Word of the Post
Today's word is: discipline
/dis"ci*pline/ noun
Development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; subject matter of instruction; education; training.
I wanted to focus not on the common use definition for Spanking, but on the learning portion of the word, for example the discipline of Yoga, or the discipline of religion.
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I really need to discipline myself to perform more housework and less computer gaming. I have so much that I wish to do with my life, and my time, that I cannot sit and do nothing near my computer all day. Dishes and Laundry need to be washed, Books need to be read, and Bible needs to be studied. Direction needs to be chosen, and course plotted. I need to show some exercise of time management, and show that I indeed own a bit of discipline.
In speaking of discipline, and of religion as a part of that, I would like to ask and answer a few questions. I like to think that I know some things about my choice of religion, and that I can come up with an answer when asked questions pertaining to my beliefs. I request that you ask me questions. I will post the questions, and then discuss the answers I have. I will always do my best to refer to the Bible first, but I may have other sources to reference as well.
I have in the past dealt with a friend who is Lutheran. We have had many discussions. There are many similarities and, unfortunately, many differences. The big one for me is that Lutherans call themselves after Martin Luther. Luther himself told them to call themselves after Christ, who died for them, not after any man, and not after Luther. The name on the door suggests that they did not listen to the man they claim to follow. If you follow the teachings of Christ, then Christian should be on the door.
Is the name on the door all that important? Yes, I believe it is. Community Church comes to mind. Did the Community around you die for you? No. Christ died for you. The name on the door should be that of Christ, the Savior who gave his life to save yours. Luther did not die for your redemption. Using terms that the Bible used should be of first importance. The Body of Christ is his Church. The English word "church" is from the Greek word "ecclesia", meaning "called out". The Spanish language uses this same basis to refer to churches as well, "iglesia".
Now, this argument can be taken too far in the other direction, as well. This results in denominations. All names are used as signs to tell the outside world some of what goes on inside the building. Differences between them can be monstrously large, or microscopically small. The point here is that the Body of Christ should all share one name, that of Jesus Christ, but we don't. We continually divide over petty things like the color of the carpet and whether to have candles in the building; we argue over salvation issues like baptism and what constitutes sin.
The Lord Jesus himself prayed to the Father that His followers would all be ONE. He knew that we would probably mess this up, just as we have messed up many of God's plans before this. We may not always do exactly as God wants, but His plans never fail.
Go read Ephesians 4:1-6. Pay special attention to verse 5. "one Lord, one faith, one baptism;" We are instructed to follow Christ, and His one path. I do believe that one church will go to heaven. The Bride of Christ, the church he died to save, the humans doing as He called out, these are the "one church" that will be in heaven. I do not believe that the name on the door has anything positive to do with that. If anything, the name on the door will prevent some groups from going to heaven.
Knowing that many older members of the Church of Christ will have an issue with this opinion, I am sorry. I do not mean to demean your belief. I merely wish to state and Biblically defend my own. I believe that on the day that Christ comes back, there will be many in the "church of Christ" that will be calling to the Lord, and be told "I never knew you", for their hypocrisy and pride. I also believe that many from other buildings with other names on the door will come to the Lord, and be welcomed, for their honesty and humility in doing what the Bible said.
Thankfully, the judgement is not up to me, but up to the Father.
3 comments:
I'd hope that people would expect to see others outside their denomination. That is a mark of maturity on your part, Chelf. I don't think you should apologize for the Truth. I certainly plan to be there ;)
I actually believe what is on the door does matter, but hold to a different idea than you. Every denomination has doctrinal distinctives. Knowing where they fall is important, especially to me. I'm closer to being a "Calvinist" than to other things, so I'm not welcome behind some of those doors. I really don't care if I end up in a body of Arminians, but some Arminians do.
I'm wholesale on the idea that we should all just have "Body of the Lord Jesus Christ" on the door, though. I think we should tolerate theological differences of opinion. The best teaching pastors I've ever had the priviledge to sit under were Arminians, and that never bothered me. I learned more from them than I did from most people who are in "my" camp. What do we truly learn from people who just nod their heads and never challenge us when we speak of what we believe, or set up straw men from the specific doctrinal perspective we have. Sadly, most people with denominational mindsets do this en masse in some form or another.
Many people say that if we were all perfectly submissive to the Holy Spirit that we would all believe the same thing. I don't buy that. I think that we are all striving for the shadows of greater Truths than we can comprehend. Some see and understand a part of that shadow better than others, but the whole never can our human minds grasp or comprehend. We'd be fools to think "Only my doctrine is 100% pure." We haven't been perfected yet. We still just see as through a mirror darkly.
Great post, Chelf
My dear King:
My father has preached that the road to heaven is like a bucket in a well. There may be several buckets at the bottom, but only one bucket is going to go to the top when Jesus is told to pull it up. He stated that this bucket is the Church of Christ.
Now, I think the ONE bucket is the only way, but I don't think the bucket is the "denomination" of the Churches of Christ. I think the bucket will be full of people who actually do what Jesus said with a faithful heart. Some of them may have other "denominational names" on their doors. But I am SURE 100% that there will be members of the Churches of Christ who really are in the wrong bucket, and they don't know it, and they won't listen.
I am not familiar with what you called "Arminians". What is their teaching? Do they have an affiliation name I would recognize?
Theological differences of opinion can (and probably should) happen, but only to a point. I believe that there are some issues that are very plain in the Bible, and others are a little vague. I think there is a lot of direction, even when the Bible is "silent" on an issue. We may not be given a directive, but we have plenty of example direction.
I was not apologizing for my opinion, I was apologizing for offending anyone. I wanted all who read to understand that I have my beliefs due to extensive study. I am willing to change my thoughts if I am shown Biblically that I am wrong.
Ok, Chelf...I've been a lurker...I may have posted once or twice in the past, but I can't really remember now. And I have NO idea how I got to your blog, but I put you in my bloglines because I liked how you do the Word of the Post thing.
Anyway, the reason for my comment...I read this post when you first put it up, and immediately I was put off by some of what you said...but I think it was more about my aversion to the CofC than what you wrote. I am married to a PK of a CofC minister...I had never heard of CofC until I met hubby. I grew up in many different churches (Southern Baptist, Evangelical Free, non-denominational and Mennonite Brethern) where the Bible was preached verbatim and FULL of Godly Christian men and women. My family never chose our church based on the name on the door. We looked INSIDE...we looked at their doctrine, theology, form of preaching, examples of the church leaders, children's programs). And I bet that every single church had something that one of us didn't like...but if the Bible was preached, in the correct context, and the leaders were God-fearing Christians, then we could call it home.
Hubby was put off by church because of the way he grew up, and he wasn't attending church when I met him. We started going to my home church, a Mennonite Brethern church, where my pastor preached using the expository method -- my favorite form of preaching. Hubby was uncomfortable at first with our form of worship, but he has come to realize that worship is about GOD -- us raising our voices, hands AND instruments to glorify Him.
FIL is still preaching at the same CofC he's been at for 30+ years, but we do not attend there. There are many members of their church who are in the bucket that Jesus WON'T be pulling up...and it's too bad. To be completely honest, I don't understand how these people can think they're the only real Christians, and the only people going to heaven, yet, they are doing NOTHING outside of their tiny community to bring others to Christ. If they are so sure that they're the only ones who are right, they should be shouting from the rooftops to save the rest of us heathens.
Heaven will be a VERY small place according to their beliefs. I don't doubt that some of them are Christians and will be with me in heaven someday...I just wish those people had a bigger influence on the rest of their congregation.
To sum up, I enjoy reading your blog, and I think your views are a lot like my BIL (who also used to be a CofC preacher, but has left the ministry -- a ministry that will suffer because he is very talented), SIL and hubby and I.
I am proud of you for speaking your mind and thinking for yourself based on your own research and study.
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