Posted on 01/06/2015 9:09:15 AM PST by marshmallow
Church closures have reached flood stage in northern Europe. According to the Wall Street Journal (“Europe’s empty churches go on sale”, unfortunately available only to subscribers), some 515 Catholic churches have been closed in Germany over the last decade and it is estimated that two-thirds of the 1600 Catholic churches in the Netherlands will be closed over the next decade. Seven hundred Protestant churches are also slated to close there over the next four years.
This trend creates obvious pressure to repurpose many large, old, expensive and high-maintenance structures. Churches are being converted to civic cultural uses where possible, such as libraries, art galleries, concert halls and fitness centers. St. Joseph’s Catholic church in Arnheim, Netherlands has become a skateboard hall for kids, and of course churches of all denominations have been converted to shops and restaurants.
Even where I am writing, in Manassas, Virginia, we have one old downtown church (not Catholic) which has been a restaurant for years. I do not know whether it is a judgment that no restaurant has ever prospered there, but different proprietors and chefs keep trying.
In England, an Anglican church, with its nice high ceilings, serves as the circus training school for Circomedia. In Scotland, a Lutheran church has become a Frankenstein-themed bar. The hot new idea is to sell unused churches as homes for rich people who abhor the bourgeois boredom of standard dwellings. Considering the spatial volume, old churches come cheap. But it does take money to convert and maintain them.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicculture.org ...
The poison was already deep in the veins, which is why they allowed this to start.
If you don't believe in your own culture or civilization, why in the world would you want to insist others adopt it?
IOW, the crisis of Western Civ is and always has been internal. We're committing suicide, not being murdered.
I wouldn't mind multicultural masses if I knew that they were celebrating the diversity of their religion rather than enabling people who broke our laws to be here. They also enable baby killers and their supporters like Mario Cuomo and Nancy Pelosi to pretend they have some sort of faith while setting the stage for the wiping out of generations of unborn.
I can still believe in what the Bible says but I don't believe I'll be wasting any of my time on supporting the people who claim to be following and spreading its word.
Searching for an excuse to sleep in on Sunday mornings, are you?
On the contrary.
The cause of Christ has been damaged by the idea that there is no need for the Church which He established. All one needs is a book and one's own personal understanding of it. There's no need for me to tell you where that idea was born.
It follows from this that if one doesn't need a Church, why bother going? Each to his own. Find your own path to salvation.....or wherever you want to go. The Church has greatly aided this process with its own faithlessness and minimalism as it has attempted to ingratiate itself with a culture which will never love it. If the Church does not appear to consider it's message to be important, its certain that this sentiment will percolate through to its members and non members.
The disastrous results are now obvious.
Absolutely not.
It is through Jesus that one is saved.
And yes, people can pick up a Bible and come to salvation through reading it because it points to JESUS.
A church, any church, is NOT necessary for someone to be saved, because God saves, not churches.
The Commandments of God are have no expiry date.
The Church must come back to the Cross.
And subjectivism and individualism are the enemies of that salvation. They lead to moral relativism.
Their roots are to be found in the Reformation.
A church, any church, is NOT necessary for someone to be saved, because God saves, not churches.
The Church is the Bride of Christ.
See Ephesians.
“The maxim that “our strength is in our diversity” is nothing but a bunch of liberal BS.”
Post of the day. I hate diversity. I like success.
When I used to see that premise on PowerPoint slides, I’d ask mgmt “does that mean we need to go out and hire a bunch of below average employees?”
“The Church is the Bride of Christ.”
That refers to the body of believers not the CC. The CC was not even on the map when Christ talked of his Bride.
You need to take that up with God...
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
I don't think you do know where that idea came from...Here's where it came from:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
It's not just a book...It's the instruction manual from God...
The apostle Paul tells us to read it...And study it...And divide it into sections:
2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
You guys chose to let someone else read the bible for you and tell you what it means...The priests that teach you that that is what you need to do have been blinded...Why does your Catholic religion NOT teach you scripture like that which I have posted???
Luk_6:39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
There are some absolutely beautiful churches. Built by mostly German immigrants in the 1900-1920 time frame. And it is not people leaving the church because of religion, it is simply the lessening population across rural Iowa. As people move away, it becomes more and more of a strain to do the upkeep on these 100 year old buildings. Despite my unhappiness with the Catholic Church as a religion, I do have a concern about the cultural and architectural significance of the these churches. It would be a shame to see them rot away.
I thought that these churches should be moved and rebuilt in areas that would appreciate them.
See Ephesians.
There is no Church in Ephesians...The church however is the body of Christ with Jesus at the head (not a pope) which consists of saved members who have trusted Jesus Christ to be their Savior...
(See the Bible)
By reading that 'book' that we are told to read, one knows that...
(See the Bible)
You understand this to mean an abolition of the Ten Commandments?
As a condition for salvation??? Absolutely...Unlike the O.T. saints, the Ten Commandments are to teach us, not to condemn us...We are subject to the commandments out of love, not debt...
If you truly love God and love your neighbor, you will fulfill the Ten commandments...Not because you want to or have to...It will be automatic...
But written, compiled and canonized by men with authority from God so to do. An authority not given to all.
The apostle Paul tells us to read it...And study it...And divide it into section
And here's the irony.
In the early Church, there was no "book". The New Testament did not exist. The Christians in Corinth, Ephesus and Rome to whom Paul's letters were written did not read them as "Scripture". No, these early Christian communities received them as exactly what they were; letters of spiritual guidance from a human ecclesiastical authority. Namely, the evangelist who brought them the Gospel. That is all. The Church spread and thrived at this time using this model and this is exactly the model used in the Church today.
Likewise, when Paul and Barnabas became embroiled in an argument about circumcision in Antioch, they could not say..."let's see what the New Testament says about this." There wasn't one. Instead, Acts tells us that they returned to Jerusalem to confer with the "apostles and ancients". Again, this was the Church in action. No Scripture to turn to, no verses to quote to each other. Just the hierarchical human authority of the Apostles and those whom they subsequently ordained.
All of this was possible because it was the Church which gave us Scripture and not vice versa.
You guys chose to let someone else read the bible for you and tell you what it means...
ROFL.....isn't that what you're doing here?
The priests that teach you that that is what you need to do have been blinded...Why does your Catholic religion NOT teach you scripture like that which I have posted???
The Church teaches Scripture just fine. The Church gave us Scripture. Therefore, the Church is its guardian and faithful interpreter. Your basic model of Scriptural understanding is flawed.
This is what gets you "Rapture" ready.
Well Paul mentions the Church and says Christ is its head. Not that that counts for anything.
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