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Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
the meaning of "church" is a congregation of fellow believers in that instance. those are scant few words to try and rationalize the hierarchical, bureaucratic institution of a dogmatic belief system. That is my whole point. The person named Jesus was actively fighting against organized religion, seeking to destroy the old rabbinical authority. The roman catholic church (created by political leaders like Constantine just as much as it was created by the descendants of the apostles) has turned Jesus' teachings on their head, and continuously maintained the ignorance of their followers, going so far as to disallow the personal reading of a bible in one's own language for centuries (it still takes place in africa and south america where services are held in latin, and the faithful are told this is how jesus wanted it, even though jesus spoke no latin!)
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That is not historically true. You are actually trying to rationalize your own misconception, but the evidence of history disagrees with you. The Church authored, codified, and canonized the Gospel narratives and the New Testament Epistles. How can you argue with the Church about its own book exactly? That seems like arguing with an author about the implied meaning! Silly if you ask me, especially since you don't even have a dog in this fight..
Besides of which, people have had the Bible in their language for centuries now, what has it done for people? Nothing. The Bible by itself is an empty book without meaning. The Bible can only find meaning through the heart and experience of the Church from where it comes. Aside from that, the Bible is just a musty book of epic fiction.