A most shocking response

[pia]

Are we only the 'church' when two or three are gathered togethe

No....You are the Church, WE are the church, all those together, who believe, are each ( as described to me ) bricks in His Church ( if we are going to compare it to a building ), otherwise the Bibles description of a human body is also good, although it somehow implies groups of people being a limb, rather than each one, an individual 'brick'......We are for sure stronger together, but only if there is unity, peace and Love......I don't expect the forum to replace worship....What I had hoped for, was some of the unity I just spoke of, so together we can be stronger...

 

[pia]

Does our natural foot take a break from being our foot?

Great post......Love the analogy at the end, that is very good.....Sorry I had meant feeding one another as well, it was more the quality of the food I was thinking on..........Like every single small root which sprouts from a main root, every bit needs it's water and it's food in order to grow....Some seem happy to be stunted, and I find that rather sad, but what can make me a little angry, is when they try really hard to stunt other believers growth......But I do agree, as long as we're sensitive to the Spirit, we may be able to support someone else...

 

[pia]

change where you stand in the Lord does it?

No, not me personally....Those however who may be young in the Lord surely don't need to see 'seasoned' believers carry on like this.....Perhaps 'Christian Forum' isn't quite the right terminology, as far as what you write there lol

 

[pia]

when on our own or merely a Christian on their own.?

For certain

 

[pia]

Yes, so many do not understand that people are the Church. We may well be the best foot of the Body of Christ that needs to be put forward. Does our natural foot take a break from being our foot?

What you wrote here made me think of another....We are called to be the body of Christ, but just imagine if in a body, one leg wanted to go one way, and the other leg the opposite way, or even sideways lol.....Wouldn't get far....Our bodies must work in unity throughout to function properly...Says a lot to me .

 

[Dan57]

Simply stated, I believe if you are a Christian, you are part of the many membered body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). He will gather His church unto himself (Mark 13:27). So every believer is part of the church, its not a denomination or building per se. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

 

[mjrhealth]

Physicall present in a church to join in corporate worship.

And yet it says

Psa_34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psa_51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

everyone wants to be in the "crowd", but God loves those who call out to Him daily. Plastic people, behave one way when alone, another when on the forum than dress up so nice and tidy with the sunday smile for church, lest they be found out.

Mat 15:10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Mat 15:12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
Mat 15:13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
Mat 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Mat 15:15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
Mat 15:16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
Mat 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mat 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mat 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

goes on a lot on christian forums

 

[DPMartin]

No, not me personally....Those however who may be young in the Lord surely don't need to see 'seasoned' believers carry on like this.....Perhaps 'Christian Forum' isn't quite the right terminology, as far as what you write there lol

well one has to be feed that which supports the life being lived:
1Jn_3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

hence in the case of those living in Christ are not feed in a mutual warm and fuzzy feel good word fest. therefore the true believer starves.

does a site like this have potential for growth in the Lord? most definitely, but the ones here who contend against the truth of God seem to be more astute then the ones who claim to know the Lord, they know what church people are told to know, but they don't know what the Lord says, nor do they trust what the Lord says, they trust what they are told, and most churches work on feeding the life the members love which is their own lives in the flesh, and not the Life of Christ.

 

[Windmillcharge]

so you say, but to my mind the bolded is a contradiction. Maybe i'm just missing something, i'll read this again in the am

While God deals with you and with me, rather than with everyone in your city or my city.

He also recognises our need for companionship and places us in churches.

 

[Windmillcharge]

imo the Q is not so much whether God cares as whether the "if" there is true or not.
Certainly one can serve God wherever they are at, and if you "go to church" to tell people that they are following an Institution, and can only be deceived there, then imo that is what you are doing
you would have to Quote the vv, sorry, the word "institution" is used exactly once in the Bible,
1 Peter 2:13 Lexicon: Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

Why are you going to a church to tell people they are following an insitution?

One can be decived far more easily if on ones own. If attending a church where the bible is taught and is preached so as to be relevent to todays problems why would you think you will be decieved.

have a look at this article, I've copied the relevant bits:-
https://www.christianpost.com/news/7-reasons-churches-dont-grow-221380/
They're not relevant enough.a
nother reason some churches don't grow is that they are not relevant enough. If I have no church context and walk into a building where pipe organs rule the day or the Scripture reading sounds like Shakespeare or the service feels like I'm a part of a museum exhibition, then there's a good chance I won't come back.
But even these fade into the background compared to sermons that don't hit the mark. Not only must the Word of God be exegeted, but the needs of the people must be too. I'll put up with choir robes and stained glass if the sermon is hitting the mark in my soul. But if the Word of God remains a distant, confusing, religious relic instead of a sword that opens up areas of my life (
Hebrews 4:12-13) for the Spirit of God to change me in powerful and practical ways, then there's a good chance I won't be back.

5. They're not meaty enough.
Some churches grow initially because they're services and sermons are relevant but their sermons tend to be light and fluffy. As new believers grow in their faith they get a hunger for God's Word on a level beyond the surface. Now when I talk about "meaty" I'm not talking about hour long doctrinal diatribes unpacking the theological implications of angelology for a postmodern culture. I'm talking about being willing to
"rightly divide the Word of God" beyond just topical series that tend to skim the surface.

I'll never forget visiting
Flatirons Church once on a Sunday morning just about 20 minutes from where I live. This church is one of the fastest growing churches in the nation and has a weekly of attendance that hovers around 18,000 or so. To be honest I was expecting a "light and fluffy" service but, instead, the sermons were both meaty and practical. Soon I was scrambling for a pen and taking notes. And so were the believers and seekers all packed in around me. Nobody could ever accuse this "lights, camera, action" highly produced church service, full of pounding music and tattoos, of being irrelevant. But nobody could ever accuse this church of failing to be meaty enough. Maybe this church was growing because it found the sweet spot between being both practically relevant and theologically riveting


As for God organising the church, I never used the word insitution, that is your word.
Read in the OT how God gave instruction how to build the tabinacle, how worship was to be conducted etc etc etc

 

[Windmillcharge]

everyone wants to be in the "crowd", but God loves those who call out to Him daily. Plastic people, behave one way when alone, another when on the forum than dress up so nice and tidy with the sunday smile for church, lest they be found out.

Why do you think I said that we have to worship 'in spirit and in truth'?

How many of those who flocked to see Jesus really wanted a 'spiritual relationship', who really wanted to see a miracle?

 

[bbyrd009]

While God deals with you and with me, rather than with everyone in your city or my city.

ah

He also recognises our need for companionship and places us in churches.

ok. not sure why you are putting the responsibility for that on God, strikes me as your choice there. Imo if God sent you to a "church" it was because you are hard-headed and would not listen to the Spirit, iow God gave you over to strong delusion in that case; not saying that that is the bad or evil thing that we make it out to be either. More like allowing the sow/reap deal to function. Making honest mistakes is not evil; not learning from them is imo

 

[bbyrd009]

Why are you going to a church to tell people they are following an insitution?

why are you calling that "church" when it demonstrably is not? Aren't the ppl there looking for truth? Then why not let them know that they are an arm of the government, that their pastor even signed a Contract for Jesus with? i wouldn't do this to denigrate anyone, but to illuminate the reality that we function under. Many--or a relative few, whatever--ordained pastors even sermonize on these concepts, bless their hearts

 

[bbyrd009]

One can be decived far more easily if on ones own.

i disagree, at least as far as someone alone studying the Bible with the Spirit alone's help, iow without guidance from someone who is likely deceived in some regard. This is the Scriptural mandate for acolytes, what Paul did for three years, right

 

[bbyrd009]

If attending a church where the bible is taught and is preached so as to be relevent to todays problems why would you think you will be decieved.

ah, because if they are calling that "Church" and they are calling that a "Bible" then i don't even have to guess, do i?
As soon as they hold up a KJV and say "the Word," i know i'm in the wrong place for study/learning anything.
Might be a great place to sacrifice, don't get me wrong, or even to learn the Law by the left hand, or to congregate with the like-minded, and i would certainly send someone there who was determined to get "ordained" or who valued such things, but the reality that these people, the religious, are as of the world as it gets should also be stated imo. Their position on Politics or Patriotism, etc, usually makes this crystal clear. Their translation of certain thorny passages, "absent from the body," "the flesh profits nothing," and a few others would also be signs to me.

i don't mean these ppl are bad or evil, ok, i'm not interested in throwing darts at blind ppl who just found a good way to sit on the fence and be of the world, but neither am i interested in condoning the behavior. One can still learn from ppl who do not know everything, iow. The heir is under servants until he matures, even though he is the lord of all.

 

[bbyrd009]

As for God organising the church, I never used the word insitution, that is your word.
Read in the OT how God gave instruction how to build the tabinacle, how worship was to be conducted etc

ah, i have a better interp for that stuff now i think, that is much less...historical, let's say.

The building of Temples has personal significance to me, and we can note that all of those people perished after they built a common tabernacle right

 

[Windmillcharge]

Seems to me bbyrd009 that you are unaware that the Spirit of God will confirm to you when others are delivering a message or a sermon from God.
You need to think carefully because if the spirit in you is telling you that every message delivered in every church is false. That spirit is not from God.

 

[Windmillcharge]

The building of Temples has personal significance to me, and we can note that all of those people perished after they built a common tabernacle right

The tabernacle was not common as God gave the instructions for it to Moses.
Yes those who exited egypt, like everybode eventually died.

 

[GodsGrace]

A little earlier I received ( in part ) the following response to my thoughts on the forum.
" Who cares what the Lord desires in an internet forum ? This is not some church, ", there was a little more but it's not needed for this post.
This is totally shocking to me ! This person seems completely unaware of the truth, that we ARE the Church ( if we are In Christ )...You cannot choose to be a 'christian', only if you're in a 'church' meeting.
I can see a little more clearly now, why these forums can be such poison to our souls, and yet we sit here daily and lap it up, when we ought to be 'eating' and 'drinking' from the Spirit of Life.
I am appalled at the thinking some have that we only need to 'seen' to be christians when we are in church meetings, what a crock of dung, that is !
You either ARE the church, or you are not, no matter where you are at any given time, and you cannot represent Christ in this fashion...I know we all have times when we know we are not being 100% In Him, and thankfully He has already taken care of that, but to say God doesn't care how His Son is represented, well that's just not the Truth.

I think they meant church, small c.
The building, not the Body.
Are we a church?
I've learned a lot on these forums.

 

[bbyrd009]

The tabernacle was not common as God gave the instructions for it to Moses.

by "common" there i mean that it is "historically" understood to have been built for the Wanderers "in common." But "the pattern" likely predates Moses, and its construction reveals its purpose imo, a "pattern" for a seeker after God to follow in constructing their own Temple

Yes those who exited egypt, like everybode eventually died.

well, 3 did not die wandering, right, is imo the whole point of the story