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To: Natural Law

I’m afraid we’ll never really see eye to eye. God, through his Word and the Holy Spirit gave/gives direction to us, His children. He gave us an outline, although not overly detailed, of the structure of the local church with the offices of deacons and elders, and the various offices (apostle/prophet/ teacher/evangelist/pastor). You seem to think that “Evangelicals” can believe and act on whatever grabs them. Well, my friend, that’s exactly why the Lord established these offices, to direct believers. Are there differences between say, a Baptist or Presbyterian, yes. Do those differences go to the critical issues of the Christian faith? No.

I think we all, whether Baptist, Presbyterian or Catholic hold to the basic tenets of the faith - our sinfulness, the deity of Christ, the blood atonement and resurrection and salvation through faith in the propitiating work of Christ. As Paul said in I Corinthians, “I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” This is the heart of the Gospel message and the true heart of God. You disparage great men of the faith when you say that people like Billy Graham or George Muller were following themselves and their experiences when they went out and did great things for God, similar to Savonarola, when he opposed the curia for the corruption in their ranks and St. Francis, who marched through the ranks of the Muslim Saracens and presented himself to the Sultan in an attempt to present the Gospel.

What do these men have in common? It appears that they all accomplished great things under the prompting of the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t feelings or education or reason that drove these men, it was obedience to God. And I daresay that the Lord gave each one of them a strong knowledge of the Word and wise, strong men to provide Godly counsel. There is NOTHING similar between those clowns and men who conduct lives pleasing to the Lord.


129 posted on 05/18/2012 1:49:05 PM PDT by Scoutdad
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To: Scoutdad
"I’m afraid we’ll never really see eye to eye. God, through his Word and the Holy Spirit gave/gives direction to us, His children."

You are right, we will never agree. Because there are, by some counts, over 30,000 denominations of Protestants, differentiated by doctrinal and interpretation issues, one has to believe that either the Holy Spirit is whispering different things to different people or many of His children are following an errant theology taught by errant leaders.

130 posted on 05/18/2012 2:19:32 PM PDT by Natural Law (Mary was the face that God chose for Himself.)
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To: Scoutdad

“We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately.” — Benjamin Franklin

This quote came to mind as I read your post, as the worldly forces of an immoral society, corrupt and immoral politicians, and the evils of the muslim religion attacking Christians everywhere.


144 posted on 05/18/2012 3:38:13 PM PDT by 21twelve
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