Tuesday 12 February 2013

Religious intolerance in Christianity

Gabriel Baicu


I can not say, with absolute certainty that the best option for water baptism is the child or the adult, but I can safely say that we must respect the beliefs of everyone in this and in all other aspects of spiritual life. Christian faith is based on their beliefs and not "absolute truths." Certainly any Christian believes that Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life, for them, that is a truth with absolute value. But I do mean to relative doctrinal truths that claim to be "absolute truths." Latter does not exist and everyone who says that he or she has such "absolute truths" lies. In the Bible, in Mark 16 to 16, says that he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the text does not exist in the first manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark and hence in the original manuscripts, after which, receive copies were made. The original text of the Gospel of Mark was lost. As there are no other NT texts to confirm that Jesus said these words, those in Mark 16 to 16 must be put in question. We know we have to go through water baptism, but to be honest, outside our inauthentic text of the Gospel of Mark 16; 16, we have no Biblical basis requiring firmly the principle that water baptism of adults is the norm.
Whoever believes with conviction that this is the case and that only water baptism of adults is valid, is a right which must be respected and nobody can deny it. On the other hand, those who despise and condemn people, who do not believe in the same way, have no biblical or other basis to do so and they become the tool of the ecclesiastical institutions that use them to achieve their own goals. Those purposes are, most often, of no spiritual nature, but are institutional interests, the proliferation of religious organizations. The current text of the Gospel of Mark was filled with verses 9-20 and it appeared much later in the writings of NT. Jesus did not say those words, (those in Mark 16, with 16), they were written by scribes who added them because they thought so, giving the whole Christian community upside down. There is no prohibition in the NT, which prevents water baptism of children.
If God wished, such prohibition would be introduced and Jesus would have said that no child is allowed to be baptized in water. But the opposite happens; In O.T. God commanded circumcision of children at the earliest age, when they didn’t have their own judgment to decide what happens to them. Why asked God the circumcision of children without them being able to discern and consent? Children were to join the people of God in a similar way as new born babies, through water baptism are considered to become Christian. Jesus, in turn, asked those around him to let the children come to Him. Jesus did not ban any water baptism of children and what is not forbidden is allowed. Where Jesus wanted to ban one thing, He made this expressly, for example, fornication or chasing after money. If there is no prohibition in the Bible, which prevents water baptism of children, why is this practice that wrong and why the Neo-Protestants consider themselves superior, to other Christian denominations, from this point of view? There is simply something about proselytism and the best way to attract new members is to convince the faithful that they have a vital need to be baptized into adulthood. I think about this is primarily about.
I do not do any ‘games’ for the  institutional Romano Catholic or Orthodox Churches or for the Protestants or others,  when I say that I believe that water baptism can be done to the children and, where appropriate, of course, to the adults. Nevertheless, the baptism with the Holy Ghost can not be done by men, but only by God. For this reason, many Roman Catholics or Orthodox Christians or others    remain underdeveloped, spiritually speaking, and they never have a true spiritual life because they never go through the process of regeneration and they don’t acquire, directly from God, the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Priests perform rituals on children, which symbolize filling them with the Holy Spirit, but this is not actually the complex process of spiritual transformation through which a person should go, but rather a symbol, a ritual, that embodies a reality, but not reality itself. If they were really honest, Neo-Protestants would respect the beliefs, concerning water baptism, of Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants or other Christians and would focus on to the preaching of the need of the new birth, spiritual regeneration, without which none can see and can enter the Kingdom of God. (John 3, 3-6)
In all cases, everyone's beliefs should be respected and whether it is Roman Catholics, Orthodox or neo-Protestants, all have a chance for the salvation of their soul, through the faith they have in God and not by the moment of the baptism in water. Faith is a spiritual gift and everyone who has this gift, can be sure that this gift has effect on the relationship between God and them and this is true for every Christian. Many are those who are devoted, body and soul, to religious doctrines and religious institutions, but this kind of dedication deserves only God and not the religious organizations or their doctrinal teachings. We do not have to be a good Roman Catholic, a good Orthodox, a good Baptist, a good Pentecostal etc, but we must be just good Christians. I invite you to visit
www.gabrielbaicu.com

Is the Church One or many? (Part II.)

Gabriel Baicu




     The place of the born again Christians is “in Christ,” and this situation can happen only when He lives through the Holly Spirit inside us. I quote:
“But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus.” (Efeseni 2; 4-7)
The relationships which binds together the born again Christians, from all over the world, and all times, it is not a conventional or organizational one, in the sense of the religious organizations or institutions, it is not even a connection based on the same cultural values. I will try to describe this relationship through an analogy.  Let’s say that a very influent, and reach person organizes a party. The reach person knows many people, but the guests themselves don’t know each other, at least not all of them. All the guests will arrive at a certain point to know each other, when the party will be on, but this was possible by the initiative of the influent person, not by the actions or decisions taken by the guests themselves. Something similar happens with the Church of God. We don’t know each other, but Jesus knows every one of us. Christ created the unity of the Church, in Himself, and for Himself. He invited us, each and every one of us, to be with Him forever, in His Heaven. The true Church of God is not based on our decision to become a member of a certain local or national community, named Church. This can be a useful organization, for a time, but let’s not allow us to be deceived; the One Church of God is not that. We should not confound the true Church of God with the religious traditions, materialized in religious institutions.
At this point I should answer to a possible question namely: “Which is the visible part, of the invisible church?” My answer is divided in two. Firstly, the visible part of the invisible Church is not a certain institutional Church or religious organization or another, it is not a Christian denomination, none of them, and it is the exterior expression of every person, who is really “in Christ.” How can we know that someone is in Christ? We can know it by his or hers spiritual fruits, and power. (Matthew 7; 15-16) Secondly, Jesus is where two or three are gathered in His name. (Mathew 18; 20) Nevertheless, where two or three are gathered, in Jesus name, this is not the Church itself but a Christian community or Christian gathering. Usually, this communities or gatherings are considered to be local Churches, and they are locally organized Churches, religious organizations, built in Jesus’ name, but they are not the unique Church of God, in which all members are in perfect unity. This is just because there is not any institution or organization, on earth, the rules of which to be identical with the principles of the Kingdom of God, and of the true Church of God. There is One Church, and many Christian organizations. Does anyone know a local Church in which all members are in complete unity one with another? There is not such a place, I reckon, a physical determined place, but there is a spiritual realm for that. It is God’s realm, He who is a spiritual Being. This place is inside us, in our spirits, and of course outside us, in God. The error in the history of Christianity is the excess of materialization, of material forms, and rules, in connection with God’s spiritual reality. Confusion occurs frequently, between the material symbolism, and the reality symbolized. 
It is a difference, and the difference is important. Where is the difference? The Church of God is One, because Jesus wanted to be One, when asking God for its unity, so the unity is the main characteristic, of the true Church of God. Uniqueness of the Church it is not something lacking importance, it is, in fact, the sign, which allows us to identify it. Jesus gave us this sign, in order to understand where we can find the true Church of God, and this sign is the spiritual unity. Where is a complete, perfect spiritual unity, there, and only there is the true, the unique Church of God. But this sign, at least for the moment is manly in us. Nevertheless, something like that cannot be found, at present time, in the physical realm, still less in the organizational, or institutional reality. The unity of the true Church of God is a spiritual reality, which is found “in Christ,” and of course in us, in our inner spirits. It is a unity of the hearts, and of the minds, of the feelings, of the spiritual love, which we carry in us, every regenerated spirit. When we find two, or more people, loving each other like Christ, and being ready to die, one for the other, is there a visible side of the One Spiritual Church? Yes it is a glimpse of that marvellous reality, which is the true Church of God. The institutional Churches are divided by their doctrines, but we are united by our love one for the other. I don’t mind if you are a Roman Catholic, an Orthodox, a Protestant or others if I meet with you, on the spiritual realm of love, und understanding, if I meet with you in Christ. Even if that is generated by Jesus in our spirits, nevertheless, has important, and visible effects in our dally lives.
None has more spiritual merits than others, and the appurtenance to a certain Christian denomination or to another it is not at all a merit of us. We were born in a certain Christian tradition, and we don’t have to leave that particular tradition, in order to be a spiritual regenerated human being. It is not a certain tradition or its doctrine which stops us to be good Christians, it is only our will. In the same time any Christian denomination has the tendency to keep us in its grips, to transform us in it’s, so to speak, clients, people dependent on their teachings, and doctrines. The Christian dogmas and doctrines are the chains with which the institutional Churches keep us tight up to them. They want us to be dependent of them, for their interests, not ours. I will use another quotation:
“But, now, in union with Christ Jesus, you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies.” (Ephesians 2; 13-14)
Are all the Christians One body, united by the own body of Christ. Apparently they are not; they are separated by numerous contradictions, regarding certain rituals, dogmas, and doctrines. Jesus broke down the wall, but the people of faith built it again. How was then this wall rebuilt? It was by the limited human understanding. What is the best Christian set of dogmas and doctrine? None is the best. All of them are just attempts to understand a transcendental, infinite reality, who is God with finite human minds. Are they not “absolute truths” of the religion, which is in the possession of an institutional Church or another? No, they are not. All that we have are but relative truths, which can be reformulated, and must evolve in the same time with the general human knowledge, regarding the universe, and with the human understanding of its own place in it. The institutional religion is in a sharp decline, because clinging on it’s, so called, “absolute truths” it cannot answer to the questions posed by the modern man. Nevertheless, what is perennial in Christianity is the never doubtful personal experience or encounter with God. God doesn’t ask us to be faithful to a set of dogmas but to be faithful to certain values, and the most important of them is the spiritual love.
This spiritual love is not a blind sentiment but it is a principle, which has a value for us only if we are able, each of us, to find our personal arguments to sustain it as a valid principle. I cannot love just because it is a commandment of God, to do so. None can love by obligation, as a consequence of a command; we have to have reasons, personal reasons to do that. This is the authentic Christianity, to have the mind of Christ, in us, built by God through our personal experience, and personal reflection. This is the role of human culture, opposite to religious reductionism, to help us find the reasons why human beings deserve to be loved. To say that humans are evil is a tremendous over simplification, and we should keep our guard against this type of assertion. Humans are evil, and they are marvellous, in the same time, and God helps us to discern the way to develop the potential, which is inherent in us, to be like Him. Humans have the potential to be like Hitler or like mother Teresa. To be like the latter is possible but the difference is made by the presence of God, through His Spirit, in a certain person. In fact, being like Hitler means, to consider the human beings inheritably evil, and deserving to die.  Hitler considered Jews the incarnation of evil, and he was determined to destroy them. Some teachers maintain that humans are evil. We don’t need this type of propaganda, in order to make us believe in God. In the middle, are the majority of the humans, who are neither like Hitler nor like mother Theresa. I would like to say that the Christian ideal for the human person, proposed by the organised religion, is much above the humanistic one, but I cannot do that because I cannot live aside the fact that without freedom people cannot express their doubts, their thoughts or their faith, and freedom was the last thing accepted in the history of the institutional Christian Churches. Even the chance we have for much better information and communication is gained in spite of the religious institutions and not with their help. The value of Christianity is in us, not in the organized or institutionalized religion.
What am I saying here? Are they not eternal values or truths? They are. The existence of God, His presence in us, and the pattern of Christ as an exemplary Being are eternal values. On the other side, the human approximations about the understanding of God materialized in religious dogmas and doctrines are not eternal values because we will know everything about God, only when we will meet Him, face to face. (1 Corinthians 13; 12) Only then we will meet eternal and absolute truths. Until then all knowledge about God is relative, and not absolute, consequently all religious dogmas and doctrines are only partial truths, mixed with error. The human opinions about God were artificially transformed in eternal values by the religious institutions in order to give us the impression that they have the monopoly on the truths about God. But that is false. That has to stop. The Bible, the modern sciences, the human culture, search in the same direction, and this direction explicitly or implicitly cannot by other than God.
If God exists, and I maintain that He does, all human knowledge brings us to Him. God gave us unity “in Christ,” through His body, and we strive to destroy it replacing His universal truth with our truths. We are united “in Christ,” by Him, in the unity of our spiritual essence, which is our drive towards harmony, towards happiness, towards eternity. Of course that we are One if the same Absolute Being, dwells, and manifest Himself in each, and every one of us, we are One “in Christ” then, and only then when we are guided by the same Spirit. For this reason, I maintain that the unity of the God’s Church is a spiritual unity, and not an institutional one. The visible connections between the members of a religious institution are mainly determined by them being linked within the same organizational framework, and not necessarily a personal, internal, spiritual connection.
In the same time everyone, who is guided by the same Holly Spirit is united with the others by the unity created between them, by the presence of the Holly Spirit, in them. This is the Church, the unity of the Holly Spirit in us, this is the One Spiritual Church, a conventional name, which can be also replaced by others names, such as the Church of the Elect, or others. This is not at all a new Christian denomination; this is a spiritual reality existent from the moment of the Pentecost, up to the end. I will take another quotation:
“So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between man and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3; 28)
One should notice that Paul didn’t use the future tense but the present and he didn’t say that the Christians will be sometimes one in Christ, but he maintained that they are already one in Christ Jesus. He spoke about a reality existent in his dally experience of life and he emphasised the actuality of the unity of the Christians in Christ. Through their faith in God, all Christians become sons, and obviously daughters of God. (Galatians 3; 28) In the same time, God sent in our hearts His Holly Spirit, Who is He, and Who gives us the right to call Him Father. (Galatians 4; 6) It is certain, taken account of numerous biblical texts, that the presence and the manifestation of the Holly Spirit, inside every practicing Christian, it’s a condition for the appurtenance of the true Church of God. (John 16; 5-15; Ephesians 2; 18) Through the Holly Spirit, God transforms the human beings, in a profound way, and He gives us birth, spiritually. (John 3; 6)
The true Church of God is seen by Paul the apostle, in an analogy with a human body. It is a lively organism in which its members are parts ones to the others, and together they form a unity.
“Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink. For the body itself is not made up of only one part, but of many parts.” (1 Corinthians12; 12-14)
Unhappily, seeing the outlook of Christianity, at the present time, there are many bodies, and not just one. All this apparent bodies are the countless Christian denominations. Because there are so many apparent bodies, and each pretends to be the body of Christ, the conflicts, and the competition, between the parts, are thriving. Which is the body of Christ? Is it the institutional Orthodox Church, the institutional Romano Catholic Church, the institutional Greco Catholic Church, the Protestant ones, the Evangelical ones, The Baptists ones, the Pentecostal ones, or which of them? The answer is that none of these institutional Churches, taken separately or all of them taken together is the true Church of God. Why is that? Firstly, because the main trend, the distinctive sign for the identification of the true Church of God is unity, the answer to Jesus’ prayer for unity. (John 17; 21) Without unity there is not the true Church of God. Inside none of the institutional Churches can be found perfect or complete unity, and between them the disunity is obvious.
Which is then the true Church of God? The One Spiritual Church of God is formed by all the Christians born from God, who become new creations, with their name registered in the book of life, and who are known by Jesus personally, because they are in a personal relationship with Him. (John 3; 3-6; 2 Corinthians 5; 17; Revelation 20; 15) For this reason, I would say, that to know God means to be known by Him. (Matthew 7; 23)  From an earthly perspective, many of the above were in the past, are in the present, and will be in the future, but only up to a time, as members in all the institutional Churches or outside them. At a certain time all born again Christians will have to come out of the institutional Churches. I quote:
“Then I heard another voice from heaven, saying: <<Come out, my people! Come out from her! You must not take part in her sins; you must not share in her punishment!>>” (Revelation 18; 4)
The carnal Christians form huge armies, which are linked, and emotionally attached, more to the doctrines of the institutional Churches than to the Person of God. All born again Christians, but not only born again nominally, bearing this name only as a mark of a another Christian denomination, but spiritually regenerated, transformed, and becoming a new kind of human being, a new creation, regardless to what Christian denomination belong, or all born again Christians with no connections to any religious institution, constitute together the true Church of God, the spiritual Body of Christ.
If it is true that there is not salvation outside the Church, this principle doesn’t refer to any institutional Church, but to the true Church of God. There is not salvation outside the One Spiritual Church, the body of Christ, because none can live outside the Body. If we accept that the New Testament speaks validly about a Church, and not only about the Kingdom of God, and if we accept that the concept Church is not just a late creation of a religious organization or a insertion of Paul the apostle over Jesus’ teachings, than the Church is not dependent upon an institution or another is a reality constructed by God. If we don’t accept the concept of Church as being consistent with Jesus’ teachings, but only a human construct based only on human interests, we nevertheless have to admit that there is a spiritual community in Christ, a unity recommended by Him, between His followers. We can name this reality a part of the Kingdom of God but it is what God expressed in Jesus. Is there anyone to believe that in the Kingdom of God will be divisions based on the appurtenance to a religious institution or to another? I don’t think so, and I am sure that in the Kingdom of God there are not religious institutions, of any kind, because the Kingdom of God is another order of things. In the Kingdom of God there is complete unity between the believers, but as Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within us. (Luke 17; 21)

Is the Church One or many? (Part I.)

Gabriel Baicu



The unity of the True Church of God is not only a past or future event, it is a present, and actual reality. This is one of the best demonstrate teachings, in the New Testament, but also one of the most neglected. Why is so neglected? Because many see a possible threat to the stability of the religious institutions, and prefer not to speak at all about that. What are then the biblical foundations for the thesis that, in the present time, there is in fact One true Church of God, and many religious institutions? The whole development starts with the text existent in the gospel of John, chapter 17, where we learn that, before being crucified, Jesus prayed to the Father that all Christians to be one. I have to say that there are at least 15 years that I maintain that this is a very important set of teachings, which can make a lot of light in the hart of Christianity. Because, almost accidentally, I found that there are few other teachers who present the same thesis, I consider that detailed explanations of how the unity in the Body of Christ has to be understood are needed. I quote from the New Testament:
“And now I am coming to you; I am not longer in the world, but they are in the world, Holy Father keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one just as and I are one.” (John 17; 11)
Another quotation:
 “I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me. I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one. Just as you and I are one. I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.” (John 17; 21-23) I am using for these quotes the “Good News Bible – New Testament, edition 2005” 
First of all, one can be able to see that the unity among the Christians is the condition of the viability of the Christian message to the world. “May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me” The unity of the Church is the most important message given by Christ, regarding the relations between his followers. In order that the world believes that Jesus was sent by the Father, the Christians must be one. In fact they are one, but their unity it is a spiritual unity not an institutional unity.
Secondly, speaking about unity, Jesus didn’t emphasis a natural, worldly unity, based on compromises but a perfect one. What is the pattern of this unity, requested by Jesus, in His prayer? It is the unity which is characteristic for the inner reality of the Trinity. “Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Inside the Trinity there is a perfect unity, and we speak about ‘consubstantiality.’ Between the Father, the Son, and the Holly Spirit there is unity in essence, in ‘ousia,’ and the same unity is desired by Jesus to exist between the Christians, who are members of the true Church of God. In fact, this fundamental unity, this unity “in substance” exists between the members of The One Spiritual Church. It is not a unity in the future; it is a unity existing in the present times. It is a unity which binds together all Christians who are guided by the Holy Spirit, and of whom human nature is amended by their spiritual regeneration. It is not possible to be otherwise, because we don’t have, in the Bible, any example of prayer, made by Jesus, which was not answered by God. Let me quote again form the New Testament:
“They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, <<I thank you, Father, that you listen to me.  know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.” (John 11; 41-42)
Why were then these words, between Jesus, and the Father, recorded, and noted? It is for our sake, that we can understand that all Jesus’ prayers were answered by the Father. The bound between Father and Son is perfect. The Son doesn’t need to plead to the Father, in order to persuade Him to do something. The Son, and the Father are one, and all that was done, and that was said, by the Son, was in perfect agreement with the will of the Father. In other words, not a single initiative was taken by the Son, before to be decided together with the Father. All the words said by Jesus, in His earthly life, were given to Him, by the Father. Let me take another quotation:
“Do you not believe, Philip that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I have spoken to you, Jesus said to the disciples, do not come from me. The Father, who remains in me, does his own work.” (John 14; 10)
We can safely affirm that all words uttered by Jesus were, in fact, said by the Father, through the Jesus’ mouth. The Father and the Son is one God, even if they are in two different ‘hypostasis.’ When Jesus prayed Father prayed, in the same time, because the Father was in Jesus. Not to answer to the Jesus’ prayer, concerning unity was equal with the situation in which Father would not listen to His own prayer, but that is an absurdity. Concerning the unity of the Christians, we can easily notice, at a first glance, that almost 2000 years melt away, and the prayer of unity was not positively answered. When then can we hope for unity, considering the fact that in the present there is more divisions, than in the past? More and more Christian denominations were added, in the history of Christianity, and the trend is an increase in their number. It seems like we are going in the opposite direction. Why were all the Jesus’ prayers answered positively, but not the unity prayer, which is essential for the Church?
It is true that if we look around us and see the divisions among the religious institutions we can be tempted to conclude that Jesus’ prayer was not answered, in a positive manner. But may be we don’t look where it should. If we look carefully, we can se that behind the institutional Churches there is a spiritual reality, the Christ’s Bride, constituted by spiritually regenerated Christian, who don’t always know each other, personally, and who are spread amongst many Christian denominations, and some of them are outside all such denominations. Some Christians are totally independent in their faith, and are not members to any institution or Christian organized religion. The perfect unity among Christians existed in the past, exists in our days, and will exist in the future, but this is a spiritual unity, not an institutional unity. In the midst of obvious tensions, and visible divisions among institutional Churches, The One Spiritual Church enlightens the paths toward eternity of those who believe in God.
The unity between the Christians, born from God, is a unity “in Christ.” I will try to clarify this aspect. The Church of the elect is the Body of Christ. I quote:
“God put all things under Christ’s feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things. The church is Christ’s body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.” (Ephesians 1; 22-23)
The place of the born again Christian is “in Christ,” and this situation can happen only when He dwells, through the Holy Spirit, in the human beings. Another quotation:
“In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2; 6-7)
In order to be able to understand the unity of the Church of God, as a present, not a future reality, we have to start we the fact that Christ is not divided. (1 Corinthians 13) In the same time, we have to see the complexity of the Christian phenomenon, and the inherent polarity of the Church of God. On the one side we have, the high spirituality taught by Christ, and on the other we have, the organized religion. The true Church of God is constituted by those known by Christ, before the foundation of the world. (Romans 8; 29) All the members of the true Church of God will be saved, because their salvation is prepared by God, in Christ, beforehand. What I am saying is that the true Church of God is made by the elect, and it is not an institution or another, but it is a spiritual reality. On the other side, we have many religious institutions, and organizations, which we call them Church. In this type of institutions one can find many types of people, spiritual, and carnal, and many type of interests. What is the relationship between them? In fact, many members of the true Church of God are members in one or in another religious institution, and that is the connection between the One Spiritual Church of God, and the many institutional Churches.
Is the Church of God, in the same time, one, and many, or is it one in essence, and many in manifestations? I reckon that what divides The Body of Christ are the doctrines, the human understanding, which is by nature limited, and finite, and what unite the One Spiritual Church is the presence of God in the human persons. When God is present in us, our relationship with Him is not based on the acceptance of a doctrine or another, but is based on His Holly Spirit, that is, it is based on real, vivid experience with Him. God doesn’t communicate to us any particular dogma or doctrine of faith, but He makes us feel His presence. If you know God in you, and experience His presence, you don’t need any doctrine to confirm or contradict that kind of spiritual experience. For this reason we can find authentic people of God in any Christian confession. With Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodoxies, Protestants, Baptists, Pentecostals, and so an, we find everywhere great experiences with God, and great people of faith. God doesn’t make any difference between Christian confessions when He gives tremendous spiritual experiences to people of faith.
God doesn’t make any difference amongst His people, and He doesn’t condition His relationship with one person or with another, by the appurtenance of that person to a certain Christian confession or to another. Only humans make this difference. Why is that? Because is humanly to do it. God saves persons, individuals, and not religious institutions. We have to understand that. The affiliation to a certain Christian confession or to another it is not a guarantee for our salvation, and on the other side the formal attachment to a certain Christian denomination or to another, it is not a handicap for our spiritual trajectory. There are not institutional Churches saved as such. That is, there are not institutions which are saved, but persons, and each, one by one, that means, in a personal manner. God didn’t embody Himself, in a certain religious institution or another, but in a Person, in Jesus Christ. Salvation is for humans, who understands God, and feels how God feels, and thinks, how God thinks. Religious institutions don’t have feelings, they have rules, they don’t love us, they organize us, never forgetting their own interests, and their survival. Religious institutions have their own agenda, sometimes very different from God’s agenda. For example, a humble, unnoticed person, for a religious institution can be very precious for God. Why is that? Because the institutional Churches function manly on the basis of the theatrical spectacle, and silence, and contemplation, doesn’t find there any place.
The true Church of God it is not One and many, it is One, but the manifestations of Christianity are very diverse. What I am saying is that while there is only One true Church there are, in the same time, many institutional Churches, with doctrines, which contradict each other. I cannot maintain that the Church of God is One in essence, and many in manifestations, because not all the manifestations of the institutional Churches are real exterior manifestations of the true Church of God. Rather, I should say that the true Church of God’s manifestations are not identical with all the manifestations of the Christian institutional Churches. For example, when people were burned to the stake by the official Christian institution, the true Church of God was not there. When seek persons were considered witches that was not an authentic manifestation of the true Church of God. The antifeminism, the hostility to the development of modern sciences are not the manifestations of the true Church of God, which is The One Spiritual Church. All of the above are manifestations of an organized religion, named Christianity, which was not intended to become a powerful institution or many, by Christ. Jesus was in conflict with institutionalized religion, with its incapacity to understand the human personal aspirations. Why then do we introduce the same religious institutions, and we empower them, on the back of Jesus’ teachings? It is probably because sometimes we don’t have access to the authentic, the spiritual teachings of Christ. They cannot be understood but only by people who are spiritually regenerated, who are born again. Jesus said that unless we are born again, we cannot see or enter in the Kingdom of God. (John 3; 3-6)  In other words, if we are not born again, meaning, spiritual regenerated, transformed, becoming a new creation, we cannot understand or ‘see’ God. With natural human minds, it is impossible to understand God.
The One Spiritual Church is not another Christian denomination, it is the spiritual status and unity of Christianity. Jesus prayer was answered positively by the Father because the true Church of God is in perfect and complete unity despite so many divisions of the visible Churches or rather of the Christian religious institutions.

The new Reformation and Looking for the true Church of God

Gabriel Baicu
 



In the context of the existence of so many Christian denominations the question about the true Church of God is entirely justified. Each and every Church presents us with the claim that it is the true Church of God and that its doctrine is the correct one and maintains that all other Christian doctrines are marred by mistakes. It is understandable that the universal spiritual experience of Christianity is mirrored by the cultural traditions of the receivers and that these traditions leave their marks on the particular mode of expression of faith. The forms of expression of Christianity in Brasilia, in Siberia, in Africa or in North Europe are not the same. The way I approach the subject is not so much influenced by this acknowledgement, because I am not concerned primarily by the modes of manifestation, individualised by cultural expressions, of the Christian movement. I am mostly concerned with the doctrinal differences of diverse Christian denominations, inscribed in their doctrines and dogmas and which differentiates them. The acceptance of certain specificities doesn’t affect the unity of Christianity if there is an accord on the principle of the imperfection of human knowledge, concerning the issues of faith. There are two kinds of unity, spiritual unity and institutional unity.
The only thing about God, which can be fully known when living on the earth, is His love. The human condition allows us, in a perfect way, to experiment Christian love. The personal life sacrifice, for the benefit of other humans, the financial generosity etc. don’t have applicability in the future heaven, the Kingdom of God, which will be installed on the new earth, where there will be no more poor people and where none will threaten our lives. Here and now, on the actual earth, it is the proper environment, the field, where we can experience agape, in its fullness and not only in words, but mostly by concrete attitudes and facts. God is love and whoever doesn’t love him or she doesn’t know God. (1 John 4: 8) In respect to the ontological knowledge of the infinite dimension of the cosmic reality, which is God, by finite entities, meaning us, the situation is different. At the moment we, the humans, have difficulties when we try to conceive infinity; consequently it is hard to mentally conceive God. The pretensions of the traditional Churches to possess the ultimate true about God are absurd. They just cannot conceive God and them are far from the knowledge of concrete things about Him. In spite of this, there are many institutional Churches which pretend, with arrogance, that they succeeded in fixing, in their doctrines and dogmas, the ultimate true about God.
A difficulty emerges when we compare among the doctrines and dogmas of the institutional Churches these “absolute truths” and when, as a consequence of this comparison, the conclusion is that they contradict each other, sometimes in an irreconcilable way. From a teaching made to close the gaps between persons and to unite them under the same vision about life, Christianity transformed itself in a reason for divisions, separation and conflict among them. The faith in One God, in a Trinitarian God, and its expression in a multitude of traditional or institutional Churches, which doctrines contradict each other, is a reality of which effects extend during two millennia and also with important consequences for the future.
The Christians became used with this anomaly, but if we look carefully into it, this is a fundamental problem, when being approached may give the answers for many of the dilemmas of Christianity. Which is the true Church of God? Is it the Romano Catholic Church, the Orthodox one or the Greco Catholic one, Lutheran, Calvinist, Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelist, Adventist, etc.? What is the explanation that even if there is One God there is also so many Churches and not just one Church, the way that would be rational. How should we see the various institutional Churches? Are they successive evolutionary levels, a natural evolution of phenomena in its dynamic, due to an increase in knowledge and understanding, or as parallel branches developed from the same tree, all we the same cognitive and spiritual value?
Was the Reformation, bringing with it, a plus in the knowledge and understanding of the Bible or of the Person of God? Undoubtedly, even if God don’t change, the knowledge about Him doesn’t stagnate. This knowledge and understanding evolves and this progress is expressed in new teachings. Nevertheless the differences and the contradictions between the teachings of the institutional Churches can’t be explained only by the evolution in the knowledge and understanding of God and of the Bible cause these are generated also by institutional interests bound to the need to perpetuate and develop the multitude of Christian institutions, named Churches. So many times, the evolution of Christianity is seen as an involution and many are those who ask for a comeback to the primitive Church. Sometimes institutional Churches name themselves in manners that even their name can be seen as a suggestion to the apostolic period, for example: “The Apostolic Pentecostal Church.” Consequently, the diverse corporatist Churches emerged from the 16 to the 20 century cannot be regarded as superior levels in the evolution of Christianity because they are born from the nostalgia of the past. ‘Superior’ in this context means a comeback to the source, to the beginnings. How far should we comeback to the beginnings and how genuine this return can be?  We need always to comeback to Jesus teachings because He is the founder of Christianity. But what means evolution for Christianity? Is it about new revelations or only about the revelation already given through Jesus and through the New Testament? It is not the drive towards Christian unity, the real evolution? Why is that? That is because Jesus urged unity from the Christians. (John 17; 21) In the same time, I will make the difference between institutional ecumenism and spiritual ecumenism. The institutional one it looks like being problematic, but the spiritual one is powerful and is a fact, it is the power and the future of Christianity. What is the spiritual ecumenism? It is manly the link between Christian faithful persons, regardless of their appurtenance to an institutional Church or the other. It is a unity in and through the Holy Spirit, in and through Christ, in a through God. It is a spiritual unity not necessarily and institutional one.
Through the Bible we are informed that there is a single Church of God.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4; 4-6)[1]
We should note that apostle Paul referred to the times of his life, when he has spoken about the unity of Christ’s body, namely about the true Church of God. The unity is not a project in the future it is a present reality, it is fully actual. The unity of the Church of God was a unity from the times of Paul and in fact was an always present reality in the true Church of God. The first problem is to know where must be looked for this unique Church. Is this One Church of God one of the many Christian denominations? If the answer is a positive one, which one of them is the true Church of God? What are the criteria to evaluate the traditional Churches in order to know which the true Church of God is? Is one of the criteria the conformity between a certain doctrine and the Bible and who is to establish this concordance? The Bible is a collection of texts which interprets one through the others but in the context that there are so many interpretations which are the sets of criteria suitable to insure the most exact expression of its message? 
Are the texts of the Bible only a linguistic expression, a ‘enveloping’ with words of something much more profound and high, that they are able to express, an expression of the spirit of Christianity? Most probably the answer is a positive one. Which is the main or the essential message of the Bible, above the rich diversity of its interpretations? How come that all institutional Churches are quoting the biblical texts as an argument for authenticity but, in the same time, all contradict each other, in respect of their doctrines? Supposing that we compare Christian doctrines among themselves; can we establish which the correct one is, when we compare them with the Bible?  Personally, studying the teachings of the Christian denominations I reached the conclusion that none of the doctrines of the Christian denominations are in a full accord with the N.T.
All Christian doctrines reflects, in a certain degree, the truths contained by the Bible but from the moment that they get circumscribed in a fix set of dogmas, all truths loose some of their completeness, of their spirit. The dynamic of the N.T. is a lively one and to enclose it within the limits of a doctrine means to reduce its vivacity and even to suffocate it. The doctrines are the coffin of the spirit of Christianity. I would use the example of an object that must be cut in order to enter in a box. Under an aspect or another all the doctrines of the Christian denominations get away from the N.T. More than that, the divisions between the doctrines are sometimes deliberately cultivated because only a doctrine different from others justifies the existence of a certain Christian denomination and the leaderships of the institutional Churches are interested in maintaining the differences. This is only one of the motifs which explain why none of the existing Christian traditions can receive the qualification of the true Church of God. The problem is certainly not solved only by this acknowledgement. It is important to investigate also the possibility that all the Christian denominations together represent the true Church of God. Personally, I reject this possibility because from the presentation of the N.T. about the true Church of God one can see that its members are in a perfect unity. In the same time, the Christian denominations are divided between themselves; they are not in unity and their sum or totality, the compound realized by their institutional combination, or association, lacks the essential feature, which is unity that will allow the characterization as the true Church of God.
Before being crucified Jesus raised a desire to the Father that all Christians to be one, that is to be in unity.
<<I ask not only on behalf of this, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me>>.” (John 17; 20-23)[2]
Even though Jesus asked for unity the Christians are not yet in unity, they are not ‘one,’ as Jesus wanted for them. Is that prayer of Jesus without response and in case of a positive answer how can we explain this? As a matter of fact, none of the Jesus’ prayers, to the Father, can be without answer and that is presented by the Bible.
“They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, <<I thank you, Father that you listen to me. I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me>>.” (John 11; 41-42)[3]
Always, without exceptions the Father listen to the Son and fulfills its prayers. There is not doubt in this regard because the Father and the Son are One.
“Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I have spoken to you, Jesus said to his disciples, <<do not come from me. The Father, who remains in me, does his own work>>.” (John 14; 10)[4]
If the father was the One who prayed in Jesus, when He asked for unity among Christians it is impossible that He would not answer to His own prayer. There are not such errors with God. In fact there is unity between Christians, but is a spiritual unity not an institutional one. There is just One Spiritual Church of God and many institutional Churches. The One Spiritual Church is constituted from all Christians, regardless of the Christian denominations which they belong, who are born again, which means that they are spiritual regenerated. God is our Father only when He gives us birth, in a spiritual manner that is to be born from his Holly Spirit. Christians are born twice, ones from a biological point of view and the second time from the Spirit, which means from God.
“Jesus answered, <<I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again>>.” (John 3; 3)[5]
<<I am telling you the truth>> replied Jesus. <<No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit>>.” (John 3; 5-6)[6]
All believers who went through the process of being born again are the true children of God, because they are born from the Holly Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God. To be born of the Spirit means to be born from God, so to be His children. All this persons have the right of calling Him father.
“To show that you are his sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, <<Father, my Father>>. (Galatians 4; 6)[7]
The true Church of God is a spiritual entity, with no institutional organization, but which members are also, at the present, members of the institutional Churches but some of its members are outside any clerical institutions. The characteristics of the One Spiritual Church are: It is initiated by God. Its members are each and every one of them known and accepted by God. Its structure is established by Him. Its projects and its finality are determined by Him. This spiritual reality, which is the true Church of God, doesn’t possess material assets, such as buildings or other material means, doesn’t have paid clerical functionaries, and doesn’t have bank accounts. Its existence doesn’t need any license or approval from an official institution. The One Spiritual Church of God has its headquarters and its leadership in heaven. The entrance in the One Spiritual Church of God, for its members, was realized even before the beginning of the world. (Efeseni 1; 4)[8]
Jesus never intended to transform His Church in a religious institution. Jesus understood by Church a different thing than is usually understood today. In fact, Jesus came to preach the Kingdom of God and not a religious organization. Jesus saw in the Church His spiritual body, and also His own image. The members of His Church are to be considered His brothers and His sisters, all are destined by God to come to the same moral stature as Him. (Efeseni 4; 13) All members of the true Church of God are becoming like Christ, in His character and that doesn’t mean lack of personality but spiritual regeneration. The One Spiritual Church has its origins at the Pentecost. From it belongs all born again Christians from all institutional Churches. In the same time, only the Christians who are born again are also members of the true Church of God and that regardless of their appurtenance to any traditional Churches. That means that it is not enough to be a member of an institutional Church to gain salvation, one need to be also a member of the true Church of God, in the same time. All members of the One Spiritual Church are in perfect spiritual unity, through the Holy Spirit, even if they don’t know each other. They are bound by the love of God, existing in their beings, agape and they recognize each other when they meet.

    [1] The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Edition Oxford University Press 
[2] The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Edition Oxford University Press 

[3] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
[4] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
[5] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
[6] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers
[7] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers

[8] GOOD NEWS BIBLE…The bibles Societies/Collins, a division of HarperCollinsPublishers

Real Christianity and New Reformation

Gabriel Baicu





This reform involves replacing institutional authority with the principle of Christian love which is the exact opposite of this type of authority, enjoyed by institutional churches. In other words, religious institutions, as such, will not disappear but will be counted in, more and more, as a secondary factor for human salvation. The main factor is very God, direct and personal relationship with Him and He shall occupy the chief place in the life of the believer and not institutional churches. Church is not an intermediary between man and God. The true Church of God is constituted by all the saved and all individuals are firstly saved, than members of the true Church of God, and not the other way around. The path to salvation is Christ, but not only as a mean but also as a purpose. In order to be saved, one has to be like Christ, willing to live and to die for the ‘other.’ The church is not giving us salvation, but Christ, who lives in us, leads us to His only Church and gives us salvation. If someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Romans 8, 9) Love of divine nature is the opposite of authority, in spiritual matters, as it is based on self-sacrifice and not on imposing religious doctrines or dogmas on others.
The institutional structure of the Churches is not necessary, it is sometimes even dangerous, because religious institutions tend to usurp the privileged place that only God deserves to have in our consciences. These religious institutions squeeze us any kind of spiritual vigour, by proliferating their institutional interests ahead of our spiritual salvation. Institutional churches overlap our consciences, informed directly by God and lead us where they want and where our presence may be useful to them. The true Church of God is a spiritual entity and not an institutional one and consists of all those who are born again of God, which are written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world and who love each other as we had Christ loving us. There is only one Church of God and at the same time there are many religious institutions which are fighting each other to attract members for their organizations.
   Institutionalization of the Christian Church has not always existed; it has a historical character, has a beginning and has an end. (Revelation 17; 1) It shall be an end anyway and John's Revelation book tells us that religious organizations character, hardened into a religious complex will ultimately be responsible for persecuting spiritually regenerated Christians. (Revelation of John 17, 6) The time will come, when God's people will have to live Babylon, a symbolic name for the institutional churches, because there will be no longer any place for them. These truths must be told now, because then, when the times will be on, they will be very hard to be said. Let's imagine, for a moment, the Kingdom of God! Will the saved have authority over each other? Will be priests or bishops, pastors or with other words church functions, and the majority will be just a passive viewer? Surely not, because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the ocean is, by the waters that it covers it. (Isaiah 11; 9) Do not forget that the Kingdom of God is within us and is not in the system of any Christian religious institution. (Luke 17, 21) We do not need to seek God outside of us if He dwells in us. (John 14, 23) Whoever doesn't have God in him or she uselessly endeavors to find Him in institutional Churches. God does not dwell in buildings built by human hands, but only in human beings. (1 Corinthians 3; 16) God doesn't address us as undifferentiated masses but as individuals. Salvation is linked to spiritual progress of our consciences and internal transformation of man and not with the development or numerical progression of religious institutions. We do not have to be good Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc. We must be just good Christians and sometimes between these two levels there is inconsistency; for example, when there is division between the various Christian denominations and intolerance and when we want to monopolize certain truths, which we consider to be the exclusive preserve of  the Christian confession of which we belong. Some of us, the Christians, believe that the power of the Holy Spirit and its manifestations are only possible to be experienced by the members of the Pentecostal institutional movements. This is a serious error, with dramatic consequences for many believers. All Christians, regardless of their denominational allegiance are invited to enjoy the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit and conditioning that with the appurtenance of some Christian denominations, is more than harmful. One should not become a Pentecostal Christian in order to be endowed with the Holy Spirit and to do miracles. An Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic Christian, etc. has everything he or she needs in order to be born again and that through it, to fully manifest the power of God. If someone has the personal conviction that it is necessary to move from one Christian denomination to another, it is another matter and no one can prevent or hinder anything to the freedom of conscience of someone else. What matters, however, before God, is not to belong to a particular Christian denomination, but to belong to Him. If, for example, a Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant Christian, rather than leaving the denomination in which he or she was born, after he or she had received the filling with the Holy Spirit remains among those with whom he or she lived until then, the scale of the spiritual work can be grater. This spiritual and practical work, essential to Christianity will develop an unprecedented scope, with enormous benefits for many believers. We will see a genuine spiritual reformation when we will stop putting the interests of the Christian denominations before the interests of the people of God. Please visit www.gabrielbaicu.com