Posted on 07/23/2014 7:07:07 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
Tough road. There were many mysteries then. There are very few mysteries today.
ping!
Importantly, the spiritual Christians not in community with others cannot take communion. This is vital.
“There are very few mysteries today.”
Actually there are plenty.
This merely means that no prophecy contained in the bible was the personal opinion or interpretation of the prophet, but rather the direct world of God. This is made clear in the very next verse where Peter says, "for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The passage is assuring us that scripture is the word of God not the word of man.
It’s an ideology that says religious institutions are outdated and unnecessary.
I was beginning to wonder about this article, When I realized he was speaking of the Roman Catholic Church, I better understood the article.
“It’s an ideology that says religious institutions are outdated and unnecessary.”
This is an overbroad and misleading statement. I am a Christian, I attend a church, I participate in the fellowship of believers, but I am not “religious”, because religiosity is different from religion. Religiosity, which appears to be what Sorenson is advocating, is the practice of adhering to rules instead of to the two greatest commandments. I can be a believer, loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and my neighbor as myself, without being religious.
“In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, freedom. In all things, Love.”
I understand the argument, and would attend a local church if I could find one, but Reformed Baptist churches are as rare as hen’s teeth in this area. Not interested in sitting under preaching that condemns the doctrines of grace.
Christ also said this:
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
This is one of those “conscience” things. Should we sit under preaching we profoundly disagree with, and feign agreement and fellowship with beliefs we don’t share? I think not. Dishonesty in our worship is sacrilegious and doesn’t honor God.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Thankfully God has kept His Word intact all these years. Where His Word is concerned, if any relative, preacher or denomination disagrees with it, I’ll side with God. Not men.
“When I realized he was speaking of the Roman Catholic Church”
Wrong. He was speaking of scripture and showed you the verses and explained to you the foundation, which you of course ignored when you realized he was a Catholic.
It is clear where the author is coming from.
I will continue to identify with the non-demoninational Christians, thank you very much.
A good start, IMO, would be to emulate what the few successful churches are doing. Please do not misconstrue this to mean getting away from the message and/or the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go to people of this world in their world. For instance, how come every church is not on-line? The Internet is an incredible opportunity to reach out to more people than ever before, and I only see some churches doing this?
The problem is not the scandals for most people that have left the various Christian churches, but the accommodation and promotion of behavior contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Homosexual marriage and toleration of open deviant behavior from the sodomite sects has driven many away. Abortion is another. I attend Baptist and Methodist churches. I give credit to both the Baptist and Catholic Churches for standing their ground.
That's just flat wrong, absurdly wrong. Jaw-droppingly wrong.
Human knowledge is like fractal; or, if you can't imagine a fractal, it's like a gigantic spreading tree. A tree grows, and grows, and grows, and every new little green twig on that tree has a bud of mystery.
I appreciate what you are saying as I was blessed to find a wonderful Reformed Baptist church very close to me, for which I am quite grateful. Are there no classic, orthodox Presbyterian Churches available? Not PCUSA but one of the other, orthodox Presbyterian denominations. I always figured that's where I would go if there were no Reformed Baptist churches available, just so I could fellowship with the saints and be available to interact with and help other Christians in need. The doctrine should be sound there.
Silly goose. They can just say that’s your “private interpretation” and dismiss the inconvenient fact, don’t ya know?
Importantly, the spiritual Christians not in community with others cannot take communion. This is vital.
My wife and I take communion at home after meals from time to time.
“Spriitual but not religious” is an interesting turn of words. In some ways, I would call myself “spiritual but not religious”. But all I mean by that is:
1. The early church had no bibles, so the bible is not my foundation. It IS the Word of God in the way that my parents instruction on how to live a good life was the valid word of my parents. It also explains (from beginning to end) the sacrifice Christ made, why it was necessary, and what it accomplished. That is critical. But What is even more important is my prayer life. God can communicate with each one of us directly, but the bible is a very good additional resource.
2. I don’t go to church specifically to worship God. I do that in all facets of my life, every day. I go to Church to help and be helped by other Christians. Church is about “the church”. This help can often be using them as a sounding board to my ideas about my God and my relationship with Him as well as my interpretation of His Word as it should apply to my life.
3. I have some difficulty with every church I’ve ever attended. I spent 18 years at an AG church, involved in the orchestra, Discipleship Dynamics and even bus ministry. But they had some goofy teaching about tongues that I could never find support for in the Bible. I then moved on to foursquare, Christian and, finally, baptist. The latter because that is mainly all there is out where I now live. But that one has this completely unfounded teatotalling attitude. And it is not even the fact that they are teatotallers. It is the twisting of scripture that they do to support it and so totally judge those that disagree. And yes, it’s a dry county (well, now it’s moist).
4. I CRINGE every time I see an American flag in a church. There is a time and place for everything. A church is about Christians communing in the name of our Lord, not nationalism. They might as well show the label of the largest local employer.
Church is horribly flawed in the US, but the bible tells us to attend. And I honestly DO see the wisdom in that. But my wife and I no longer go every week and never went the three “official” times per week they are open.
As Christians we really do need each other. God expects us to obey Him by showing love (which is an ACTION) and compation toward each other as a Christian community. Without Church, that community does not exist. And not going because the church organization is flawed is a cop-out.
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