Does church mean a lot to you?

So answer my questions to you.
How are pastors and teachers selected in your local church?
Who decides how the money is spent in you local church?
Are you a member/part of a local church?
Where is your proof that God is among your congregation?

question no.3 is a killer

So are you hiding now?
Always ready to condemn the way others do things but will not inform us how these things are done in your local church.

John 20 give us the time of discovery, not the time of resurrection. Christ was buried just before sundown and was resurrected just before sundown. Three full days/nights later. Corinthians collecting money? What does that have to do with worship?

Jesus observing the Sabbath:
Mark 6:2 "And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?"

Luke 4:16 "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."

The Apostles observing the Sabbath:
Acts 13:14 "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down."

Acts 13:27 "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him."

Acts 13:42 "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath."

Some of us have to work for a living you know.

If there is a fake of something, it usually means that somewhere there must be a genuine.

Have you visited ever a Charismatic church (of good standing), and that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are working (including the higher ones).

If you ever do, many of your questions will be answered.

I met once a high ranking official of a cessationist mission oriented denomination, who told me they had received strict orders to have nothing to do with pentecostals (and I assume that included charismatics), and no real reason for it was given.

After spending time in some project, he realized that charismatics were not the monsters they were portrayed as in their denomination.

Man made systems influence members in strange ways, many of them not Biblical.

One assumption of modern life, is that many religious persons actually want to know and are interested in finding the truth... God's true, and that includes His reality, His workings, etc.

Can someone that does not explore, interact, research, and the like eventually find the truth? maybe, but is risky to say that absolute truth has been found if different groups, traditions, etc. have not been explored.

To me church is important, but any single one that restricts interaction with other groups makes me suspicious of it.

Luke 8:16 No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

If you have the light from the Holy Spirt, are you afraid of visiting other groups? should you?

The Bible (which many groups pay lip service to) is clearly written from a supernatural point of view:

Holy Spirit coming down to dwell even atop the author and executor of the faith Jesus, unclean spirits being expelled from Magdalene before she could become a disciple, the H.S. giving believers instructions of what to do, who to select, where to avoid going, etc.

Were those the inventions of superstitious ancient peasants unscientific in their worldview, or is the Bible a faithful record of God's reality (which is true and ultimate), and that is supernatural from our point of view because we are living in a fallen region of the Kingdom?

You have to make up your mind with respect these kind of things before you embark in a quest for truth, otherwise, wrong preconceptions will lead you to wrong conclusions.

Kind regards.

Church has never been very important to me. I never felt that much about it. I never really cared about what was said or the people there or anything. I met someone a long time ago though who was really attached to their church and how things were with their church. Is that normal?

Maybe because your view of church is for your consumption, not as a blessing to others.
Church is there to make connections, to be blessed by others and to be a blessing to others and to be equipped.

I know how you feel though, I've had periods like that, and still do at times but I have to remember most importantly that I'm not there for purely for myself.

If we don't make connections, we can't share burdens as commanded too.

We can feel at times that we don't need others but that's a deception, because others need us.

So you refuse to answer. Just ramble on and on and condemn the way local churches conduct the Lord's work
So be it.

I am surprised by your attitude. Note that I clearly said it seemed like the Church you describe is a man driven organization. I then proceeded to quote Scriptures to compare, and waited for your clarifications. All you did then: mischaracterize me as criticizing your Church (which I can't because I do not know it), started asking me questions without explicitly saying why (what is the intention? imprecatory praying, etc.).

Just forget everything I said, like if it was never addressed to you.

Kind regards.

Hi Blik: the second paragraph brings to limelight some interesting concepts.

Does Christianity have rituals of other kind? Some charismatic authors describe a change in priestly duties from the temple (original) to our very body as the New Temple (body of Christ). They say that when we received the Holy Spirit it was as receiving Holy Fire (parallel the one received in OT), and that we are to keep that fire aflame (through devotions, study, loving the neighbor, worshiping in spirit and truth, etc.).

So we can say that now our Christian life has a lot of spiritual rituals: crucify our will not aligned with God's will, pray continuously for all the saints and the Church, and persons in position of authority, confess to God our trespasses, pardon trespasses that people do to us, hope for the best, have faith, intercede for the lost, use our God given spiritual gifts to expand the kingdom, etc.

If the priesthood of all believers is a valid concept, we do have to be involved in a whole bunch of spiritual processes that can be seen in a way as rituals.

Any thoughts?

We can get so caught up in words, can't we? Like "ritual". Jesus condemned a Pharisees public prayer as a ritual not a prayer, yet our baptism requires a water ritual and is a source of power.

Todays churches have so many rituals or holidays taken from how pagan people lived so much of our world and worship has pagan rather than Christian roots.

I am isolated even from church through family disunity, age, and infirmities. Yet I am much closer to God for I spend many hours studying and in worship. My studies exclude any man doctrines and consciously keep strictly to scripture and history. I test everything as much as possible for facts, not theory.

I have discovered so many church held doctrines that are not from scripture that much of church seems a mockery to me.

Good morning, friends! Husband and I are up and getting ready to go to music practice at our local congregation. Practice is from 8 to 9. Then we all hang out til service starts at 10

Have a great worship time. I pray that Spirit moves mightily in your midst.
I am off this week. I usually am part of the worship team. I would be almost there by now. So. I'm having a relaxed morning.
I like your signature scripture.

"I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me." -Psalm 13:6

Jesus said he would build his church. Do you believe he has failed?
Either way, where is the evidence?

Does the church mean a lot to you?
Yes because Jesus gave his life for it. He loves the church as its his bride. Which means we are his bride and we are loved cos we are a part of it as members.

You might not know it now but its hard to be a christian all on your ownsome. Can you baptise youself? Can you just pray for yourself only? Who are you going to share the Lords supper with, just yourself? How can anyone part of a choir, if you just singing solo? And fellowship, well, can you just fellowship by yourself? JEsus wasnt doing all these miracles by himself neither he had twelve disciples come be his buddies and help him.

I was surprised at your attitude.
You were very quick judge the church I am a member of as "a man driven organization".
You clearly implied by that and other statements that we left God out in our slecting of people who serve in the office of pastor and teacher and the missionaries we supported.
You also implied that each member having a voice and vote in such matters was worldly..
I asked you how your church dealt with such matters.
If the way we do this is so wrong in your opinion, surely you can set us strait by telling us how your church chooses pastors, teachers and missionaries and who the money is to be spent.

We can get so caught up in words, can't we? Like "ritual". Jesus condemned a Pharisees public prayer as a ritual not a prayer, yet our baptism requires a water ritual and is a source of power.

Todays churches have so many rituals or holidays taken from how pagan people lived so much of our world and worship has pagan rather than Christian roots.

I am isolated even from church through family disunity, age, and infirmities. Yet I am much closer to God for I spend many hours studying and in worship. My studies exclude any man doctrines and consciously keep strictly to scripture and history. I test everything as much as possible for facts, not theory.

I have discovered so many church held doctrines that are not from scripture that much of church seems a mockery to me.