relativism
so heres a problem ive noticed with a lot of Christians (or at least i
consider it a problem): Christians dont allow for relativism on a
religious scale--Jesus is THE truth, and nothing else is, therefore
Christianity is the one true religion. all well and good. however, on a
Church scale, so many Christians are perfectly fine with relativism and
even encourage it! i hear all the time that no one church has it all
right and that the Church got corrupted early on bc, well, there were
humans involved. suddenly Jesus has become the 37,000 versions of THE
truth. well, if the early church was so corrupt (the same Church that,
over the course of centuries, hammered out just exactly who Jesus was,
and even decided what books belong in the Bible) then how can we trust
any church? if were going to say man screwed it up, then how much did
man screw up? how much can we trust? is Jesus really God, or did the
Father adopt Jesus by joining the eternal Word (a Hellenic
philosophical term that far predates the Gospel of John) to the human
and only human Jesus at His baptism when the Holy Spirit descended on
Him? We look back now and say its so obvious that Jesus is fully man
and fully God, but that is ignorant of history, for it was not so
obvious early on in the Church -- we have the Church Fathers to thank
for articulating our beliefs on Jesus in the Ecumenical Councils.
perhaps the Bible itself is corrupt, for man certainly wrote it and
copied it (at points whole passages are found in later manuscripts that
arent in earlier ones). but of cooooooooourse not, bc thats God's Word
and He wont let it get messed up, right? well then why the heck did He
so quickly abandon His Church and let it go to crap? or perhaps He
didnt.
and ppl like to say "well the Holy Spirit led me to this church, but it could lead so and so to that church, etc etc". then i encourage them to look at this verse:
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
and ppl like to say "well the Holy Spirit led me to this church, but it could lead so and so to that church, etc etc". then i encourage them to look at this verse:
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.