Because this blog is about the Bible and what the Bible says, I don't want to be in a position of judging various denominations. As we have noted in previous blog entries, the Bible is specific that division is not what God wants among His people. But let's look at this matter from a different perspective.
Consider that you are a completely open-minded individual with no prior knowledge or experience with Christianity. You go to the Bible to see what it says that the church is to be. Here are a few things that you would note:
1. The first church was in Jerusalem, established by the apostles, as recorded in Acts 2.
2. The first church was made up of Christians who had repented and been baptized. (Acts 2:38, 41, & 47.)
3. The first Christians remained in Jerusalem until we see persecution causing them to scatter into other areas establishing other churches in Acts 8:1.
4. Paul and Barnabus were traveling and preaching and "appointed elders in every church." Acts 14:23.
5. The early Christians were taking the Lord's Supper on Sunday. Note Acts 20:7, "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread......"
Today's church needs to be patterned after the church of the New Testament. It is made up of Christians who gather to partake of the Lord's supper on Sunday, the first day of the week. There is no superstructure of management for the church, just like we see in the early church. Each church had a group of elders overseeing the local church. And each church was autonomous, responsible for itself, with no overseeing body. Division did not exist in the New Testament church. They understood that God was not accepting of myriads of varying faiths.
We need to be as simplistic. Thanks for reading. See you next week.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment