[whipitgood]

Re: "The Invisible Church"
Rn, you have hit on one of my pet issues about the church. WAY too much emphasis is placed on the visible aspects of the church, not nearly enough on the invisible. I believe the net effect of this is that our churches turn into social clubs, as the poster commented. Further, I think that our tendency to focus on the visible is a violation of the Third Commandment (Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vain). What is vanity after all, but focusing on the visible at the expense of truth? If we do this, do we not take His name upon ourselves for reasons of vanity?

[RnMomof7]

Re: "The Invisible Church" Rn, you have hit on one of my pet issues about the church. WAY too much emphasis is placed on the visible aspects of the church, not nearly enough on the invisible. I believe the net effect of this is that our churches turn into social clubs, as the poster commented. Further, I think that our tendency to focus on the visible is a violation of the Third Commandment (Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vain). What is vanity after all, but focusing on the visible at the expense of truth? If we do this, do we not take His name upon ourselves for reasons of vanity?

Well the visible church would be defined as all professing Christian that adhere to the creeds..God will seperate the sheep from the goats. We do not need to be concerned with that, BUT we do need to profess the gosple to that unsaved visible church as well as those outside the church