Why Do You Go/or not go to Church?

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bbyrd009

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"Jesu, where'er Thy people meet,
There they behold the mercy seat,
To them that seek Thee, Thou are found
And every place is hallowed ground."
exactly, wherever two or three come together in His Name iow, not wherever we deem a building "church" that never, ever meets that standard, except when two or three of the faithful happen to come together in His Name there, which i'm not saying that that does not happen too, surely it does
 

Pearl

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That would be equivalent to a house church, wouldn't it?
At least that's in a group!
A bible study group. Or with Christian friends who come for a meal. Jesus wasn't in a church building when he told us to do it in remembrance of him, just with a group of friends over a meal. It has since been ritualised.
 
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farouk

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Taking communion 'on your own' would not feel right to me either. It's something to be done together, in fellowship - otherwise a large part of the symbolism is missing.
In Acts 2.42, it's clearly associated with other Christians regularly engaged in various Scriptural activities.

I don't believe in the idea of 'consecrated buildings', though.
 

Pearl

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Ummmm sorry but I can think of several places where Jesus would not follow me into. "If you wanna go there son, you're on your own".
Like where? If Christ is in me then he is everywhere I am.
 

bbyrd009

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In Acts 2.42, it's clearly associated with other Christians regularly engaged in various Scriptural activities.

I don't believe in the idea of 'consecrated buildings', though.
ha well or Jews anyway, they were pretty much all still Jews i guess

He said this because they were entering Jerusalem, and the Apostles thought the kingdom was about to manifest paraphrased?
 

Nancy

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A bible study group. Or with Christian friends who come for a meal. Jesus wasn't in a church building when he told us to do it in remembrance of him, just with a group of friends over a meal. It has since been ritualised.

Amen Pearl,
I believe when Jesus said to "Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25). ... And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:22-24).
I personally believe the communion is an actual meal, among other Christians...and as we are to do ALL things with Him in our minds, why would having a meal that is always provided to us from God not be considered "communion". I mean, this was all said during the last supper...♥
 
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brakelite

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gotta witness for Pearl there bro
wherever you go, I am with you
KJV John 15
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Any promises such as "I am with you always' are conditional. I know of no reference that says "wherever you go I will be with you".
 

historyb

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be mindful you don't substitute mans ideas in place of God's. The point of the instructions at the last supper was to remember Jesus and his significance till he returns.
Church is not a building to state the obvious. Church is where two or three are gathered in his name....a home, a prison, a cave, a mountain or even an animal shelter. The location is irrelevant.

There is more than mere remembrance. Mere remembrance does not cause sickness or death. It is man who made the Holy Eucharist mere remembrance because they could not accept the truth and made their own ideas up just as those that heard walked away from Christ in John 6:66.
 
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brakelite

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There is more than mere remembrance. Mere remembrance does not cause sickness or death. It is man who made the Holy Eucharist mere remembrance because they could not accept the truth and made their own ideas up just as those that heard walked away from Christ in John 6:66.
Bible Commentary 1 Corinthians 11
18-34 (Matthew 26:26-29). The Lord’s Supper Perverted—The Corinthians were departing widely from the simplicity of the faith and the harmony of the church. They continued to assemble for worship, but with hearts that were estranged from one another. They had perverted the true meaning of the Lord’s Supper, patterning in a great degree after idolatrous feasts. They came together to celebrate the sufferings and death of Christ, but turned the occasion into a period of feasting and selfish enjoyment.

Paul rebukes the Corinthians for making the house of God a place of feasting and revelry, like a company of idolaters: “What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?” The public religious feasts of the Greeks had been conducted in this way, and it was by following the counsels of false teachers that the Christians had been led to imitate their example. These teachers had begun by assuring them that it was not wrong to attend idolatrous feasts, and had finally introduced similar practices into the Christian church.
 

quietthinker

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There is more than mere remembrance. Mere remembrance does not cause sickness or death. It is man who made the Holy Eucharist mere remembrance because they could not accept the truth and made their own ideas up just as those that heard walked away from Christ in John 6:66.
perhaps you can elaborate....make what you are trying to say clearer
 

Deborah_

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so you say, and i even understand why ok, but i disagree wadr, and if we examined your vv for justification we might see why. Church may be a place to you, but it is a Condition to me. No "church" in your lexicon has ever had only two or three, that i am aware of, and etc, so when you say "wherever believers gather" see you mean one thing whereas i would be meaning another i think

mostly i guess bc it is only too easy to hear a "place" at say "the church at Ephesus" for instance when no place is actually invoked at all, other than "the Church," people iow, "at Ephesus," which is not the name of a building at all right.

so we then extrapolate that into "the believers who all believed exactly the same just like we do, that all came together in a building in Ephesus, just like we do."
Rather than "the faithful who happened to be in Ephesus at the time" iow?

You're still reading more into the word 'church' than I actually mean. Biblically, 'church' is an assembly (ekklesia) - now if we assemble, then it rather implies we are all in one place (at least temporarily). Not necessarily a dedicated building, although for practical purposes a lot of churches do now have dedicated buildings. And in the UK, there can't be many towns where there are only two or three believers, so for most of us it's a cop-out to restrict our fellowship to such a small select group.

Jesus' reference to "two or three" gets a lot of misapplication, in my view. It's an encouragement to the few who really are just a few (churches of 2 or 3 do exist), not an excuse for all of us to avoid fellowship with larger groups.
 

quietthinker

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[QUOTE="Deborah_, post: 593220, member: 6831"
Jesus' reference to "two or three" gets a lot of misapplication, in my view. It's an encouragement to the few who really are just a few (churches of 2 or 3 do exist), not an excuse for all of us to avoid fellowship with larger groups.[/QUOTE]


Here's a loose thought/question....Does gathering with people in large groups constitute fellowship? Personally I doubt it unless of course their is fellowship.

Gathering with large groups of people for the purpose of fellowship is a wonderful thought but in my experience it has been a rarity.

Fellowship in my understanding happens when people connect. Our fellowship with the Godhead happens when we are connected. Fellowship in a family becomes a reality when those present harmonise at the core and differences that surface are able to be surmounted....that is fellowship.
 
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Pearl

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Here's a loose thought/question....Does gathering with people in large groups constitute fellowship? Personally I doubt it unless of course their is fellowship.

Gathering with large groups of people for the purpose of fellowship is a wonderful thought but in my experience it has been a rarity.

Fellowship in my understanding happens when people connect. Our fellowship with the Godhead happens when we are connected. Fellowship in a family becomes a reality when those present harmonise at the core and differences that surface are able to be surmounted....that is fellowship.
Our home bible study groups midweek were better for true fellowship than the larger gatherings on a Sunday morning. Much more intimate.
 

Deborah_

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Here's a loose thought/question....Does gathering with people in large groups constitute fellowship? Personally I doubt it unless of course their is fellowship.

Gathering with large groups of people for the purpose of fellowship is a wonderful thought but in my experience it has been a rarity.

Fellowship in my understanding happens when people connect. Our fellowship with the Godhead happens when we are connected. Fellowship in a family becomes a reality when those present harmonise at the core and differences that surface are able to be surmounted....that is fellowship.

Depends what you mean by 'large', doesn't it? In my experience the fellowship of a very small group (less than 6-8) can become too intense, especially, if that small group cuts itself off from participation in any wider fellowship. It's also too easy just to 'fellowship' with people you like. A church of 20-50 is the ideal, I think - small enough to know everyone, but large enough to have members that maybe you wouldn't naturally get on with. Once you get over that number, it becomes impossible to really know everyone (not necessarily a problem, as long as you know some of them).

The real problem with most churches, I suspect, is not the numbers but the attitude. If people aren't willing to open up and share with each other (or if they get criticised when they do), or if they don't stop to talk after the meeting, you won't get much fellowship happening.
 

Pearl

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Depends what you mean by 'large', doesn't it? In my experience the fellowship of a very small group (less than 6-8) can become too intense, especially, if that small group cuts itself off from participation in any wider fellowship. It's also too easy just to 'fellowship' with people you like. A church of 20-50 is the ideal, I think - small enough to know everyone, but large enough to have members that maybe you wouldn't naturally get on with. Once you get over that number, it becomes impossible to really know everyone (not necessarily a problem, as long as you know some of them).

The real problem with most churches, I suspect, is not the numbers but the attitude. If people aren't willing to open up and share with each other (or if they get criticised when they do), or if they don't stop to talk after the meeting, you won't get much fellowship happening.
Our church had a regular attendance of between 50 and 60 and those that wanted to could be part of a midweek housegroup of around 12 people. We would chat, pray, praise and study and sometimes just have fun together for birthdays or other celebrations and we often shared bread and wine - just from the loaf in the bread bin and from a bottle in the wine rack. We had meals out together at Christmas or buffet lunches in our various homes, all sorts of things like that. And once a month the church had a buffet bring and eat lunch after the meeting. It's not rocket science.