Posted on 05/17/2004 7:06:39 AM PDT by qam1
There is very little to disagree with in your post.
My problem is with the "King James only" crowd and the "Baptists are the Way, the Truth and the Life" people who show up on these threads claiming that Christians who worship differently than them are lost.
You reply " So how does Madonna wearing one of the shirts fit in exactly?
A flame war in the name of religion? LOL, no thanks.
Jesus said in John 7 that God was seeking worshipers who would worship in spirit and in truth. Our churches design services targeted at "the world". They fill the pews with lost sinners who because of their severed relationshipo with God cannot worship, who are still in a state of rebellion, who do know God..... and then say "worship with us". The praise and worship songs start, and everyone wants to experience it. Worship never happens.
I know because until a couple of months ago I played music in one of those churches for several years.
Yes... lots of churches have crossed the line. They've traded true worship for packing the pews with people searching for something. But the message that they need to hear is seldom preached.
That's my opinion.
Scripture makes it clear that church membership is essential to experience the spiritual growth that comes by solid teaching and fellowship with other believers.
At the same time, I don't really have a big problem with a lot of the way my fellow young people look at Christianity (well.....have a serious problem with that Jesus is my homeboy shirt...blasphemous there).
I am super traditional (attend a church that even shuns old-fashioned hymns.....we only sing OT Psalms). But at the same time, I listen to contemporary Christian stuff elsewhere (the stuff that is not trite crap), and wear Christian t-shirts.
And movements within some churches to battle off the non christians and save our denominations. The "Confessing Church Movement" within the PCUSA is one example.
I agree with the need to reach the lost, and I agree that many traditional churches in some ways do a poor job of that. But there's also a huge problem with going too far. As I heard someone else say recently, there was nothing cool about being beat to a pulp and hanging on a cross in the baking sun until He died. Communicate it. But don't sterilize it. Get the Word to the world without joining the evil of the world.
MM
You are correct.
If you ask anyone what the elements of worship are as commanded by Scripture and revealed in Scriptural example, they would have no clue.
They think God is happy with anything they do....which is not the testimony of the Word.
God wants us to worship him as he wants us to.
True; I attend the only CCM college, btw.
No. So says the Word of God.
"All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor." 1 Cor 10:23-24
"Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved." 1 Cor 10:32
"God doesn't need you or me to tell him the contents of a person's heart."
I'm not judging the content of their heart. I'm judging the content of their T-Shirts.
"Church membership" means being in communion with other believers. Two or more. That has been the interpretation I have been taught and believe.
(well.....have a serious problem with that Jesus is my homeboy shirt...blasphemous there).
That depends on what the wearer intends IMO. If it is meant to glorify God it is different than if it is meant to mock him. It won't be sorted out by us.
They think God is happy with anything they do....which is not the testimony of the Word.
Yep. That's exactly right.
Your interpretation of scripture is interesting, nothing more.
I'm not judging the content of their heart. I'm judging the content of their T-Shirts.
Judge whatever you wish, in the full knowledge that it is irrelevant. You don't get a say, just an opinion.
Which one?
I agree. I've seen jackets some of the Hollywood folk are wearing and they have a comic-style picture of Jesus on them and I forget the logo but they're trendy right now. I consider this as also taking the Lord's name in vain. If we use the name in a trite, trivial, or silly manner, it is in vain.
Not much to interpret. That's like saying there are different interpretations for, "Thou shall not steal."
But that's just my opinion.
So says you.
That's like saying there are different interpretations for, "Thou shall not steal."
No it isn't
But that's just my opinion.
Yep.
Wish you were our youth minister. What do you think about a ministry sponsored tattoo parlor to help fund said ministry?
Agreed. Which leaves the intentions of the wearer to be determined by the only one who counts.
Sterling: www.sterling.edu
But, aren't these issues that the younger generation are faced with and need/want answers to?
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