Brian Giselbach:
Reference your article in January GA, "Making Sense of Division and Controversy in the Lord's Church"
I enjoyed your article. Have you considered:
What if we did not have to be in total agreement to get along? What if the purpose of the assemblies was to encourage and to strengthen each other and not to worship God? What if nothing anyone does in the assembly can have a negative affect on those who do not agree with what was being done? It appears Paul and Jesus thought that since neither, Paul to the church in Corinth nor Jesus to the seven churches in Asia, told the good guys to leave the bad guys. What if staying together teaching was the practice instead of separation and ostracising? What if dividing the church as warned about in Matthew 7 and Romans 15 was the worst thing anyone could do? And when congregations divide both sides are wrong. What if the church practiced real congregational autonomy instead of selective autonomy? Selective as in doing things the same way I do them.
When Jesus told the apostles as often as they eat the bread and drink the cup to do it in remembrance of him he did not say in worship of me. We have memorial services all the time for our friends who have died and do not consider that worship so calling the Lord's Supper worship is a stretch. How is singing to each other, praying for ourselves, contributing primarily for our own comfort, listening to a speaker worship? I do not find in the NT anything about worship other than Jesus said his followers would and Paul told us how, by presenting our body a living sacrifice.
It seems to me our concept of the assembly is the root of most of the problems in the church today. Just some thoughts.
Again, nice article.
Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179 cell
Gatlinburg, TN
Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.
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