Archive for August, 2011
Which Church Is The True Church Of God?
This is one of most debated questions in human history. While searching for truth, many people have struggled with this question. Literally thousands of churches, denominations, and religious organizations throughout the world and throughout history have laid claim to the title “the one true church of God.” Even today, many people remain convinced their denomination is the anointed one of God. As a result, it’s not difficult to see how people can easily become frustrated in regard to this question.
So how does a person searching for truth find the one true church? With so many options – Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and literally thousands of alternatives, the average Christian can not reasonably be expected to examine the tenets of each and every one. Yet each of these groups harbors a certain number of adherents who believe their church is the “one true church of God,” while all other groups are inferior or even outright evil. Some even promote such a declaration as their official position. In light of these circumstances, many will honestly wonder: does a “one true church of God” exist? And if it does, where is it?
The Broken Church Organ That Inspired the Christmas Carol “Silent Night”
This much-loved song was literally written on a ‘Silent Night.’ If a church pipe organ had not malfunctioned, our society probably would not have this beloved Christmas carol.
It may be that the silence of the broken pipe organ gave Reverend Joseph Mohr the inspiration to write the lyrics to “Silent Night” in 1818. In that moment, he likely was driven by anxiety rather than enthusiasm.
Organic Church Organic Spirituality
Organic Church Defined
I saw this simple definition at OrganicChurch. “Organic is love not legalism. Organic is faith without religion. Organic is spirituality without elitism. Organic is church without the artificial crap”. The model we currently follow for conducting church is a protestant mock up of the Catholic Church. Martin Luther the founder of Protestantism was in fact a Catholic priest. Today instead of priests we have Pastors, Ministers or Reverends. It is important to know that when the Roman Emperor Constantine merged religion and politics he created a church that was unnatural. The Roman Christians / Catholics then began to steal pagan temples and turn them into churches. Before Constantine there were no church buildings the oldest ruins of a church building date back between 300 and 400AD. These so-called Christian leaders launched the crusades and even invented holidays like Christmas and Easter to compete against pagan holidays. Rome launched a campaign against the first original institutional church known today as the Eastern Orthodox Church. As politics and religion mixed the church became all the more structured and systematic in the way it conducted itself. The influence that Rome had upon the church basically turned the church into Jezebel the great whore spoken of in Revelations, even going to the extent of selling God’s salvation to people called indulgences. The truth is you will not find a systematic model for conducting church in the Bible. Now we have to ask ourselves what is pure and untainted church?
Pure and Untainted Organic Church
Nine Inch Nails At Church
Nine Inch Nails Show, Tabernacle, May 22, 2005 How am I supposed to feel? This was my second Nine Inch Nails show, the first June 6, 2000 in Anaheim, and more fiery hoops to leap through to get there. That is the politics of my procrastination. It was at the Tabernacle on Sunday May 22, the second of a two show stint servicing all his fans in the southeastern United States. This venue choice was the best I could imagine. How pious to gather in an old church built in 1911? Trent may be a pious man but his followers were not so much. They were fish out of water gasping for air waiting for Trent to satisfy their hunger. Can one man really fill this kind of violent void? But Trent did give it up. He did his dance, his show, and a valid and worthy performance throwing doses of self-doubt onto his congregation. They wanted exorcism. They wanted to eat him.
Standing room only has its benefits and downfalls. Downfalls involving punches to my kidneys, smashed toes, bathing in the sweat of drunken strangers, and praying for a gust of oxygen asphyxiated masses. I wasn’t the only one. Hot vamps and goth baby dolls writhing to the music, grinding their neighbors as their eyes gazed up toward Reznor. It was startling, disturbing, and fascinating. The stage was a silver platter, in a church nonetheless, and the throbbing mass begging for communion.