Ive decided that this denomination has closest suited my expectations out of a belief system. Only thing Is Im having a hard time finding any churches even in California to gander at. Any suggestions?

If none are available in your area, then it seems to me you are now a church planter! (btw: a "church" is nothing more than a physical gathering of like-minded people...it's not the building, but the people that are the "church".)

I would contact their main offices and find out what you need to do to plant a church for that faith in your area.

http://www.ethiopianzioncopticchurch.org/

ISO

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yup ive had enough of businesses that call themselves churches. Thank you very much ISO!

Good thinkin' Iso and good luck vossman

Wow I very suprised to hear the term of ''coptic'' the term to me means pure or untanted or early. Coptic christians In my perception are the core of all modern christian splinter belifs. What is your motivation to look into the core of christ. I ask due to my own intrest in finding a ancent understanding or perception of Jesus Crist. Has any one here ever visited Isrial? Or been to any ancient holy sites ?

Oh.....I understand now, Um I was think more along the lines of finding the unadulterated word of Crist. I dont think that zioncoptic church was what Ive been looking for But thank you any way. I stongly feel that a persons right to his or her beleifs are between the indivual and god.

I havent found any in the area, and the ones that do, have their own ways of living. I cant agree with it either...Im more of a transcendentalist

^^ Exactly right. There's only ONE WORD OF GOD, thats the Holy Bible.
King James Version is best. Get that, and if your heart is open, and you are truely seeking for "something/someone" .... You take a step close to God..He takes a step closer ... u take another, and He will also...
Often heard, We walk as close to God as we WANT to....

Get in the Word and Pray.
What is a relationship without communication??

I am sort of like that too...however I really believe in the Bible...but its just hard for me to conform to any church...i say keep searchin for a church that patterns themselves out of the Character of Jesus and folows the bible and you wont go wrong!

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got my fishin pole and my bottle of shine

whether or not you go to church you should have a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour. Theres nothing wrong with finding others to celebrate in the name of the Lord. Unless the main reason you go is because of others (instead of going to further your understanding and relationship with the Lord); Than going to church becomes pointless

Jesus pointed to the Essenes as a sect to follow. The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient scripts that supposedly expose some fallacies of modern Christianity.

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May the force be with you.

The Dead Sea scrolls Highlight the older Christian ways, which shows the fallacies in modern Christianity. Most of the content you read you will have to take in and sleep on it. Mostly because it shows the ways of Pharisees, and Sadducees (Both of which have lots of rules and rituals that dont go along with their belief systems) which also shows the commonalities with modern Christianity.

My great grandparents fled Europe and settled in argentina because of religious intolerance. Thusly, I did not have religious upbringing and never felt the need to. I feel as though i do have a relationship with God and live a generally pious life and go by the golden rule.

I met the woman of dreams 1 year ago and she is deeply religious. I tried to go to church with her because she is the type of woman i would love to settle down with, but my mind cant get around Christianity and religion as a whole. This has been interfering with our relationship as of late, and we mistakenly put the religion issue on the 'back burner'.

Religion for the most part just doesnt make sense. My gf tells me no to use my mind and use my heart, and that im intellectualizing too much, but this is the only way i know how to analyze. I tried to read the bible and going to church with her, but i was going to church because i liked how all these people came together and were so delightful, not necessarily for the word of christ.

I believe in God, but not necesarily Jesus. I hear that Jesus is the son of God, but how can a virgin get pregnant and have a child? how can someone be the direct son of God? Is God even a male? Arent we all the sons/daughters of God?

Im sorry for rambling and i really dont mean to offend and apologize if i do, i just needed to get some things off my chest

I feel the same way my friend. And I was even raised Catholic! :-P

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Would be GLAD to clear this up man,

First off asking How can a virgin become present is the same as asking How did this tree get here? How did planets get here? How does the animals function?? ... This starts your 'Belief' ... If you believe the Holy Bible, You must Believe ALL of it. Its called FAITH .
God Made everything you see and dont see, Example's like DNA, WIND, LIFE, INSECTS, KNOWLEDGE, etc etc.
So For The One who created everything, (Including us) He can pretty much make anybody pregnant he want's to! lol.. He's GOD ..

NOW the Biblical answer for this is because A woman' who has had sex back in those days was considered 'Unclean' ..So how can God, so pure and so Holy,sin-less, Bring His Holy Pure sin-less Son into the world ,thru a dirty unclean thing??
Wouldnt add up. .....

2nd Question was How can someone be the direct son of God?

The Reason for Jesus on this earth was to teach the Direct Word of God, Un perverted,Still Holy from God Himself.Not twisted,with man made addition's..... Back in those day's once again, Sacrifice's were made to king's,and idol's(man made images,so to speak, they worshipped and praised instead of the real God/...example-buddha statue.)

And what was sacrificed to the king's and lord's, was ONLY THE CLEANEST, PUREST, HEALTHIEST,animal.
So God's Son Jesus wa sent to earth, clean birth thru a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross, a PURE Innocent Man, with CLEAN hand's,and NO SIN, The sacrificial lamb . He paid for our sins with His innocent Blood, Tortured and Beattin so we could call upon the name of The Lord, Jesus Christ and asked to be saved and repent from our sins, and Have everlasting life with God himself!!

Last but not leastly, third question - God is a Spirit. Hence Holy Spirit.
God is Pure Holy,King of King's Lord of Lord's,Alpha & Omega. The Great I Am. This is FAITH - trusting /believing/ something/somone you cant see.. but you no is real.
and Fourth Question WE ARE ALL CREATED BY GOD HIMSELF!! BUT God doesnt make us Do anything we dont want to.This is why your relationship with God will depend on How much you are willing to put in.And trust me,God will put in more and more then you could ever imagine!!

I Suggest going to a church on a sunday or wed. and after service ask to speak to the preacher in private and ask him any questions u have and im sure he will be glad to answer, i wanted to go more in depth but i dont wanna bore or dis interest you,plus my hands are tired lol.
Good Luck ,

Matthew Chapter 7 : Verse 7 - Ask and it shall be given unto you;seek,and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you,

VERSE 8 - For every one that asketh recieveth,and he that seeketh findeth;and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

VERSE 9 - What man is there of you, whom if his son ask for bread,will give him a stone?

10 - Or if he ask for a fish,will you give him a serpent?

11 - If you then,being evil,know how to give good gifts unto your children,how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good gifts to them that ask?

If your Honestly truely seeking God and, are asking/praying/reading your Bible to seek,understand,find a relationship with God......

HE WILL BE THERE! and HE WILL BECOME MORE REAL'ER THEN EVER!!

theres a lot of questions people have, but not many seek it out. I advise you to do so if your looking for answers. The only thing I dont agree on with most Christians is the "Best" version of Gods word. Fundamentalists only take the Literal and say metaphorical, or anything else is evil. The older texts almost force you to believe metaphorically, as well as literally; Ive read the King James for years and years until I was able to read some of the older texts(The old German pressed, Greek, Latin, Hebrew) and Ive come to find a lot of the word to be changed through a more Human view. The people who wrote the King james were in a hurry to finish it after the first version(That they took so much time to write) was destroyed before it could be printed. Even little things such as Noahs Blackbird changes in the newer texts to such things as a dove or a seagull. Still, Gods word is strong enough to resonate throughout the entire Bible. Just dont take the Literal text to anymore than what God tells you to. The practices in the old testament were a backbone to the discipline and ultimate authority God(Yaweh) has in the world. The New Testament is what you want to follow for insight into current life(Jeshua, Jesus).

Dear Tony Stark I understand your sceptic thoughts. Please allow me to share this crazy story about faith and devine intervention. Let me start off by blowing my own horn. Im a US Army infantry. Ive been shooting various small arms my whole adult life. I can hit any thing I want to using a M4 carbine out to 300 meters. Wile deployed to an Islamic country of #@&* I was at the front gate when one of or patrolls came in. We were not doing our jobs like we should have. And failed to notice a car driving threw the dessert at a high rate right toward us. Naturally we thought they had the intent of sending us all to our graves(car bomb). So I employed my M4 and aimed in on the driver. Held my breath focused on my front sight post and squeesed the trigger. Thats when every one opened up on this car with every thing in the invintory. Round were cooking threw this car like it was thickened air. It was resonable to assume that not even a mouse would not be struck by some thing! Well the car rolled to a stop and it did not reach us. After enough time to asses the car may not blow up, I and another carefully approched the car. I opened the door expecting to see blood and guts splatterd all over. What we did find to our horrer and fright was one of our dumb ass interpitors. Who did not have a scratch on him and he was one of the few indigenous christians there. That when I knew that the power of christ was real. Only the devine intervention of god can stop my rounds from tearing up the flesh of a man I've shot at, I dont miss! The rounds hit every were he was sitting but it was as if the flew in a path around his body. This does not happen and to me and my perception science cannot explane it I feel it must of been gods hand.

[quote=CoNtRoVeRsIaL;73035]Would be GLAD to clear this up man,

First off asking How can a virgin become present is the same as asking How did this tree get here? How did planets get here? How does the animals function?? ... This starts your 'Belief' ... If you believe the Holy Bible, You must Believe ALL of it. Its called FAITH .
God Made everything you see and dont see, Example's like DNA, WIND, LIFE, INSECTS, KNOWLEDGE, etc etc.
So For The One who created everything, (Including us) He can pretty much make anybody pregnant he want's to! lol.. He's GOD ..

NOW the Biblical answer for this is because A woman' who has had sex back in those days was considered 'Unclean' ..So how can God, so pure and so Holy,sin-less, Bring His Holy Pure sin-less Son into the world ,thru a dirty unclean thing??
Wouldnt add up. .....

Trees, plants, and animal is at its current state because of evolutions. Many Many moons of evolution. If he created Adam and Eve, why do we have scientific evidence of ancient man e.g. neanderthal, cromagnon etc...i believe there is a God who created the Universe and got the ball rolling so to speak, but after that evolution took hold and here we are today. As far as the pregnant virgin, how come nobody in the past 200-300 years have seen a pregnant woman? Maybe because its not possible?

And yes faith is important and i have faith in God (believe it or not), but science provides a much more logical and possible explanation for things around us IMO. Could it be that before science was developled (in biblical times) we could not comprehend high tide, low tide, comets, meteors, hurricanes so on and so forth so we reached for some kinda explanation and attributed it to God.... Now that we have strong science and our minds can grasp more, these mysterious things dont happen anymore.

2nd Question was How can someone be the direct son of God?

The Reason for Jesus on this earth was to teach the Direct Word of God, Un perverted,Still Holy from God Himself.Not twisted,with man made addition's..... Back in those day's once again, Sacrifice's were made to king's,and idol's(man made images,so to speak, they worshipped and praised instead of the real God/...example-buddha statue.)

And what was sacrificed to the king's and lord's, was ONLY THE CLEANEST, PUREST, HEALTHIEST,animal.
So God's Son Jesus wa sent to earth, clean birth thru a virgin, lived a sinless life, and died on the cross, a PURE Innocent Man, with CLEAN hand's,and NO SIN, The sacrificial lamb . He paid for our sins with His innocent Blood, Tortured and Beattin so we could call upon the name of The Lord, Jesus Christ and asked to be saved and repent from our sins, and Have everlasting life with God himself!!

What sins did i commit? I live a pious life, maybe even jesus like but i cant be 'saved' because i dont believe in jesus? Again i think my rebuttle to question 1 can be applied here as well. So, only people who follow christianity can be saved? What about the millions around the world that have a different faith? Will they all go to hell? Since the jews or presumably Romans shunned him from society are all their descendents going to hell?

Ive seen many people of the book are far from righteous...but that doesnt matter, if they believe they will be saved. But many buddhists,taosits, muslims etc.... who live pious lives will go to hell?

Last but not leastly, third question - God is a Spirit. Hence Holy Spirit.
God is Pure Holy,King of King's Lord of Lord's,Alpha & Omega. The Great I Am. This is FAITH - trusting /believing/ something/somone you cant see.. but you no is real.
and Fourth Question WE ARE ALL CREATED BY GOD HIMSELF!! BUT God doesnt make us Do anything we dont want to.This is why your relationship with God will depend on How much you are willing to put in.And trust me,God will put in more and more then you could ever imagine!!

Why must i put it in by believing in Christ if i believe God is ....God. I pray to him everyday and live a pious life. I help those in need and participate in the community. I donante so others who dont have can I help little old ladies cross the street.....but my point is this doesnt count for shit? God gave me this brain and the ability to reason, so if i choose to go my way why is it necessarily bad? I still talk to God and try to live a good life

I Suggest going to a church on a sunday or wed. and after service ask to speak to the preacher in private and ask him any questions u have and im sure he will be glad to answer, i wanted to go more in depth but i dont wanna bore or dis interest you,plus my hands are tired lol.
Good Luck ,

Matthew Chapter 7 : Verse 7 - Ask and it shall be given unto you;seek,and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you,

VERSE 8 - For every one that asketh recieveth,and he that seeketh findeth;and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

VERSE 9 - What man is there of you, whom if his son ask for bread,will give him a stone?

10 - Or if he ask for a fish,will you give him a serpent?

11 - If you then,being evil,know how to give good gifts unto your children,how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good gifts to them that ask?

If your Honestly truely seeking God and, are asking/praying/reading your Bible to seek,understand,find a relationship with God......

HE WILL BE THERE! and HE WILL BECOME MORE REAL'ER THEN EVER!!



Point taken brotha, maybe i need to speak to a person of the church and see what they say. I just dont find the need internally, ya know? But i will do anyway because ima student of life.

btw, no offense

Islam is really a beautiful religion and at its height help make many cultural and academic advancements in society. The reason why people think the countries are "shit", are because of years and years of occupation and the Sikes-Picot agreement in the 1940's i believe when they drew up boundaries that never existed before and split up different clans and tribes and basically wreaked havoc.


But i digress, Perhaps you just missed and the guy got lucky and just happened to be a Christian? you cant hit a homerun everyday budd

I too have had many close calls in life, but i attribute it to being lucky


Again, i dont mean to belittle and i apologize if u felt that

Here is Zen Zion Coptic Orthodox Church (of Reformed Rastafarianism). Dreads not required.

http://zzco.org/

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What I freely have been given let me freely share