the Groom to provide for the bride. Want a hint to speaking in tongues, it's plural.

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Christ always mentioned the Church i.e. singular. I think ideally Christianity is meant to be unified under one 'denomination'. Otherwise Christ would of had/wanted many brides and I think that sounds very suss =)

If the requirement for a church is to teach salvation through faith in Christ, then that is saying something about the individual and their requirement for 'membership'. According to this I was definitely a Christian then.

Yes in scripture the Church is always referred to in the singular. I believe that Christ would have wanted the Church to be in total agreement, However man has to always put his two cents worth in and things get messed up. Even with all the different denominations Christ still sees the Church as singular, he sees a bunch of confused people trying their best to understand.
I want argue with you on whether you were saved or not, I will say this, there has been more than one pastor come to the realization that after years of preaching they were not saved. I've seen many people that are members of a church that are not saved. Remember, Christ said there will be many that come before Me saying, Lord, Lord we've done so much in your name, and I will say, leave Me, for I know you not.

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It is the unbeliever that has a problem with the definition of Christianity, not the Christian church. Yes there's a way to determine what the scriptures say about how God works through them, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide one through scripture to reveal the truth. This however leaves the unbeliever without the ability to understand the deep meanings within the scriptures, the Holy Spirit will reveal salvation to the unbeliever, but will not work through them to understand the scriptures and the way they work in a believers life.

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I understand that the Holy Spirit is key to making everything fit. The problem is how do I know I really have it? The problem for me when a Christian in this case says 'just believe, let God work through you' is that to me it's like I have a bike without wheels and the Christian says 'just have the faith that it will work' but I can clearly see I'm going to get nowhere.

To know is simple, you will grow in your relationship with Christ, you will start to understand some of the things that were mysteries to you. You will see God working through you for others, you will understand that somethings can not be coincidental. You will see God's will for your life and so forth and so on. This does not happen all at once ,it takes quite some time, growth is no faster than the serious time one puts into it.
Some times I believe that christians should use the word trust, instead of faith. I use to tell the youth I taught, trust God will work through you, I would let them know that the work God does through them is not going to always be obvious to them, but it will be to others, so trust that God is working through you.

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Speaking in tongues takes deep study? Linda Blair did it easy. Satan FTW.

I've seen speaking and SINGING in tongues. I got dragged to a Pentacostal revival*,a mixture of theatre,humbug and mass hysteria. My dog has more depth than those cretins.

That must have been a real experience for you, I can say I believe I would find it uncomfortable, I've only seen it on TV and to me it looked fake.