Kindest Regards, Thomas!
Thomas said:
I am of the mind that 'Church' is a pre-eminent work of faith.
Agreed. Even so, the "Church" is a pre-eminent work of faith of *likeminded* individuals who share cultural norms, mores and ethics. Whereas the equivalent of "the Church" in other cultural circumstances is equally a pre-eminent work of faith of likeminded individuals who share cultural norms, mores and ethics. There are often great similarities between cultural norms, mores and especially ethics; but there are also obvious differences in application and outlook as well as differences in formalized morality myths / stories / parables.
But Christ told man to offer his prayer in private, and in quiet, and not in any way a show before his neighbour:
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
Matthew 6:6
I am familiar with this, and I am not certain its purpose for inclusion. My mention of asking G-d to correct me, perhaps? I hardly see that as prayer in public, nor especially do I see my comment as eliciting open reward from my peers. Needless to say, I am confused...
To be a Christian in the world is work - with mind and body and soul and spirit.
Agreed. But could the same not also be said of any spiritual path that *validly* seeks to be one with our Father, or Source, or Wellspring, or Creator, etc., etc., etc...? So, if work is required to be Christian (or otherwise valid in the eyes of "G-d"), then it is not sufficient to simply have faith? Belief alone is insufficient, for faith without works is dead (James).
Without a visible church, Jesus becomes invisible ... He becomes the 'embodiment' of the opinion of anyone who has a fancy, of cultural whim ...
I can agree in some situations, such as those who try to create their own "smorgasbord" religion, and I suspect there are invalid paths that masquerade as valid. But I also believe there are valid paths that are parallel with Christianity. I cannot begin to see G-d in His infinite wisdom, charity, mercy and love, creating whole cultures, whole heritages, whole nations, for the sole purpose of being destroyed in a pit of hellfire. I rather am coming to the conclusion that the path is not as important (although there is some degree of importance) as what we do on the path. Self made paths, the smorgasbord types, don't know which direction to aim for. There may be some paths that wander down the mountain instead of up. Certainly there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is destruction. Great and wide is that way. Yet, there are certain paths that persist for thousands of years, that seem to me to have basic core elements that are very like to those in Christianity. Afterall, are the Jews and Muslims to be written off? Must one be required to believe solely in the efforts of Jesus? Are there not paths that teach the same effective morality, and point to the same G-d? I can think of a few more paths that also reach similar conclusions, although their "lingo" conflicts with that in Christianity, they still strive for the same ultimate goals in different parlance and with different morality myths.
For all its faults the Church alone is the one who transmits His message in His own words.
Kinda hard to refute this. Of course, one could point out that the message of the Torah is transmitted in Moses' own words, as the message of the Quran is transmitted in Mohammed's own words. Likewise the Vedas and the writings of Buddha, Confuscious and Lao Tzu.
Sometimes we do it well, and sometimes we do it badly ... we are not perfect (as much as an imperfect world demands of us) ... but do not confuse my fault with my Church.
This is part and parcel of being human.
We all respond (or not) individually, but then all the world sees is one person, and there are many people who live saintly lives who have never heard of Jesus - but if He was presented to them in spirit and in truth then they would know immediately He of whom is spoken - the words would be His - and they would know Him from the depths of their own being, not from any convincing argument.
In some sense I agree. G-d's own know Him, and through Him they know each other. Perhaps not on an intellectual level, but on a spiritual level. On the level of spirit, there are not the obstacles we face in the material / flesh world. We are not blinded by passions and emotion, doctrine and dogma. We intuit what is right and well and good, *for* ourselves and *in* others, likeminded with us or not.
