Posted on 04/12/2018 1:31:13 PM PDT by fwdude
Every town has a First Baptist Church and I just keep driving. I figure, eventually, I'll come to the last Baptist Church and then, I reckon, I'll have to stop.
I keep laughing at the jokes which write themselves.
We have a “Broadway Baptist” in my town (and others.) How can they not recognize the “broad way” condemnation of Jesus?
And the words about the first being last, and the last being first?
You and I seem to be in the same boat. The technology gets so inveigled in the actual process of worship, you almost suspect that they couldn’t worship without it.
I used to laugh at the fundamentalist Church of Christ denomination, shunning the use of instruments and amplification in singing. I’m beginning to believe they have a point.
Our musical instruments are loud enough to drowned out my voice which is a good thing
>>Neither of which appeal to what I understand Worship before God. Rather ‘show time’.....
You shouldn’t confuse the “show” with the “message”—the message being that given by the Holy Spirit, not the guy at the pulpit/podium/stage. Sometimes a great message comes packaged in a great show. I have worshiped at a concert and I have worshiped in a quiet prayer service because the best message can sometimes be the ability to let go of the worries of life and know what its like to sing the praises of God without a care.
But, when the message is wrong (and that is not from the Holy Spirit and is certainly from the guy at the pulpit/podium/stage) and aimed at something other than God, then no amount of “show” (or lack, thereof) can save it.
I’m in the dog house now because I told someone I thought going to church seemed more like going to the movies because they are always turning the lights off during the sermon to have the videos show better. That comment got back to people.
I hear you.
An “emergent” church in my town which was recommended to me holds services in an old movie theater (one with a balcony no less) and the lights are very low while the “band” plays on a stage. Laser and colored lights are everywhere.
That a church could have a “stage” struck me as somewhat perverse. Stages are for self-promotion and self-adulation.
Yes, it is the homosexual baptist church in Fort Worth. They outed themselves and then were ousted from the SBC, as I recall. Most famous member was Van Cliburn.
You are correct. Broadway Baptist in FW was ousted from the SBC (after being given every chance to clarify their position on homosexuality) and then later removed themselves from the Baptist General Convention of Texas because of the same issue.
It’s always revealing when these questionable churches are put on the spot over such an issue that they equivocate about before being expelled, and then prove the expulsion correct by going all in with perversion after they leave. What were they trying to prove by staying in fellowship, even by deceit?
Actually, I thought they did a solid job of clarifying their position. I did wonder how much Van Cliburn's mother was giving.
I guess when your most visible member is a homo, you have to make difficult choices.
Whatever the position of this church, I have no beef with Van Cliburn, who was absolute class until the end, never EVER bringing his homosexuality into the picture in any level of relevance. Call me naive, but I didn’t even know he was homosexual for most of my life, and I grew up in Fort Worth (as a piano student, no less.)
Broadway wasn’t always the church that it has become in the past decade or so. It WAS once doctrinally orthodox. It simply slid into the modern heresies around it. That’s not excusing it, but I’d suspect that it was in a very conservative mode when Van Cliburn was a member.
I always recommend a church in the NAPARC directory to start. Then again I’m Presbyterian and reformed. These would all be very Bible believing churches.
BTW, no, Broadway would NOT clarify their position on homosexuality, not openly anyway. They talked around it evasively until directly confronted over the very visible homosexuals in their congregation, even in positions of leadership (deacons.) The issue came to a head in the question of whether to include homosexual couples pictured in the church directory. Believe it or not, quite a few members objected. The “compromise” was to do away with individual and family pictures altogether and hide homosexual couplings in group pictures throughout the directory.
Leadership in the SBC knew what their position was, but needed concrete admission that those in authority in that congregation were unequivocal in condemning what God condemns. They couldn’t do it.
His massive funeral there was in 2013. The SBC ouster was in 2009. So it appears that they went that way well before he died and was honored there.
Yep, no doubt that they’ve been apostate for at least a couple of decades.
BTW..if i want to go to a concert, a show or entertainment with a mood... there’s plenty of places to choose from.... I don’t go to church to be entertained where I have to hunt for a message somewhere in the fray. If it’s not the Pastor giving a message then why have them? Otherwise they’re just another stage hand....
Ping to post 32. I didn’t know about this. May be worth checking out.
Who needs a church? Jesus said that where two or three are gathered in MY name, there am I. THAT is the church. It is not a building. It is not a denomination. The true church are the believers in Christ. So grab a few friends and start a Bible study. I believe that is what God intended.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.