Today I offer you and Jan of Murrieta 365 two photos for SOOC Sunday.
I was driving through Forest Hills, N.Y. a neighborhood near me when I came upon the church you see in the photo above. It was huge and very imposing, a structure I had never seen before. The architecture was strange and modern-looking. It turned out to be the Iglesia Ni Christo, a church I'd never heard of.
The Iglesia ni Cristo, Tagalog for Church of Christ, also known as INC, or Iglesia, formerly Iglesya ni Kristo, is the largest entirely indigenous Christian religious organization that originated from the Philippines and the largest independent church in Asia.
Due to a number of similarities, some Protestant writers describe the INC's doctrines as restorationist in outlook and theme, but the Iglesia ni Cristo does not consider itself to be part of the Restoration Movement. Felix Y. Manalo officially registered the church as a corporation sole and because of this, most publications refer to him as the founder of the church. However, the official doctrines of the church profess that Jesus Christ is the founder of the INC and that Felix Manalo was God's last messenger, whom he sent to re-establish the Christian Church to its true, pristine form because the original church apostatized.
They believe that the apostatized church is the Roman Catholic Church, and proclaim that Catholic beliefs shared by most Christians, such as the Trinity - which is according to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church as the central dogma of Christian theology- are proof of this apostacy. The organization does not believe in the Trinity, nor that the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are Biblical. with him as executive minister on July 27, 1914
That this church had been built in Forest Hills was unusual, I thought, but in my research I found out that 61.3% of New York City's total Filipino population live in Queens of which Forest Hills is one neighborhood. When I went to Wikipedia I found a photo of the Eglesia Ni Cristo church in Quezon City, The Philippines. Here it is:
If you click on the Wikipedia link above you'll see the architectural details of the Forest Hills church are VERY similar to the church in Quezon City.
Finally I want to show you the logo of the church which sits boldly on the front of the church as it faces the street.
What I noticed in particular was the combination of Christian and Masonic symbols. Apparently Felix Manalo, the church's messenger from God, was a freemason. I hope you liked the additional information attached to the photos I took of the Iglesia Ni Cristo church. They aren't touched up in any way.
So what are the rules for SOOC Sunday? On any Sunday you can post any photo you like (it must be one of your own) that hasn’t been tweaked or altered in any way (cropping is OK). In other words Straight Out Of the Camera.
Also, please link back to Murrieta365.
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