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NASB | James 4:1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 4:1 What leads to [the unending] quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not come from your [hedonistic] desires that wage war in your [bodily] members [fighting for control over you]? |
Bible Question: To all: A Protestant pastor I know once described the Catholic Church as "the devil's perfect masterpiece." I overheard another pastor of a large church describe Catholicism as "a garment of Bayblon". The current ugliness in this forum between Dalcent and Doctrinesograce is sickening. Could someone please put it in context? Where does it come from? Is it historical? Doctrinal? What is its essence, and what's it doing in the body of Christ? |
Bible Answer: A great question. I have been studying Christian history and as you read the events from the 1st century through about the 1400's, you see quite clearly that if you are going to believe Ro.13:1, then you just can't explain away the Catholic church as a 1500 year satanic plot. As you look back on what the world stage looked like at the time of the Roman empire in Jesus day and the first four centuries that followed, you have a world government (Rome) based on paganism, deification of rulers, and, to the north, barbarian tribal beliefs, spiritism, etc. Basically, the whole thing is corrupt from a spiritual viewpoint. There needs to be a global shift from polytheism to monotheism and a complete re-ordering of society. Rome began a civilizing process that pervaded the known world. Law and order was established. Even Paul leveraged his Roman citizenship (Acts 22:29). But the foundations of Rome were pagan, it could not stand for long. I believe God positioned the Catholic Church to establish law, order, education, Judeo-Christian centric values, and the abolition of polythesim, spiritism, and other forms of pagan and barbarian belief. Between the 5th and 12th centuries, monks and monastaries basically brought the rule of law to all of barbarian central Europe. Monks were sent into barbarian areas to meet with the tribal leaders, preach the gospel, establish government in the form of codifying their tribal laws and then write their history. The monasitic system was the springboard for free-market economics in central europe, demonstrating how mass production of farm goods could be accomplished. It is not an accident that when you go through Europe, every little village has a church. Civilization solidified around these monastic outposts. Was it a perfect system? No! But it suited the purposes of God in molding an entire region that would birth western society, the Judeo-Christian government system, and finally democracy itself. God's persepctive is a little broader than ours and you have to back yourself out about two millenia to see what is happening. The Catholic Church still plays an important role worldwide as an advocate for Christian values. Is their governmental system and doctrine in need of overhaul? Absolutely. But God was certainly in the birthing process of the Catholic Church and in the context of history, used it to tame the wilderness of western, central and eastern europe for over 1,000 years. Blessings, Paul |
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Questions and/or Subjects for James 4:1 | Author | ||
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flinkywood | ||
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Aixen7z4 | ||
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ursamajor | ||
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dallas_cowboy10 |