So what you’re saying is that the Church consists in only those people who believe the Bible means what you say it does.
If that’s the Truth, where’s the evidence of that? Why isn’t there some singular “Biblical Church” that lives according to this “plain meaning of Scripture?
What specifically are you objecting to about the Orthodox Church ?
Christians were all pretty unanimous for the first 1500 years that these houses and buildings and these committees and these traditions were pretty darn important to Christendom. They may not have agreed exactly which ones constituted the True Church, but everybody basically agreed that they were part of the whole package.
You’re arguing they were all full of shit. I’m sorry, that just strikes me as obviously false.
I don’t see any reason to believe they were the ones full of shit.
>Why isn’t there some singular “Biblical Church” that lives according to this “plain meaning of Scripture?
There is. That is literally Christs church. There are not many. Doubt more then a few hundred thousand. But like Christ said, "few" will find eternal life. Not 2 billion catholics/protestants.
>You’re arguing they were all full of shit.
Not at all. The disconnect is you believe the orthodox/catholic system was ever Christs church.
Christs church was constantly hunted. Murdered. 3 entire races were slaughtered for their belief in the biblical Christ.
The Heruli, Vandals and the Ostrogoths. All 3 were non trinitarian (arian) nations who paid for their faithfulness and defiance of heresy with their lives. Same as the Waldensians and numerous other poor groups of souls who are lost to history. Hundreds of millions of Christians have perished at the hands of the papacy and other so called "christian churches".
But the bible said it would happen. It says men would kill thinking they are doing Gods service. And it will continue to be so until the end.
If mens traditions and teachings do not align with the scripture, there is no light in them.
btw, Daniel 7 records the sad fate of those 3 nations if you are interested. Plucked up by the little horn (papacy).
Oh okay, see that’s a fairly orthodox attitude toward Tradition.
If you sincerely believe Arius was correctly teaching the Truth about the Divine Nature, there’s really not much point arguing about it. That’s really the fundamental disagreement, and you either believe it or not.
I became a Trinitarian the instant I’d encountered true Trinitarian teaching, because I recognized the God Who’d been guiding my life to that point. I’d literally never heard that teaching until I was in my late twenties. It was like a light-switch.
Honestly that take you’ve got is quite refreshing. You’re not doing the standard Protestant cop-out of the “Invisible Church” nonsense.
Seems we have had the opposite experience. I was a trinitarian who learned the truth of what the scriptures say about who God and His Son are. There is a really good 5 part series that can give your belief in the trinity a run for its money. Can see, if with a study of the scriptures, it really does hold weight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hde02IR4gh0
Bookmark it for a rainy day ;)
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