Re: [JOYnet] The origins of the Various Churches
Hi Joynetters, We will Tackle the queries raised one at a time First it is not we christians who setup peter as the leader of the apostles and the church..It was Jesus himself..who said.."you are peter, and on this rock i will build my church.." also when he said three times to him.." Feed my sheep.." Also the Lord has given a mandate to the apostles and thru them to the church..to teach and preach the good news to all nations.." In the acts of the apostles we read of the event where the apostles appointed helpers by the laying of hands..they also appointed episcopoi(overseers)and presbyteroi(elders) by laying of hands to carry forward their mission and to take care of the needs of the people.. This is what we call "Apostolic succession" Our present catholic and the orthodox churches can trace back their origins back to the apostles. Thus it is also a surity for us that the teachings of faith is the same as those of the apostles.. The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and by himself does not and cannot Change or Modify any tenets of our faith..What he does is clarify the position of the church. And as per the authority given by christ to teach the nations,he in consultation with all the other bishops after a lot of prayer and deliberation puts forth clear answers to any queries or doubts that may have been raised.. Also the core christian truths which are expressed in the Apostles creed are something which he or anyother can never change.. Also throughout history there have been few such cases where the pope has made a statement of doctrine.. What we have instead is the carrying forward or the Handing down process where the christian beliefs were handed down from one generation to the other...initially in Oral form and then in written form.. So whoever told you that the popes have set forth all these practices in the church has told u a half truth... which is worse than a lie.. Yes we will not hide the fact that there have been a few bad popes in the 2000 years of church history..but there have been many more who have been exemplary models of faith..who have killed ,tortured, maimed for being christian leaders.But as human tendency goes..we will not see the white paper instead we will concentrate on the few black spots on it.Mind u i am not accusing anyone..i am just saying that those who have mis informed u have convineinetly picked and chosen information to highlight their position that the church is pagan.. Next point.. The catholic Church is always accused of being unscriptural..Like it is mentioned.."what we practice in the Catholic Church does not agree with scripture.." Tell me where is it written in the Bible that the Bible is the only rule of faith and that whatever we do should be written in it.. No where.. 2 tim3:16 which the fundamentalists normally quote only speaks abt the Inspiration of scripture..which even the catholic church holds and proclaims..But it never speaks of the bible being the only way to discern gods will.. Paul in that passage is by the Way talking abt scripture available at his time..which is the Old testament. let us remember that the gospels, and the other books of New Testamnet were written after Paul wrote the letter to timothy. In his letter to the Romans ch1:18-20 we read that god has revealed himself to all primarily thru nature..we see the same message echoed in Psalm8 " O lord my God , when i in Awesome wonder" The second revelation of God is thru people and events..People like abraham ,jacob, moses, david..who never had a bible.But were people of faithEvents like salvation of Israel from Egypt etc. All these show the power of God..These events are what is recorded in the bible.. Also the most complete of all revelations is Jesus The WORD of GOD.his words and his deeds are recorded in the bible..So the Bible is a record of people, events, lives which reveal gods love and power to us.. It is not an all-purpose book meant to be interpreted the same way in all the times.. It is Gods Words in the words of man. Also when the protestants and fundamentalists read the bible, they understand it in a method called free interpretation where they believe that whatever meaning is apparent to the reader is the meaning of that scripture..This causes a great confusion especially since the thinking patterns and educational background of each one differs..We see the effect of this in the number of denominational churches which keep getting formed and split everyday. When we study the bible today as most of the scholars do..we use the histiro-critical method..Unlike the free interpretation method we keep in mind the fact that the specific books of the bible were written around 2000 years ago in hebrew, aramaic and greek.we use the information we gather from archoelogical findings especially those at Qumran near the dead sea which throw so much light on scripture. Let us remember that the Catholic Church compiled t
[JOYnet] A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL FOR MUMMY!!
Dear Friends in Jesus, A couple of weeks back, we were just sitting at home after dinner and having some light time together with as a family. I cracked a few jokes that I picked up from the Net Johny cracked a few of the latest 'sardarji & malayalee' Jokes that he added to his stock. My sisters too evoked sporadic laughter here and there with their lope sided jokes!. My dad had bought a nice Joke book (Laughing Gas!). And was reading jokes from it. We were having marvelous fun together. Then, all of a sudden Daddin started laughing very loud, we thought he had read some very funny joke. Akku, grabbed the joke book to see what it was, but there was nothing there Daddin narrated a small story that happened in his and mummy's life in years past. Once upon a time in the year 1992 AD we visited Kerala after a very long time. We were only 5 kids then, Augustine had not yet arrived, he was only in the plan of God... We had gone to a place called Trichur to spent a week with one of our old time family friends there.. At our friends place, we had a gala time, we used to go to the paddy fields, to the fish pond, we used to catch fishes with our bathing towels etc.we had nice fun there as kids. Those days my moms hair was long & black. She had very few grey hairs, she looked very young and really beautiful, though she never put any kind of make ups. (by the way these days she's even more beautiful, with her greying hair!!) Daddin on the other hand looked a bit oldish.. One day when we kidos were away fooling around..a visitor came to that uncles house. The aunty of the house was not keeping too well and so she was taking rest, mummy was managing the kitchen. Mummy brought tea and snacks, had a bit of chit-chat and left the room.. My dad had forgotten to introduce mummy to the guest (typical of him)... The guest happened to be a marriage broker (match-fixer!). He was very polite, and started telling my dad.. " u know, u've got a very beautiful daughter, very homely and very decent. I think I can get a good match for her!.." he went on talking about the various options, "there's this guy in USA whos got a good job, very financially sound... There is another guy in Switzerland, who is an engineer, and from a very respectable family, yet another one in Baharain.etc etc.." like a clever salesman he started unraveling his eloquent presentations that would make any listeners say "Wow!" with eyes wide open!. My dad in contrast didn't bat an eyelid, just let him go on with his verbal diahorrea. .After some time he finished. My dad said very casually." Yes, I've no problem as such,... if u get a good match..mmm.. then well and good, but on one condition.. Five Children and me will follow behind!!" The guest immediately understood his goof-up and started apologizing profusely to my dad..daddin was saying, " you should have seen the innocence on his face, he would have gladly sold his house, property and anything else just to get out of the mess he created." Daddin called mummy and narrated the story, by the time, uncle and aunty also came.all of them had a great laugh!! Daddin, has a dramatic way of narrating, . u can imagine how much we laughed and caught our stomachs that were reeling with pain!! Daddin and mummy are truly a made-for-each-other-couple! It is God who kept mummy exclusively for daddin and vice versa. It is God who brought 6 of us 'baffoons' into the world, via the moments of supreme love my parents shared. May God be glorified forever more! And by the way, before I forget, always remember, appearances are deceptive. Don't get fooled by externals alone! ok! Make it a great day, Josun Jose/New Delhi/India This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] From Gujarat
My Dear Friends, Praise God! I thought of updating you with the current situation in Gujarat. The situation is pretty bad. Since last Sunday afternoon, more than 30 people have been killed in Ahmedabad city itself. It is the official number and no one knows what is the exact number. The atmosphere in Ahmedabad city is really tense and curfew is prevailing in many areas. In the last two days, rioters burnt 100s of houses and vehicles. People are really scared to go out of their houses. It is almost two months since the trouble has started and still there is no sign of peace coming back to the city. Friends, please help Gujarat with your valuable prayers. Many of our activities are stopped because of this. An elderÂ’s retreat has already been cancelled due to the trouble. We have been preparing for a Discipleship Training by end of May and if the situation continues like this, the parents will not send their children for this. Please pray very specially that the evil one does not disturb our activities. Requesting once again your valuable prayer support, Sibi --- I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13) __ Sibi Joseph Ahmedabad, India Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] See Dave Matthews Band live or win a signed guitar http://r.lycos.com/r/bmgfly_mail_dmb/http://win.ipromotions.com/lycos_020201/splash.asp This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] prayer request
hi again everybody, hope u'r all keeping well! this is just a prayer request for me-i'm starting my 3rd sem MCA exams on apr 27th and i'd be very grateful for ur prayers. Sojan Thomas Kerala Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] prayer request
hi again everybody, hope u'r all keeping well! this is just a prayer request for me-i'm starting my 3rd sem MCA exams on apr 27th and i'd be very grateful for ur prayers. Sojan Thomas Kerala Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] Decision dilemma - thanks for u r prayers
Dear friends on the joynet, First of all let me thank you for all your prayers and support. I believe you'll will remember that i had asked for prayer support for a decesion I had to take with regard to joining in a college in Kerala. I had been offered a job in BCM college KTM where a new Social Work Department is to be started in the next academic year. After the interview i was informed that i was first on the list and they asked me to confirm my joining. There was a hicup in taking the decesion bcoz of the pay and job security things like that. Presently i am working in a college with UGC pay scale and it is a permanent job. I am doing pretty well here at Stara as Acting Principal of my college. My wife is also having a job here as a Psychiatric Social Worker in a Mentally Defecient Children's Home. It was a tough decesion to be taken to leave all these secure things and go to Kerala. Further it is our firm belief that it was Our Lord who had brought us to Satara. Now the confussion was at all levels #Does our lord want us to go back to Kerala #It is the first self financing course for MSW in Kerala - will it run #What about the job security #What about the pay #How are we going to meet the family expences #What if the department at BCM closes down #What about my wife's job and the income we are getting from that #Will she get a job in Kerala. #What about my sons schooling Well the list was going on and on and so was the evil one trying to get hold of us by creating dilemma and fear in making a decision. On the 16 on Apirl i was with my parents at Kavalam, my home town in Allapuzha dist of Kerarla. The whole night i could not sleep properly and the Evil one was showing me all the good things i have at Satara and making me compare with all the difficulties at Kottayam. In the morning i was so tensed and worried ACTUALLY SCARED that i was not even able to talk to my parents. It was my grand mothers death anniversary and we went for mass. During the mass i gave up all to Our Lord,with tears and asked Him to help me take a decision . THE ONE HE WANTED ME TO TAKE. The fear was still there even after the mass and I was finding it very difficult to understand... Even the LORD was not helping. Well He had better plans. He intervened through my Dad. On reaching home and seeing my body language my dad said " r u scared about taking the decision - do not worry Joseph go ahead we are all with you." After which we spent nearly an hour talking about the finer points. I WAS ABLE TO SAY YES TO OUR LORD AFTER THAT. AND BELIEVE ME IT IS THEN THAT I FELT THE "PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING WITHIN ME" Our Lord wanted me to go through all that and He wanted me to say YES FIRST. I know it is not going to be easy when we return but then our whole family is thrilled and my wife and me are very joyed that we could take a decesion for Our Lord. I am not sure what He has in store for me but ITS ALL GOING TO BE FOR OUR GOOD. I am shifting my family in the first week of May and I will joining only by Aug/Sept. when the classes begin. In this trobled times all you (some of you even sent comforting messages on the mail) have prayed for my family and me i wish to thank each of you for that. Keep us in your prayers that we may always walk in the way of our Lord. Wih prayers Yours in Christ Joseph/Satara - moving to Kottyam This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] Birthday Notification !!!
Hi Friends These are the birthday babies of the day (April 24). manju v k <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> babu k s <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Wishing you a very happy birthday God Bless With Love The JOYnet Family This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] exams!!!!
hi again everybody, hope u'r all keeping well! this is just a prayer request for me-i'm starting my 6th sem exams on apr 25th and i'd be very grateful for ur prayers. my family is also suffering some financial setbacks-but i have full faith that JESUS WILL PROVIDE! keeping u all in my prayers, shija coimbatore ps. i'd also like to congratulate Priya chechi on the occasion of her wedding-may you have a blessed married life! _ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] Urgent prayer
Dear Friends, Pls pray for me, I have missed a very important thing. Pls pray 3 hail Mary's and a pray to St. Anthony that I may be able to find it. Thanks Jennifer Mumbai This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] The crucial part of a stethoscope
THE CRUCIAL PART OF A STETHOSCOPE = The stethoscope is used by every doctor to analyse the sounds made in the living body. At the end of a course in medicine, the Professor asked the medical students, "What is the most important part of a stethoscope?" The students gave a variety of answers-the diaphragm, tube, ear-pieces, etc. Then he gave the correct answer- "The crucial part of a stethoscope is the space in between the two ear-pieces- that is, the brain of the Doctor!" The sharpness of the doctor's brain determines the accuracy of the analysis and the reliability of the diagnosis. We may use different tools for our sanctification-the churches, retreat centres, pilgrimages, conventions etc. But the most important component in transformation is- OURSELF. MESSAGE FOR MEDITATION-I- by Resmy Susan Babu, Final year M.B.B.S, Medical College, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more http://games.yahoo.com/ This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[JOYnet] Hello!!
Dear friends in Jesus, I'm Rubina John, a recently joined member of this wonderful family.My friend Sheril has already introduced me to JOYnet.Thank you Sheril for the warm welcome. I was an active member of Jesus Youth during 95-97 and I'm really happy that God has always given me opportunities to share and grow in spiritual life.Please pray for me that I will be a good instrument of God. With love & prayers, Rubina John Grahamstown, South Africa. Yahoo! Games - play chess, backgammon, pool and more This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to this mailing list, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
