Posted on 09/20/2014 8:16:26 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
Discuss the issues all you want, but do not make it personal.
I am weighing any claims of authentic New Testament (Baptist) churches to see if they meet the standard of being holy, catholic, and apostolic. The LORD Jesus Christ said And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Now, it could be that I find the position that each local church is a fortress and kingdom unto itself a bit foreign. I tend to think of it differently, like Klal Yisrael (All Israel Together) which is a concept that every Jew is his brother and his brother's keeper along the lines of Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
And so we have one contestant who claims an unbroken like of apostolic succession, as it were, in direct opposition to the Catholic Church. I find this is a key distinction from Protestants. I want to know approximately how many of these churches there are, who really believe they are the only true NT churches descended from the Apostles (I see now that they themselves count this two ways: by the letter and in spirit), and whether they do in fact form a union with each other, or are we left with an odd assortment of "one man shows" ala Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church, or Bill Gothard who made a living but did not really have, or obey, a church, running his own business so to speak.
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