Originally Posted By Mr X Okay, so this is NOT a world events topic (I promise lol), I'm just trying to figure out which religion a Japanese friend of mine learned about on a trip to Canada recently. She thinks it's some form of Protestant, they held bible study on Wednesday nights and Sundays but had no actual "church" to go to (they met at various congregation members' homes), they had only the Bible and no other sort of texts, and here's the weird part...the ministers weren't allowed to own their own homes but instead lived with their congregation in their homes (I gather they moved around a lot). Also, the ministers always worked in pairs. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Sounds like "Moocherism". (I have no idea.) Some type of ongoing missionary program perhaps?
Originally Posted By beamerdog This is written from an evangelical orthodox Christian point of view, but is informational about cults: <a href="http://www.apologeticsindex.org/how-to-use-apologetics-index" target="_blank">http://www.apologeticsindex.or...cs-index</a> It might take you a week to go thru it, lol.
Originally Posted By Mr X You guys really think it's some sort of a cult? I wondered about that, but for the most part it sounded reasonably "mainstream" Protestant to me with a few exceptions. They say grace around the dinner table, for example (she even recognized the prayer I suggested, "Bless us oh Lord in these thy gifts etc...).
Originally Posted By DlandDug This sounds more like a denomination than a religion. They are practicing a "primitive" form of Christianity. It is possible that this group is very small, or even a part of a larger denomination. If you are doing a web search, in addition to "christian" and "denomination," try the terms "primitive," "fundamental," and "fundamentalist."
Originally Posted By Mr X Interesting. Thanks! And yes, I should've said "denomination" from the start, since it's obviously a denomination of some sort. My bad.
Originally Posted By LuLu I agree with Dug, it sounds like they're practicing Christianity as described in Acts (book of the Bible), which was right after Christ's death. It does sound quite interesting.
Originally Posted By beamerdog Well, X, really! You didn't expect me to know anything about this being a denomination of a religion that I don't practice ;-) Absolutely no offense was intended here. So sorry if I said anything wrong.
Originally Posted By Mr X I didn't think you said anything wrong. I was just surprised at the notion that it *might* be a cult, although it very well could be (I'm still researching).
Originally Posted By friendofdd There is a possibility it falls into the definition of a sect. <a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sect" target="_blank">http://dictionary.reference.co...wse/sect</a>
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<They say grace around the dinner table, for example (she even recognized the prayer I suggested, "Bless us oh Lord in these thy gifts etc...).>> That's a standard Catholic prayer. "Bless us oh Lord, And these thy gifts, Which we are about to receive, Throught Christ Our Lord."
Originally Posted By LuLu I think I may have a winner... Congregational Church. Let me read more about this and I'll post a link.
Originally Posted By LuLu "According to the congregationalist understanding of the history of the Christian Church, the early disciples of Jesus had little or no organization. Congregationalists believe that in the centuries after the spread of Christianity, leaders in centers like Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Byzantium, and Jerusalem attempted to gain influence over all the churches in certain regions by creating hierarchy and structure. Typically, congregationalists viewed this accumulation of power to be complete by the year AD 1000..." "Congregationalism is more easily identified as a movement than a single denomination, given its distinguishing commitment to the complete autonomy of the local congregation." <a href="http://www.answers.com/topic/congregational-church-2" target="_blank">http://www.answers.com/topic/c...church-2</a>
Originally Posted By LuLu There is also a movement specific to Canada, their website: <a href="http://www.cccc.ca/" target="_blank">http://www.cccc.ca/</a>
Originally Posted By LuLu The Moocherism joke was funny, but just wanted to point out that in the original Christian church, the Christians gave their possessions away and lived a sort of communal life. Hopefully that's what these churches are emulating! Re Acts 2: 44-46: "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts..."
