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My thoughts are that you pray about it. Also look for a Church that has the authority to act in the name of God. Where do churches get there authority from? As far as I can see there are only two churches that claim to originate from our Saivior Jesus Christ. All others are churches that left the Catholic church or left one of the churches that left the Catholic church. Men started these churches. For example Martin Luther thought that the Catholic Church was not teaching correct principles and as a religious leader he should know. He broke away from the Catholic Church and started his own church. But where did he get the authority to do so if as he believed the Catholic Church no longer followed the true teachings of Jesus? I could always start my own church but what would be the purpose for that? many men have started there own churches as well and to what benefit is that?
The only other church that does not originate from some other faith is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints commonly called the Mormon Church. They believe that the truth was lost and that it had to be restored from Jesus to the earth. They believe that the authority was taken from the earth and later restored by Jesus Christ.
The only two options that I can see are you either believe that the Church that Jesus origianally started on the earth still holds the authority to act in God's name and you join the Catholic Church because all churches that broke from the Catholic Church are false because they left the true church. Or you join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because you beleive that the Catholic Church fell away from the teachings of Jesus Christ and all churches that broke away are also false because they broke away from the Catholic Church.
More comments that I left out earlier: here's how I knew I had found the right church for me: It was when I realized I was uncomfortable going there. Huh? Uncomfortable? Yeah...that's right, uncomfortable. How so? Because, after going there 2 or 3 times, (with an initial VERY positive impression) I soon saw and realized something: These people not only had amazing love for one another (and me), they also were doing something else:
(1) They PRAYED way longer, harder, and more SINCERELY than what made me "comfortable"...I mean, like sometimes hours on Thursday "prayer" night. (I was used to like 10 or 15 minutes)...
(2) They WORSHIPPED GOD way longer than what made me "comfortable"...an hour of praise and singing before the sermon is not unusual...the service can go for like 3 or 4 hours some days...
(3) They READ THE BIBLE more than what made me "comfortable"...made me feel bad if I "skipped" a day. I used to feel "ok" if I opened the Bible once a week...
(4) They emphasized MISSIONS to the lost, way more than what made me "comfortable"...(I was used to "let somebody else do that...")
(5) They MINISTERED to the needs of the poor, the needy, the prisoners, the widows, the infirm, the sick, the elderly...way more than what made me "comfortable"...(again, I was used to "let somebody else do that...")
(6) And last, but not least, they make me "squirm" and feel uneasy, if I was in the slightest "little" sin...I would feel uncomfortable...because they are pressing in to God's kingdom...whilst I floated along and lagged behind with the stragglers...
When I went back home and thought quietly about all these things, in my mind I had to agree: what they were doing was right, they were doing exactly what Jesus had told us to do. They weren't running a "social" club...they were for real. They were literally "doers of the Word, and not hearers only". I was used to, and had been comfortable with, knowing the Word intellectually (I have 2 years of full-time Bible college), but I was not following it all literally, in my everyday life. It is one thing to know what the Bible says, and quite another to be living it. I was not experiencing it fully, like I should have. There were young Christians, saved for less than 5 years, doing MORE for the kingdom of God than I...(and I have been a Christian a long time...some 40 years...)
I mused quietly about all these things while at home, after church. End result: whether I feel like jumping on board or not is not an option. It doesn't matter what one "feels like", it does matter whether we obey the Lord, or not. It's a choice. It was "choose ye this day whom you will serve". Choose where you may learn, experience, and grow a lot...
I have a feeling this is gonna turn out well for my wife and I. My "old" self doesn't like it at all...
I bet if you ask around, a lot of others will have experienced the same realizations...
Bud
Very nice... wonderful insight.
I love the challenge, the uncomfortableness the Holy Spirit brings to the flesh.....that is how it dies . Then it becomes more of Christ and less of me!!!! That's the kind of church I want to fellowship in...
I did state in my post that intend to go back to that church, I also believe you have to give in more than one shot for sure.
It's not that I haven't prayed about it, I just haven't heard back yet - LOL
RedWhiteBlue...
LOL.
Bud in AK's posts have some really solid advice. I hope you'll also visit the links he posted. Good godly counsel...
All "religious groups" are not the same. It's an important decision... there's lots of imitations.
The church that Jesus "originally started" in the beginning is still the same church today. What church is that? Well, it isn't one of the man-made institutions, with man-made offices and man-made rules and rituals. You won't find it in the Yellow Pages. Instead, it is comprised of ALL born-again believers, regardless of the particular denomination they belong to! The authority of the believer is given by God directly to each and every believer, you don't get it by "belonging" to, or joining, some denominational church.
All churches did not break off of the RCC (some obviously did, but not all). The Eastern Orthodox church, in particular, claims to be "original" to the very beginning of Christianity...they are not a splinter group broken off from the RCC. There are still a number of them in Alaska, from being established here when Alaska was still Russia. (before 1867, Alaska was a Russian province...) I visited a very beautiful Orthodox church in Ekaterinburg, Russia, some years ago...
But...all of that doesn't matter....it's irrelevent to the question of "church authority". The authority to establish a church, or act in God's name, doesn't come down to us through their (or anyone else's) hierarchy...it is given to you by the Holy Spirit, as a believer, when you are born again. The only authority given by any particular church hierarchy is to let you "officiate" in their church, participate in matters of that particular church. If they gave you, for example, authority to ordain elders...that authority would only be good in that particular church denomination....any other church would not have to honor that (and usually doesn't). That's what I call the "authority of man". Very very weak. Now...if God gives you authority to do something...whatever power or virtue that may be, it is good EVERYWHERE, and it makes absolutely no difference what others may think. For example, if God gives someone the gifts of healing (spoken of in the Bible), then no man on earth, regardless of their position in any church, can take that away from them...man will be powerless against that authority of God. Now THAT...is what I call God's authority! God-given authority is over-whelming, powerful, everlasting, pure...
If you are a son, or daughter, of God, by virtue of being born-again, then you have authority in you over ALL the power of the enemy, on this earth. If the church you select believes and teaches in being born-again, then they have the authority to act in the name of God...you need not be concerned about that. Just IMO...
Bud in AK's posts have some really solid advice. I hope you'll also visit the links he posted. Good godly counsel...
All "religious groups" are not the same. It's an important decision... there's lots of imitations.
Are you a new christian?
I have always believed but never been a church goer.
I was raised in a home where both parents and siblings believed in God but never felt the need to go to church, they believed that if they led good lives and helped other people that God would know there heart and that was more important that meeting at church.
Last edited by redwhiteblue; 02-28-2008 at 10:59 PM..
If it doesn't matter which church that you join then why do they all teach different doctrine and only splinters of the truth from the Bible? One poster said that it doesn't matter as long as the church is a Born Again church. But many of them contradict each other or don't follow all the teachings of the Bible. It is almost as if it is OK to follow some things but not OK to follow other things. Also a poster stated that the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, both claiming to be the true Catholic Church did not split from each other, but they split and caused the creation of both churches, both claiming that they are the true Church. Both claiming that they are the church that Jesus started. How can that be? If you read the Bible, doen't it say one Baptism? If that is the case there must be a church that is true that follows the teachings of the Bible and has the complete gospel of Jesus Christ in its church. Or there is a need for a restoration of the truth to the earth or at some time after the Death and resurection of Jesus that restoration took place. We know that during Martin Luthers time that the restoration hadn't taken place, because that was what he was getting at that the church has fallen. We know at the time that the Baptist Church was started that the restoration hadn't happened because they had the same complaint that the churches of the day had failed mainly because Baptism should be performed by total Immersion. No one ever came down and restored the truth though.
My thoughts are that a church can not be correct if it fails to teach the full doctrine of the Holy Bible. Show me a church that has the same organization as in the primitive church. Show me a church that believes that God still speaks to man and gives his authority to man and is organized in such away that there is a leader that speaks with God, just as Moses spoke with God. Most churches are teaching specifics within the doctrine, but not the entire doctrine. Most churches are built on a segment of truth but not the entire truth.
The church that Jesus "originally started" in the beginning is still the same church today. What church is that? Well, it isn't one of the man-made institutions, with man-made offices and man-made rules and rituals. You won't find it in the Yellow Pages. Instead, it is comprised of ALL born-again believers, regardless of the particular denomination they belong to! The authority of the believer is given by God directly to each and every believer, you don't get it by "belonging" to, or joining, some denominational church.
All churches did not break off of the RCC (some obviously did, but not all). The Eastern Orthodox church, in particular, claims to be "original" to the very beginning of Christianity...they are not a splinter group broken off from the RCC. There are still a number of them in Alaska, from being established here when Alaska was still Russia. (before 1867, Alaska was a Russian province...) I visited a very beautiful Orthodox church in Ekaterinburg, Russia, some years ago...
But...all of that doesn't matter....it's irrelevent to the question of "church authority". The authority to establish a church, or act in God's name, doesn't come down to us through their (or anyone else's) hierarchy...it is given to you by the Holy Spirit, as a believer, when you are born again. The only authority given by any particular church hierarchy is to let you "officiate" in their church, participate in matters of that particular church. If they gave you, for example, authority to ordain elders...that authority would only be good in that particular church denomination....any other church would not have to honor that (and usually doesn't). That's what I call the "authority of man". Very very weak. Now...if God gives you authority to do something...whatever power or virtue that may be, it is good EVERYWHERE, and it makes absolutely no difference what others may think. For example, if God gives someone the gifts of healing (spoken of in the Bible), then no man on earth, regardless of their position in any church, can take that away from them...man will be powerless against that authority of God. Now THAT...is what I call God's authority! God-given authority is over-whelming, powerful, everlasting, pure...
If you are a son, or daughter, of God, by virtue of being born-again, then you have authority in you over ALL the power of the enemy, on this earth. If the church you select believes and teaches in being born-again, then they have the authority to act in the name of God...you need not be concerned about that. Just IMO...
Bud
Amen!!!
Wow! Bud, this is an awesome post! You explained this so well! I tried to rep you, but you know how it goes.
The authority of God definitely trumps any man-made authority.
I have always believed but never been a church goer.
I was raised in a home where both parents and siblings believed in God but never felt the need to go to church, they believed that if they led good lives and helped other people that God would know there heart and that was more important that meeting at church.
redwhiteblue,
Your desire to find a church is obviously motivated by the Holy Spirit.
No man comes to the Father unless he is drawn by the Spirit.
Ask God to lead you ... ask Him for discernment.
It is the goodness of God that leads us...
Always remember that God is a loving Father... He sent Jesus to justify us and to set us free from legalism.
Enjoy the journey!
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We are drawn by the Holy Spirit...
