I plan on getting a ministers' license and forming my own church. This Church will be called "The Church of the Lord". I will not follow the typical Christian religion. I will have alot of things that are different from most Catholic or Protestant Churches. 1; My church will recognize that Saturday, the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath and that we should all rest on that day. There will be no church services held and the church will preach that people should stay at home and do only recreational things, eating foods that do not need cooking. Only things that are considered work will be forbidden and things such as games and other recreational activities will be allowed. 2; Sunday, which is known as Lord's Day, will be when church services are held and will be celebrated in remebrance that the Lord rose from the dead on that day. We will use this day to study Scripture just like other churches. Unlike most Christian churches, we will consider the Lords Day completely seperate from the Sabbath. 3; On Easter, our church will differ from others because will will not have mere Communion, but we will actually reenact the first Communion by using real bread and wine (children will still drink grape juice). 4; We will preach that the reason humans were given free will is so we can decide for ourselves and not follow god blindly. We will encourage people to take action for themselves if they are in trouble and not to rely on prayer as their only means of seeking aid. We will preach that prayer is meant to thanks god for the things he has given us and not for begging him for help on things that we can easily accomplish ourselves. 5; We will recognize that alien life is possible and the bible never says that the people of Earth were God's only sentient creations. 6; We will recognize that the bible never completely outlaws polygamy, it merely outlaws it for Church Deacons. My church will offically recognize polygamist marriages. Through our preists will only be allowed to marry one wife. 7; My church will recognize divorce only on the grounds of a spouse's failure to uphold their vows. Divorce will be permitted on the grouds of spousal abuse, infidelity, and other things that violate the marriage vows. 8; Our church will officially recognize that the writers of the bible had a belief that woman were inferior and will officially accept the Gospel of Mary Magdeline as a 5th Gospel. We will also recognize that to truly understand god, you must understand all possible interpitations of his word, and so, we will officially recognize the books which were previously banned from the bible, though not all of them will be added to the bible, merely suggested as continued reading that can help clear up some of the bible's many cliffhangers. 9; We will also officially recognize that the bible is merely a series of books written by humans, and that humans, with their free will and falible nature, rarely follow the word of god. And so, we will recognize that the bible is not literally the word of god, but merely a tool to help up learn and understand both the nature of Christ and God and how we should live out lives. This recognition will also include the official recognition that the idea of homosexuality being a sin could merely have been added by human hands and was not orginally intended as part of God's word. We will recognize that homosexuals who were born that way were created that way by god and it is how he intended them to be.
There are more than a few of Christian churches like the one you describe (well, maybe not the polygamy part) so good luck on your endeavor! Oh, and I would definitely look into the Gospel of Thomas!
Plus I need a tax break and a way to molest children without punishment.....It works for the catholics LOL By the way, the child molesting part was a joke.
I have read the Gospel of Thomas, the Book of Enoch, the Gospel of Mary Magdeline and several others of the so called "Banned books"...
They weren't "so-called" banned. They were full-fledged heresy and death by bonga-bonga banned. The Catholics were VERY Serious about not having any competition....
This sounds like a good idea. Let's hope nothing corrupts it in the future, I hate when good things are corrupted. God bless you in your endeavor. Good Luck!
I believe that what he describes is the BEST that he can do.... although a little late in the planning, because those conditions that he describes is the basic understanding of most non-theists anyway. So he is a day late and a dollar short.
Hey, feminist go away. It is about christianism. Do you think that women must have the same rights as men? WTF!
We are immortal entities. We currently inhabit our body and live a human lifetime. We are born, live and die. After we die, we eventually end up in a library that contains the lifetimes of everyone that has ever lived. You metaphorically pull out a book and visit a human lifetime firsthand. You are able to visit any event any sentient being ever experienced. You are there as an observer, you cannot change this history. With this "library" in place, we are able to experience everything every sentient being ever experienced firsthand. The way to the library is to go through a narrow path that lies bare every moment of your life. There are no judgements here- you are only becoming one like all the others. When you die, you go to the afterlife which is whatever you wish it to be, however you want it to be for as long as you desire. When you are through with being master of your universe you advance through the passage into the Cosmic conciousness that contains every sentient thought. You job as a living person is to educate yourself and become wise- to live a life worthy of sharing with others in this place. It is a super-highway of paths people take. Naturally everyone wants to visit the lives of famous historical figures but the laymen of these times tell the tale of life in those times. Build a religion around that.
Borther, I would say be very careful. What I see here is the same thing as the Old Testament concept, a series of rules upon which compliance is the religion. Worse, you are simply picking and choosing which parts of the Bible to apply, and that is pandoras box of issues with only the slimmest of hopes and many dangers. Your interpretation leading to tolerance of homosexuality is on thin theological ice. The Anglican church and other progressive and tolerant churches have defined positions that stand upon MUCH stronger theological grounds. Might I suggest this book rather than simply deeming something you find distasteful as an error induced by human hands? http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo3631097.html What I do not see is Jesus, at all. I do not see a focus on his teaching, his love, his compassion, his wisdom and desire to see us find and enjoy a relationship with God. I say this brother, because the human hands portion of your interpretation is about your opinion, you. Christ is, and must be, the center of our religion.
I don't see much of Jesus in any christian bsed religion now days...mostly just people who talk about him while doing the exact oposit of what he taugght.
