Posted on 06/21/2011 3:51:29 PM PDT by NoGrayZone
Okay, here's the deal in a long story short. I was raised Lutheran, moved out to Long Island and continued to be raised in St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
Aunt Jeannie (my name sake) has been a member since. I decided years ago I wanted back, so I went.
I did not feel Him there, thought it was me. I kept looking around the congregation, thinking it was me. After a while, I realized it wasn't (a couple of things happened after that confirmed it wasn't me).
Anywho, the icing on the cake was my Aunt Jeannie stopped going as well. After almost 30 years she felt the change as well. I looked up our church and saw they were apart of the "accept homosexuals as Pastors" crowd. That was 1 of the things that confirmed it was not me.
But my Aunt Jeannie leaving was the icing on the cake.
Here's our delima. Both of us are July babies. She is the 2nd, I am the 18th. We decided on 7/17 we would find a church to attend (we both want one to belong to and believe in), then go have brunch to discuss.
She is much more open minded than I am, but I promised her I would be open minded, if just for an hour, on that day.
I said to her, during our conversation "how do we know if the "Pastor" is a homo or not. She believes He is with us no matter where we are. I agree....to a point. I don't believe a homosexual can be one of His Shepard's leading His herd if that is so.
There have been so many "demoninations" coming out for homosexual "Shepard's" I have NO idea where to begin.
I have called a few churches and left messages for the Pastor to call back so I can interview Him (no lady Pastors for me).
Any advise to where we can look? Anyone know anything about Presbyterians?
Dear Catholic Person,
Please take the Catholic heavy doctrine stuff away from gray’s thread. It gets tiring.
Thanks
Maddie10
There you only have CINO friends, Catholics in Name Only. So sorry about that.
Here on FR you will find REAL Catholics with the truth, no less. Read what cronos has written, read what don-o has written from the Orthodox point of view.
We aren’t wrong.
And like you said yourself, you can’t do it by yourself. You need the help of the Holy Spirit. Well, did it occur to you that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through don-o, cronos or me?
Looks pretty good from their website. Thanks for sharing.
CW
And I'll also add that one of the first things you'll notice at the church of Christ (or at least 99% of them) is that the singing is a capella. It is simply beautiful and often breathtaking to hear the pristine harmonies comprised of just the human voice.
There are certain songs in the hymnal that have become church of Christ "standards" such as Oh Lord, Our Lord and It is Well with My Soul. Without being disrespectful to any denomination or sect, I think the manner in which hymns are sung at coC congregations is hint of how the praises might sound in Heaven.
As an old guy and admittedly rather a traditionalist, one thing I also personally like about our congregations is the lack of ornamentation around the pulpit. Seeing drums, guitars and such things reminds me more of a nightclub than a place of worship. That's merely a personal preference on my part and others may definitely feel otherwise and may be quite valid.
In closing, a few well-known members of the church of Christ include these people (I'm excluding preachers from the list since that would be too obvious), some of whom may be surprising:
Yes, Our Lord WAS celebrating the Passover with His Apostles in what we recall as The Last Supper. And for the most part, His prayers were those that are used in any Seder worldwide today, when Passover is celebrated, and the Jewish people recall their deliverance from bondage in Egypt.
However, Our Lord changed the wording that night, by saying, when He blessed the bread and broke it, "This is My Body, which will be given up for you". This was different from the usual Seder blessing over the unleavened bread, and it was a foreshadowing of his crucifixion, the following day, which was the ultimate act of redemption for us all. Jesus didn't say, "it would be nice if you broke bread and thought nice things about me when you do."
Jesus then did the same thing with the wine; He Blessed it, and gave it to the Apostles saying it was his Blood, poured out for them and those who came after them.
Scripture is not ambiguous on this, and I'll take Jesus's words over Paul's at any time.
Regardless. You start your journey / quest from a different place. than I did. I suppose we all can say that. But, I had to come to believe in the reality of the Holy Communion (The Mysteries, as we EO call this)
Once I got that settled (St Ignatius speaks of the "medicine of immortality"), a narrowing occurred as to who claimed to dispense the medicine.
Then the rest - Mary, (the Theotokos we call her), icons, Confession of sins - all that could be understood - in time, with more prayer than I ever prayed.
The very, very first step was attending an Orthodox Divine Liturgy. It was a small congregation, in a borrowed space (sitting in pews - the ideal posture is standing). No choir - just a priest and one server.
But, it was reverent, worshipful and very intense. I said that day, "If there IS a God, this is proper and worship due a Supreme Being.
It took me about a year, but I did my part. I met other folks who came from my same tradition. I read a lot of books, and, again, prayed as if my soul eas at stake.
Now, I need to read the rest of the thread (between supper prep).
I was perhaps unnecessarily snarky upthread. I ask your forgiveness.
You guys 'discern' it one way, and others 'discern' it another.
Bottom line; let’s quit bandying words here:
What is the result to a person’s soul, if they do NOT believe the wafer and wine are Jesus’ body?
A reference to 70 times 7 is SNARKY?
I do believe I am a Christian, but doing it on my own is not working, hence my thread.
No one has claimed that you aren't; have they?
I guess you are talking about me, since you sent this my way.
What 'trouble' have I caused?
I have challenged Catholic teaching. Is this 'trouble'?
Mean?
How?
Sorry my Dr. Phil persona turns you off.
HMMmm...
There no lack of threads in the RF for nothing BUT that. Why not go there? The OP Has indicated who he is interested in dialoging with. what he is interested in. Why not respect that?
I understand the free-wheeling nature of this board. But, this thread is a little different, in that it originated in a specific request and I would hope that those of good will would try to honor his wishes in the thread.
“I wonder why they are now “formerly Northport Baptist Church”.”
Yes; interesting using “formerly”. Many Baptist churches are dropping the name “Baptist” from their names ‘cause it isn’t politically correct. Personally, I’d avoid a church that does that — but that’s just me. I’m proud of the Baptist tenets and apologetics.
Sometimes a church can be bought out by a bigger church hence the name change.
I know of the Grace Christian Church that had an older congregation and needed to sell, the church congretation couldn’t sustain the costs of the old huge building. The local baptist church needed more space and bought Grace, it is known as the baptist church formerly the grace christian church since it was in existence for over 75 years.
Lift your burden up to God, NoGrayZone, in all humble sincerity. Ask for His forgiveness, profess your belief in His Son, that He was crucified, died on the cross, rose on the third day ... a sacrifice to end all sacrifices, so that you might be forgiven of this sin and be victorious over the death entered into this world as a result of the first sin. So that all mankind who believes on Him might be forgiven, and have eternal life, those who believe and follow HIm.
It seems like the easiest thing in the world to do, in hindsight. In reality, for me, it was like a dam breaking, being literally broken and desperate, driven to my knees to seek it. I was too proud, it seemed silly until my whole world collapsed around me, or so it felt at the time. Having nowhere else to turn, I turned back to God. I'm not unique in that regard. Contrition is a very hard-earned thing for many.
It doesn't have to be that way for you, though. Just remember, humble sincerity. Just ask, ask Him to change your heart, that you might endeavor to sin no more. You'll stumble, yes, but remain repentant and keep trying.
That's all any of us fallen creatures are capable of doing. God does the rest.
Yup; and it DEGENERATED into Catholics saying only THEIR church is the right one.
Homey ain't gonna let that pass.
Dear Madison — these are verses, text from the Bible. If you don’t like it, that is your free will to reject The Word
**Lift your burden up to God**
I prefer to say “Lay your burden down at the foot of the Cross.”
As to your question, why don't you let Jesus Christ answer?
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.
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