You are naive if you think all churches allow members to vote.
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Desire to be a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ?
Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
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Taking the time to pray? Christ is the answer in times of need
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
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Depending upon the Holy Spirit for all you do?
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
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How are famous preachers sometimes effected by sin?
Join Sola Scriptura for a discussion on the subject
https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
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I quit church
- Thread starter Rollo Tamasi
- Start date
So you wouldn't forsake home. Church?
They do ,my brothers church does.look I have worked for a church ,I see ,know things about any church on the grid in my town.
iLOVE
Member
Study Rev. 2:4-5. We learn something is wrong, despite their zeal. "Because you have left your first love (not "lost" your first love; it refers to a departure from the Cross. This means they fell from Grace, which means they had stopped depending on Christ and the Cross - Gal. 5:4).
By: JSM
You sound like you're preaching to be under the law.
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
iLOVE,
Do you remember Gabriel ever talking about how he used to WORK for his salvation? He says how he never understood freedom in Christ and the work of the Cross. He talks about how difficult it was and how he thought everything was up to him.
Then he explains how one day he really understood the freedom In Christ. How he rests in God's love and His finished work.
Do you know what he means when he says all these things?
You are to follow your Christianity the way God allows you to understand it.
However, you are preaching the Law here and not Grace.
No,I can get really cynical and openly.post things I battle daily .attacks from the enemy .if you think home church without a calling
Is going to work ,please show me.I haven't been faithful ,and this page ain't fellowship like a church. I can hide what goes on in my life from you all easily.i.can do it at church but it's much harder.
Is going to work ,please show me.I haven't been faithful ,and this page ain't fellowship like a church. I can hide what goes on in my life from you all easily.i.can do it at church but it's much harder.
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Mike
Member
From this thread alone, it's not hard to see how so many denominations have been established. Any position or rule became too much to live with. In my honest opinion, it seems there is a bit too much of 'self' in the person who can't get past some rules they disagree with or become a member and focus on the greater good of communal worship. There are things I disagree with at my church, but focusing vertically makes them of lesser importance to me.
There's so much weight in Hebrews 10:25. I'll never know all of the reasons I'm Called to be present at worship on Sundays. Perhaps my presence unknowingly lifted someone who needed to be assured that they aren't alone. I'm there to exalt the Lord, and He will use it for Good.
I hope I can say this without offending anyone, because it honestly is not my intent.
It's not about you. It's about Him.
There's so much weight in Hebrews 10:25. I'll never know all of the reasons I'm Called to be present at worship on Sundays. Perhaps my presence unknowingly lifted someone who needed to be assured that they aren't alone. I'm there to exalt the Lord, and He will use it for Good.
I hope I can say this without offending anyone, because it honestly is not my intent.
It's not about you. It's about Him.
1. don't get cynical. it does no one any good.
2. if you want to talk about your daily attacks by the enemy, then that's important, I wouldn't consider it derailing a thread.
3. I've led home groups in the past, through the church and on my own. People come and go and times change.
I'm ready for more home groups.
We've already tried with the people we know.
It's not happening yet.
God knows our hearts.
He will continue to bless us as we keep him first in our lives and centered in our marriage.
vsiv3347
Member
2
I don't think I've ever used that emoticon before, so this must be serious.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN A CHURCH SHOULDN'T ALLOW JUST ANYONE TO PARTICIPATE?????
Like, WHO, should NOT be ALLOWED to participate?
What do you think are the QUALIFICATIONS for someone TO PARTICIPATE.
I sure hope I misunderstood you.
This one is kind of circumstancial. Because what is in my head and I think your head is that there is some kind of regular meeting called a "prayer meeting" in which the whole church gathers. In this case, only allowing certain people to pray is either heretical or going to require a lot of explaining depending on which people those are. Of course, it is common practice that in a regular worship meeting not everyone is allowed to participate. This also seems against the Bible (I corinthians), but if this is accepted then at times the same reasons might be applied to the prayer meetings.
Worship is not equal to church. The church is a called out people who among other things worships.
In a well-functioning community, certain closed groups might form for prayer and not be called "the official prayer time of the church". Usually mens or women's groups. I can see in some cases where they might add a certain covenant to that. Probably not good most of the time, but I think they would be free to do that.
Not really enough information here to know, but seems like most churches have a official once a week prayer time. The Bible allows people to be excluded, but that's altogether and not just during prayer times.
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
Sure.
The ones you agree with...
okay, you brought it up, I thought you might have been reaching out
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
If someone is leaving, there already IS discord. The one leaving is not causing it.
The CHURCH, and not the individual person has the responsibility of what happens. Just like the older person shoulders more responsibility in keeping household peace than the younger person. They should just know better, as the CHURCH should know better than any individual person.
It does sound like there are changes going on in this church. What could they be?
This is a good point.
People have been saying things that make me think they don't know what I said on page one.
I didn't think this was going to be such a deep responded thread.
It just happened.
This subject is touching everyone in some way or another.
But I'm surprised some people have spoken out against me rather than try to console me, as if their law type of belief has more power than loving someone who's obviously hurting.
I was making a case of not all can nor are called.if you are called ,then follow it but if not find a churcj
It was just a question...
Perhaps the difficulty is that you seem to be reading something into them that isn't there, namely, that I am saying that a church shouldn't be open to all. Attending a church needs to be open to all, that goes without saying. However, that is much different than saying that anyone should be able to participate in any and every aspect of church life.
Again, this is not based on anything I have said. It's great if someone is attending a church to find out more about Christianity but if that is the case, then certain ministries, such as a prayer group, are not for them.
Really?
Matt. 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
2 Pet. 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
...
12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.
14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,
16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
2 Pet. 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
Jude 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
...
12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
...
16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
(All ESV.)
If the passages above can't convince you otherwise, then I don't know what to say.
As do I.
Irrelevant to my question. I'll ask again: if one has been participating in the life of the church for years and wants to continue participating in those things, then why would one not just become a member? What is the root issue for not becoming a member?
Last year a massive 1,871 people committed suicide in the Netherlands, the highest number in the country's history, Statistics Netherlands announced on Thursday. That amounts to an average of five suicides a day in 2015.
The number of people committing suicide in the Netherlands steadily increased over the past years, from 1,353 in 20017 to 1,871 last year. Also compared to the growing population, the suicide rate is increasing. Last year 11.0 people per 100 thousand inhabitants committed suicide, the same level as in the early 90's. Though the suicide rate is still lower than in 1984, when 14.4 people per 100 thousand residents committed suicide.
The suicide rate increased most among people in their twenties, from 104 in 2014 to 133 last year, and people over 60, from 324 to 396.
Compared to 2014, there were 30 more suicides among men last year, while the number of women committing suicide remained virtually unchanged. Suicide is also more common in men than women. Last year 1,280 men committed suicide and 591 women.
Proportionally, most suicides happened among divorced men and widowers - 45 per 100 thousand. This figure is about four times higher than the suicide rate among married men and men who were never married.
Last year suicide was the most common cause of death among people between 20 and 40 years. Of the relatively few people in this age group that died last year, almost a quarter committed suicide - 408 of the total 1,702. Suicide as a cause of death was thereby more common than cancer with 378 deaths, cardiovascular disease with 146 deaths and traffic accidents with 124 deaths.
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
Socialism takes away hope.
You look to the government. It lets you down -- as it most certainly will.
The individual has very little power to change his life.
Young people need hope for the future, or the future looks very bleak.
Add to that the fact that there is little belief in God.. Even that is taken away.
Parents are just as hopeless.
What is left?
You look to the government. It lets you down -- as it most certainly will.
The individual has very little power to change his life.
Young people need hope for the future, or the future looks very bleak.
Add to that the fact that there is little belief in God.. Even that is taken away.
Parents are just as hopeless.
What is left?