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Four Church Movements

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As scholars study Church history without bias, they discover a lot of variety in the early church. It is common now to discuss Christianities rather than Christianity. That diversity is still with us today. Let me paint a broad brush and divide Christianity into four general movements: Protestant, Catholic. Orthodox, and Gnostic. And then let me characterize each by their central distinctive and characteristic. This results in the following” Protestants are Bible-Centered Catholics are Church-Centered Orthodox are Tradition-Centered Gnostics are God-Centered Gnostic Christians are God-centered because the personal knowledge of God is central. Gnostic Christians are also God-centered because God is the authority for them. The God of gnostics still gives revelation, still guides, still inspires, and still guides his children. The Protestant God is confined to the Bible. God speaks only through the Scriptures. The Catholic God is confined to the Church, by which they mean the Pop

Perennial Wisdom

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The basic outline of the perennial wisdom is as follows: There is a Divine Ground. We are sparks of that Divine Ground. We are separated from the Divine Ground. Selfishness is what separates us from the Divine Ground. In order to reunite with the Divine Ground, self must die (individuality and separateness must be overcome) Dying to self is the path to Salvation and Union with the Divine Ground. Our one ultimate mission in life is to return to our Source and invite others to return as well.

A Gnostic Christian Creed

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I created this off the top of my head. Imperfect, incomplete, and fallible as it may be, it does point to a better understanding of gnostic Christianity. I believe in one God, the transcendent Father, who is the eternal Ground of Being. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the first emanation in the realm of becoming, through whom all things came into existence. I believe that the Logos, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, who became a human being, taught the truth and the way of Salvation in word and deed, was crucified, dead, and was buried, and resurrected on the third day in a glorified body. I believe he ascended into the higher dimensions. It is he who judges the living and the dead. I believe that the sparks of divinity are predestined to return to divinity through a process of reincarnation, transfiguration, and ultimately deification. All others are predestined to destruction. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the sacred energy of God manifested in the realm of becoming. It empo

Don’t Take Jesus Literally

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“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language.” – Jesus Christ (John 16:25 NKJV) The Bible is not literally true. Rather it is a complex web of metaphor, symbolism, parable, and allegory. The Catholic Church recognizes that there are three spiritual senses of Scripture. The moral sense, the allegorical sense, and the anagogical sense. The moral sense is the easiest to understand. It is the meaning Scripture has that instructs us in how to live a holy life. The allegorical sense is harder to understand. Allegory uses symbolic fictional figures, fables, and parable to express a truth. When Jesus says he is the door or that we are vines, he is not speaking literally. But this figurativeness goes much deeper and applies much wider than most realize. The third is the anagogical sense. It is a kind of allegory, but more complex and subtle. It is a spiritual interpretation of ideas, statements, and events in the Bible. It seeks to explain the events in the Bible so that t

The Lord's Prayer (Modern Verson)

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Our Father, who is transcendent, honored be your name; Your rulership come; Your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us each day the food we need. And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us. And keep us from falling into temptation; by delivering us from the evil one. For yours is the rulership, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. __________ A dynamic equivalent translation from the Textus Receptus Greek New Testament by Jay N. Forrest

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Scripture Quotations

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked with NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.