Which major Christian church in the U.S. is closest to the truth?

[bdavidc]

Let me know when you want to start testing the Adventist Church, I'll be glad to help.

You maybe not realise that you've just declared every Sunday keeping church harmful. Not my words my friend.

No, that is not what I said. A church meeting on Sunday is not the same thing as a church teaching Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, or that keeping Sunday saves anyone, proves anyone’s salvation, or is God’s final test. If a Sunday church teaches that, then yes, that should be rejected too.

The issue is not what day a group meets. The issue is whether a system binds the conscience where Scripture does not bind it.

Paul said, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday... or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

He also said, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).

So no, I did not declare every Sunday keeping church harmful. I said any system is harmful when it replaces Scripture with tradition or adds requirements Christ and the apostles did not bind on the church. That applies to Sunday systems, Sabbath systems, denominational systems, and every other system.

Christ is the issue. The finished work of Christ is the issue. Scripture is the test.

 

[Brakelite]

A church meeting on Sunday is not the same thing as a church teaching Sunday is the Christian Sabbath

I can't believe you said that being an American in the middle of a movement that is linked to government promoting Sunday as exactly as you describe above, because...

that keeping Sunday saves anyone,

Keeping Sunday may not save an individual, but may save the nation. So says many Christian nationalists determined to legislature morality.

 

[ScottA]

Thanks in advance!

I don't know of any church past or present that has not come to believe the doctrine of the "false teachers" Peter foretold of and the "lie" Paul said would cause "strong delusion", except those who expected Jesus to return "soon" and in their lifetime. Not as the Preterists believed, but as Jesus said, and Paul elaborated: "Today", "the dead, we who are alive, but each one in his own order."

 

[Brakelite]

The issue is not what day a group meets

You made it an issue when you said a harmless church is one that doesn't replace truth with tradition. Sunday churches, regardless their commitment, have all replaced God's holy 7th day Sabbath with the first day of the week , Sunday. Sunday is nothing more than a church tradition, having no scriptural teaching in support of it, therefore by your own standards a Sunday church cannot be considered harmless.

 

[bdavidc]

You made it an issue when you said a harmless church is one that doesn't replace truth with tradition. Sunday churches, regardless their commitment, have all replaced God's holy 7th day Sabbath with the first day of the week , Sunday. Sunday is nothing more than a church tradition, having no scriptural teaching in support of it, therefore by your own standards a Sunday church cannot be considered harmless.

That is not what I said, and it is not what Scripture says. A church meeting on Sunday is not the same thing as replacing the Sabbath unless that church teaches Sunday is now the commanded Sabbath. If a church says, “God changed the Sabbath command from the seventh day to Sunday,” then yes, I would ask where Scripture says that. I do not believe Scripture teaches that.

But simply meeting on the first day of the week is not sin. The early believers gathered on the first day of the week in Acts 20:7: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.” Paul also told the churches in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store.” That does not make Sunday the Sabbath, but it does show that first-day gathering is not automatically a man-made corruption.

The Sabbath was given to Israel as a covenant sign. Exodus 31:16-17 says, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath... It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever.” In the New Testament, believers are not commanded to keep the seventh-day Sabbath as a binding covenant requirement. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday... or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

That is the issue. I am not defending Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. I am saying Scripture does not bind the church to Sabbath observance as you are doing here. Romans 14:5 says, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”

So no, by my standard, a church is not harmful just because it meets on Sunday. It becomes harmful when it binds what Scripture does not bind, makes a day a test of faithfulness, or replaces Christ with law-keeping as the measure of standing before God.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

I don't know of any denomination today that are like the first century church and teaches their truths.

1 Cor. 3:15 is about teachers and writers of doctrines revealed to them by the Spirit in the early church like He did to Matthew, Paul, John and Peter. Most denominations have corrupt doctrines that are blatant and all you have to do is read the Bible on your own in context, context, context. What I hate on these forums is the constant pointing to 1 John 1:8 and any verse within Romans 7:14-25, as if they can stand alone without the context that those verses are about a born again Christian. They're not!!! oy veh! Stop being ignorant and study to show yourself approved. Do NOT rely on today's pastors.

If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

 

[quietthinker]

I don't know of any today that are like the first century church and teaches their truths.

The truths believed by the early disciples was also a dawning. It was the conviction that Jesus was preeminent. This conviction is even now in the minority.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

The truths believed by the early disciples was also a dawning. It was the conviction that Jesus was preeminent. This conviction is even now in the minority.

Hey, qt

I haven't a clue what you are meaning. Explain.

 

[quietthinker]

Hey, qt

I haven't a clue what you are meaning. Explain.

In the early days the disciples saw Jesus through the lens of their Jewish programming. It wasn't until after he was resurrected and spent another 40 days with Jesus that they began to join the dots in a way which emboldened them unprecedentedly. It appears Paul and Luke wrote more about this dawning than the other guys. They saw that God in Jesus has always taken the initiative. He gave us life from lifeless clay in the creation of Adam and again he gives us life in the resurrection of Jesus. He didn't ask if we wanted it, he just gives it to all freely. That's gotta be good news.

We on the other hand want to make ourselves worthy of life so we are into doing. It doesn't matter what it is....even if it's believing something....and in the process our doing becomes the priority of our focus and what we tell others what they must do or believe.
We clean forget that our heart beats and our lungs breath purely by God's gracious gift. We clean forget that eternal life is also a gift and that forgetting renders our tongues unable to be consumed in admiration for the life giver. We instead major on our doing.

 

[Grailhunter]

I don't know of any denomination today that are like the first century church and teaches their truths.

1 Cor. 3:15 is about teachers and writers of doctrines revealed to them by the Spirit in the early church like He did to Matthew, Paul, John and Peter. Most denominations have corrupt doctrines that are blatant and all you have to do is read the Bible on your own in context, context, context. What I hate on these forums is the constant pointing to 1 John 1:8 and any verse within Romans 7:14-25, as if they can stand alone without the context that those verses are about a born again Christian. They're not!!! oy veh! Stop being ignorant and study to show yourself approved. Do NOT rely on today's pastors.

If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Hello 1stCenturyLady,
To answer the question of which major church in the US is closest to the truth? I worship with several different denominations and as whole they preach the truth and are a blessing. Don't let a difference of opinion discourage you from standing and worshiping the Lord with other Christians. Christian fellowship and church activities are all very important.

There is nothing to say that the churches (congregations) in biblical times did not have some different opinions ....shoot.....Even today in denominational churches there can be different opinions in the congregations.
There is no perfection....you, me or any church. Their beliefs in the process of salvation and morals are what is important and several denominations share the truth of that.

My favorite churches are the Holy Ghost churches, but still they are not perfect. I am not looking for perfection in people, but I enjoy Christian fellowship and worshipping the lord with them. Standing with hands raised and singing hymns to the Lord. And I will say this about Holy Ghost churches, I have seen more miracles in them than any other type of church.

 

[JustMe]

Thanks in advance!

Denominations cannot be places of truth or true worship of the one God. Your premise is false.

The claim that truth is found in religious denominations rests on a false premise: the assumption that denominations, or at least some of them, objectively possess or define truth is either incorrect or unproven.

On a human level, truth can only be found and understood in the spirits of men and women who possess this precious truth of life. It comes from God’s spirit, shared with His Son and with true believers. Among people, this truth has been active on a large scale in every generation since Pentecost.

Truth—its source and presence—is invisible, yet it shines like a burning flame in this world through the lives of true believers who share the mind and spirit of Christ. This is how truth is revealed in the world, apart from the direct work of the Father’s Spirit in creation and other supernatural events today, as in the past.

Denominations are merely reflections of corrupted truth shaped by other spirits of this world. They are far removed from the meeting places of the first century, where spirit-filled people gathered to eat and share their lives together.

Therefore, truth in this life emanates from the minds and hearts of true believers. Only a few people in each generation acquire this truth, becoming torchbearers for it and for the glory of their God and His Kingdom.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

Hello 1stCenturyLady,
To answer the question of which major church in the US is closest to the truth? I worship with several different denominations and as whole they preach the truth and are a blessing. Don't let a difference of opinion discourage you from standing and worshiping the Lord with other Christians. Christian fellowship and church activities are all very important.

There is nothing to say that the churches (congregations) in biblical times did not have some different opinions ....shoot.....Even today in denominational churches there can be different opinions in the congregations.
There is no perfection....you, me or any church. Their beliefs in the process of salvation and morals are what is important and several denominations share the truth of that.

My favorite churches are the Holy Ghost churches, but still they are not perfect. I am not looking for perfection in people, but I enjoy Christian fellowship and worshipping the lord with them. Standing with hands raised and singing hymns to the Lord. And I will say this about Holy Ghost churches, I have seen more miracles in them than any other type of church.

Yes, I do the same and go to three, until I was kicked out of one of them and now go to two. The one I was kicked out of was my childhood denomination that I left when I was 23 (I'm 79). I did not debate or even share doctrine with them, but they just couldn't accept a miracle I had just received that week as it had to do with jewelry; they don't wear jewelry, and thought it must have been the devil, not God.