When the scripture said to "not forsake the assembling ourselves together," why do most assume it is in the formal religious services in a church building?
Heb 10:25
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (NKJ)
Why can't it be referring to Sunday school classes, Bible study classes, Bible study in the homes, or even home churches? It is a fact that the NT scriptures do not tell us what we are to do when we gather together except as written in the scripture above (exhorting one another) and to worship God. But I doubt very seriously that we are to worship God by the things we do physically (external). I think we are to worship God in our hearts (inside).
Why do some get the idea that God is somewhere in the ceiling of the Church building or some of the artifacts when, in fact, He is in the hearts of those that love Him?
In most religions it is a generally accepted practice that a person must stand up at times in order to worship God, such as when singing, having a prayer, giving a benediction, or reciting a religious creed? ---- What difference does it make to God?
I say this because, as a young man, while in Church, I heard someone say a man in the Church was being disrespectful because he did not stand up during the things mentioned above and was a bad example to the children. The man did not have any seeable handicap. -- I found out, later, that the man suffered from bad knees and was in constant pain from them. Why, because of the religious idea of another, was this man being denigrated and judged as being disrespectful?
I know of a boy, about 8 years old, who was placed in a Christian School. The school had some made up rules that they expected to be followed. One such rule was that a boy's hair could not be over the boy's ears. This boy brought a note home from his teacher that told his parents to have his hair cut. Unfortunately it was after that same teacher had made an example of him by making him sit in a chair at the front of the class, looking out at the other students. Since this boy could not drive a car and certainly did not have an income of money to pay for a haircut, why was he treated in that way? What influence did it have on a child this young? It had this affect; he would always have a problem with authority figures for the rest of his life. The parents of this young boy removed, both the boy and his sister, from that school and placed them in public schools.
When this same boy was about 15 he was asked to take up the collection during the Church service. He was wearing blue jeans and a tee shirt. As he was standing in the aisle he heard, and so did others, a woman say, "at least he could wear decent cloths while taking up the offering." After this the boy never came into the Church service again. We
would see him sitting in his parent's car waiting for them. I couldn't blame him.
Later, at a Wednesday night Bible Study Class, this same boy was "told" by the preacher to take out the trash. He told the preacher, "even my dad says please." Needless to say he did not take out the trash.
Several years ago my wife, and I, went on a Methodist retreat in South Georgia for a weekend in August. In our group was a man named John. In my opinion there is not a better child of God than John. John wore a hat to keep his baldhead from getting sunburned.
On the first morning John took his family (wife, son (8), and daughter (6)) to the building that was used to feed the people. This building had an all glass ceiling and was open on three sides so John wore his hat. -- John and his wife went through the cafeteria food line in front of us selecting the food for all four of them, which was difficult to do with just four hands. John and his wife were busy finding a place to sit and making sure the children had what they needed when my wife and I sat down.
John and his wife were still on their feet doing these things when suddenly my wife and I noticed that someone, who was obviously in charge since he had a microphone, was talking about a man that was being disrespectful to God because he was wearing a hat in the "house of God." Not only did he keep it up, he came over to John and demanded (over the microphone) that he remove his hat and apologize. John was so busy trying to take care of his family that he did not realize that he was being singled out as being disrespectful until the man was in his face.
I have seen John remove his hat WHEN he sat down to eat but after what the religious man had done he refused to do so. John told his family, and my wife and I, he was not going to be able to eat with them and us and would go out and find another place to eat. John was followed out by his wife and children and he and his family never went to that place again. It was then that I realized that men with religious minds are not really children of God. This man with the microphone seemed to think the building was more important than the people in it.
As I see it, this man, with the microphone, was so full of his religiosity that he did not care what he was doing to John and his family in front of all his friends that had come with him. He was judging John by what was in his own religious mind and it is clear to me that he was tearing down my friend in order to elevate him-self, which is a form of boasting. There is not one place in the NT scriptures that tell us to remove hats in a place set aside for eating. Who made this man, who can only see the outside, John's Judge? Who gave him, or any others, the right to impose made up rules on the children of God? The scriptures tell us to " exhort one another" not tear down one another. But it seems that men want to make up rules that they want others to submit to. The actions of the man
continued
Heb 10:25
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (NKJ)
Why can't it be referring to Sunday school classes, Bible study classes, Bible study in the homes, or even home churches? It is a fact that the NT scriptures do not tell us what we are to do when we gather together except as written in the scripture above (exhorting one another) and to worship God. But I doubt very seriously that we are to worship God by the things we do physically (external). I think we are to worship God in our hearts (inside).
Why do some get the idea that God is somewhere in the ceiling of the Church building or some of the artifacts when, in fact, He is in the hearts of those that love Him?
In most religions it is a generally accepted practice that a person must stand up at times in order to worship God, such as when singing, having a prayer, giving a benediction, or reciting a religious creed? ---- What difference does it make to God?
I say this because, as a young man, while in Church, I heard someone say a man in the Church was being disrespectful because he did not stand up during the things mentioned above and was a bad example to the children. The man did not have any seeable handicap. -- I found out, later, that the man suffered from bad knees and was in constant pain from them. Why, because of the religious idea of another, was this man being denigrated and judged as being disrespectful?
I know of a boy, about 8 years old, who was placed in a Christian School. The school had some made up rules that they expected to be followed. One such rule was that a boy's hair could not be over the boy's ears. This boy brought a note home from his teacher that told his parents to have his hair cut. Unfortunately it was after that same teacher had made an example of him by making him sit in a chair at the front of the class, looking out at the other students. Since this boy could not drive a car and certainly did not have an income of money to pay for a haircut, why was he treated in that way? What influence did it have on a child this young? It had this affect; he would always have a problem with authority figures for the rest of his life. The parents of this young boy removed, both the boy and his sister, from that school and placed them in public schools.
When this same boy was about 15 he was asked to take up the collection during the Church service. He was wearing blue jeans and a tee shirt. As he was standing in the aisle he heard, and so did others, a woman say, "at least he could wear decent cloths while taking up the offering." After this the boy never came into the Church service again. We
would see him sitting in his parent's car waiting for them. I couldn't blame him.
Later, at a Wednesday night Bible Study Class, this same boy was "told" by the preacher to take out the trash. He told the preacher, "even my dad says please." Needless to say he did not take out the trash.
Several years ago my wife, and I, went on a Methodist retreat in South Georgia for a weekend in August. In our group was a man named John. In my opinion there is not a better child of God than John. John wore a hat to keep his baldhead from getting sunburned.
On the first morning John took his family (wife, son (8), and daughter (6)) to the building that was used to feed the people. This building had an all glass ceiling and was open on three sides so John wore his hat. -- John and his wife went through the cafeteria food line in front of us selecting the food for all four of them, which was difficult to do with just four hands. John and his wife were busy finding a place to sit and making sure the children had what they needed when my wife and I sat down.
John and his wife were still on their feet doing these things when suddenly my wife and I noticed that someone, who was obviously in charge since he had a microphone, was talking about a man that was being disrespectful to God because he was wearing a hat in the "house of God." Not only did he keep it up, he came over to John and demanded (over the microphone) that he remove his hat and apologize. John was so busy trying to take care of his family that he did not realize that he was being singled out as being disrespectful until the man was in his face.
I have seen John remove his hat WHEN he sat down to eat but after what the religious man had done he refused to do so. John told his family, and my wife and I, he was not going to be able to eat with them and us and would go out and find another place to eat. John was followed out by his wife and children and he and his family never went to that place again. It was then that I realized that men with religious minds are not really children of God. This man with the microphone seemed to think the building was more important than the people in it.
As I see it, this man, with the microphone, was so full of his religiosity that he did not care what he was doing to John and his family in front of all his friends that had come with him. He was judging John by what was in his own religious mind and it is clear to me that he was tearing down my friend in order to elevate him-self, which is a form of boasting. There is not one place in the NT scriptures that tell us to remove hats in a place set aside for eating. Who made this man, who can only see the outside, John's Judge? Who gave him, or any others, the right to impose made up rules on the children of God? The scriptures tell us to " exhort one another" not tear down one another. But it seems that men want to make up rules that they want others to submit to. The actions of the man
continued
