C
cgaviria
Guest
Hello fellow believers in Jesus Christ, I would like to open a discussion with the following study,
Many of the "churches" of today are elaborate structures allowing for hundreds, or even thousands of people to be brought together in one place. Take a look, for example, at all the elaborate cathedrals built by the catholic church, and then all the megachurches built by the protestants, yet all these structures and actions reflect a grave error in doctrine. Why is this an error? Because all true believers in Jesus Christ are called to humility. I encourage anyone reading this study, to first read this other study titled Sufficiency, Not Wealth nor Poverty, and Selling of Possessions, which explains what true humility actually is. True humility is having very little, few possessions of things you actually need, and having no ownership of property. This true humility was done by the early believers, as you can see in this verse,
This true humility was necessary to fulfill this proverb,
As God does indeed resist those who do not bring themselves down to humility, which is why the early believers sold their possessions and all their properties, so that God may then have favor on them, and thus grant them repentance and give them the gift of holy spirit. So if indeed these men were selling their possessions and all their properties, why would they then in turn reacquire lands and construct buildings for churches, when the whole purpose behind selling all properties was to become humble? And there were even rich men among them that could've just as easily commissioned the construction of such buildings as we see today, which is why in 1 Timothy we read thus,
Yet look at what owners of properties did in this verse,
So all properties were indeed sold, for the purpose of humility. So where did these early believers actually meet then since they owned no properties? They met in their homes, that they rented, and we see an indicating of renting in this verse,
And the verses demonstrating the the churches were done in homes are these,
The Greek word for "church" is "ekklesian", which means an "assembly". The word "church" has a conveyance of a religious building, like a synagogue or cathedral, whereas an "assembly" is something more simpler and more humble, it is merely a gathering, which was done in the simplicity of homes. Anything more than this simplistic gathering and assembling of the brethren, and it starts to become a business, which is the problem faced by most "churches" when they begin owning land or also constructing buildings specific for the purpose of assembling. So what happens when an assembly in a home becomes too big to fit in a home? It should be divided up into more homes, and new leaders appointed for each home, and this is where the different "roles" of the assemblies of God come about, which are mentioned here,
Yet of all these, the role of the apostle is to go forth city to city, and plant home churches, which then leads to the coming forth of prophets, and evangelists, and shepherds, and teachers that then come about in every city, from the planting of these home assemblies at the hand of apostles. Going further, not only did these early believers meet in their homes to assemble, but they met daily, not once a week as most churches do these days,
In meeting daily in their homes, they ate together, broke bread together, and in doing this they truly fellowshipped together daily. They also partook of the holy communion every year at the passover in their homes. This is how the true assembling of the brethren should be done, and it hasn't changed to this day, except there are institutions, such as the catholic church, that have brought forth new doctrines, that have lead the world astray from this true, simple, and humble way of assembling.
Many of the "churches" of today are elaborate structures allowing for hundreds, or even thousands of people to be brought together in one place. Take a look, for example, at all the elaborate cathedrals built by the catholic church, and then all the megachurches built by the protestants, yet all these structures and actions reflect a grave error in doctrine. Why is this an error? Because all true believers in Jesus Christ are called to humility. I encourage anyone reading this study, to first read this other study titled Sufficiency, Not Wealth nor Poverty, and Selling of Possessions, which explains what true humility actually is. True humility is having very little, few possessions of things you actually need, and having no ownership of property. This true humility was done by the early believers, as you can see in this verse,
This true humility was necessary to fulfill this proverb,
As God does indeed resist those who do not bring themselves down to humility, which is why the early believers sold their possessions and all their properties, so that God may then have favor on them, and thus grant them repentance and give them the gift of holy spirit. So if indeed these men were selling their possessions and all their properties, why would they then in turn reacquire lands and construct buildings for churches, when the whole purpose behind selling all properties was to become humble? And there were even rich men among them that could've just as easily commissioned the construction of such buildings as we see today, which is why in 1 Timothy we read thus,
Yet look at what owners of properties did in this verse,
So all properties were indeed sold, for the purpose of humility. So where did these early believers actually meet then since they owned no properties? They met in their homes, that they rented, and we see an indicating of renting in this verse,
And the verses demonstrating the the churches were done in homes are these,
The Greek word for "church" is "ekklesian", which means an "assembly". The word "church" has a conveyance of a religious building, like a synagogue or cathedral, whereas an "assembly" is something more simpler and more humble, it is merely a gathering, which was done in the simplicity of homes. Anything more than this simplistic gathering and assembling of the brethren, and it starts to become a business, which is the problem faced by most "churches" when they begin owning land or also constructing buildings specific for the purpose of assembling. So what happens when an assembly in a home becomes too big to fit in a home? It should be divided up into more homes, and new leaders appointed for each home, and this is where the different "roles" of the assemblies of God come about, which are mentioned here,
Yet of all these, the role of the apostle is to go forth city to city, and plant home churches, which then leads to the coming forth of prophets, and evangelists, and shepherds, and teachers that then come about in every city, from the planting of these home assemblies at the hand of apostles. Going further, not only did these early believers meet in their homes to assemble, but they met daily, not once a week as most churches do these days,
In meeting daily in their homes, they ate together, broke bread together, and in doing this they truly fellowshipped together daily. They also partook of the holy communion every year at the passover in their homes. This is how the true assembling of the brethren should be done, and it hasn't changed to this day, except there are institutions, such as the catholic church, that have brought forth new doctrines, that have lead the world astray from this true, simple, and humble way of assembling.
