Stigmata?

[-luhhs kii-]

I just watched the movie.
When they spoke about the last gospal and how it stated that you don't need a building with stone and brick, all you need if yourself for God is in you and all around you.

What are you opinions? Think that's true? I don't normally go to church, but I want to because I want to learn about my religion. I was born a Catholic. But according to that quote, I don't necessarily need to go to church, for the holy spirit is in within me and God is all around me, which I also believe.

Anyone believe in the actual paranormal act of Stigmata as well? They say it's a blessing..

There's some food for thought guys.  

[real eyes realize]

It's true, we don't have to go to a specific building/temple/synagogue anymore.

Quote:

John 4:21-24 (NIV)

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Quote:

Ephesians 2:19-21 (NIV)

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

Quote:

Matthew 18:20 (NIV)

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

As long as you're getting acquainted with the law, prophets, Jesus and the apostles' writings and helping other believers (encouraging and praying for eachother) then you are "doing" church. The individual people make up the church; when scripture talks about a "church" it's collectively referring to all the believers in a certain area, not any particular building.

In the New Testament, most people met up with other believers in homes (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:5; Colossians 4:15) and they went to the synagogues to learn about the law of Moses (Acts 13:13-15; Acts 15:19-21). But most "churches" nowadays don't preach/teach Old Testament beyond a superficial level, in fact most don't understand it, not just the law but the prophets too. You're better off studying the bible on your own with other believers and letting scripture interpret itself. Of the online ministries I've come across, I would recommend 119 ministries if you're interested in learning about the Old Testament / Tanakh (http://testeverything.net).

When I first began reading the bible, doing word searches on biblegateway.com really helped me understand some topics. For example, typing in "law" "truth" "angel" or "spirit" would retrieve all the verses which used the word. Having all these verses listed together—which originally would've been scattered throughout all the books—is a quick way to learn about a particular topic. There are some websites who've already done this: http://bible-topics.com/ (but they don't list all the verses, just a good chunk of them; that's why I prefer doing the word searches myself).

About stigmata, I've only ever seen them in movies and it doesn't seem like a blessing; there's always a demon inside of you when it happens lol razz . Biblically, no one mentions getting similar wounds to Jesus, via some supernatural way, as some sort of miracle or blessing either. It doesn't mention the phenomenon at all. I'm kind of neutral on the subject, but judging by how the word "blessing" is used in scripture, "blessings" usually have to do with prospering in something (big harvests, many children, living in abundant peace inwardly or outwardly); blessings don't involve receiving pain in the body just to be in pain. It doesn't fall under the category of suffering for doing good either. At best, stigmata could be a miraculous sign; at worst, a demonically-inspired phenomenon.