What is our ultimate goal? The pamphlet we passed out at our Grand Opening reads "Becoming a member of the church of Christ is the same as becoming a Christian." Is that the goal? It also reads "When one is baptized by immersion . . . ". Isn't that redundant? When you have a chance read the Church Membership portion of the pamphlet. It is not my intent to wordsmith but our words reflect our beliefs and our beliefs motivate us or not. Can we find in the NT how to become a Christian or how to become a member of the church of Christ? On Pentecost, the Philippian jailer and others asked what they had to do to have their sins forgiven. Do we enable people to think they are saved while never believing themselves lost? Saved from what? Am I being nitpicky?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
My questions on the subject of prayer are centered on understanding what we do.
My questions on the subject of prayer are centered on understanding what we do.
Abraham and Sarah thought they had the solution so with Hagar they made a major error. Imagine the world without the descendants of Ishmael. Remember Hezekiah? He did not want to die. God gave him fifteen additional years and Hezekiah gave the world Manasseh. Imagine a 12-year-old king. One of the worst in Judah's history.
Similar to the Pharisees we have rules that are not in the Bible. Have you ever wondered why the writers of the NT never ended a prayer "in Jesus' name?" How about never praying for the sick or safety or other secular items. Their prayers were focused on God and strength to spread the good news.
How did the congregations support themselves before Paul's instructions to the church in Corinth. The example we use as a command for giving money on Sundays was for a specific purpose and destined to help the poor in a far away place. We use that example to collect a fund we use for other purposes and primarily for our own use.
We have our minds set and nothing will change that. We cannot use the Bible to support much of what we believe much like denominations and other religious groups but we condemn them for the same attitude we have.
Prayer is just one area where what we say what we practice and what we see do not match up. This will be my last comment on the subject.
Abraham and Sarah thought they had the solution so with Hagar they made a major error. Imagine the world without the descendants of Ishmael. Remember Hezekiah? He did not want to die. God gave him fifteen additional years and Hezekiah gave the world Manasseh. Imagine a 12-year-old king. One of the worst in Judah's history.
Similar to the Pharisees we have rules that are not in the Bible. Have you ever wondered why the writers of the NT never ended a prayer "in Jesus' name?" How about never praying for the sick or safety or other secular items. Their prayers were focused on God and strength to spread the good news.
How did the congregations support themselves before Paul's instructions to the church in Corinth. The example we use as a command for giving money on Sundays was for a specific purpose and destined to help the poor in a far away place. We use that example to collect a fund we use for other purposes and primarily for our own use.
We have our minds set and nothing will change that. We cannot use the Bible to support much of what we believe much like denominations and other religious groups but we condemn them for the same attitude we have.
Prayer is just one area where what we say what we practice and what we see do not match up. This will be my last comment on the subject.
Prayers? Why?
My questions concerning prayer are centered on knowing why we do things. When it comes to religion we appear to have our minds set. Have you ever wondered why Paul as well as others did not end their prayers with an "in Jesus' name?" Have you ever wondered why we have no record of Paul or others praying for the sick? Or how about the example we use for our weekly contribution was a collection to be taken to Jerusalem specifically to help the poor while we use it for whatever we like spending it primarily on ourselves and say we are commanded to do so? Our preachers concentrate on talking to the saved but call themselves evangelists. We do not have time to read the scriptures in our assemblies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)