well this has always and from the looks of things will always be a bit of sore topic as under the christian umbrella you get so many different congregations, catholic, anglicans, pentecostals, baptists....
I grew up in a catholic home, did everything confirmation,the works and as my relationship with God grew, I decided to visit different christians churches to see what they preach, how they preach and I finally found one.
No with me visiting so many different churches,I heard all sorts of funny remarks about churches from catholics saying baptist are happy clappys and are making noise and are playing church,from charismastis saying catholics are lost.
saying this,I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 3:3-7...Paul speaks of the church quarrelling about who's following who and that neither man is anything but the messenger that reveals Gods word to His people.I find that this illustrates the christian today,to many people are quarrelling about which christian church is doing it right and which is not....for the most important things in any christian church or domination should be
1.The Trinity, you cannot expel anyone, God the father, God the son and God the holy spirit.
2.His Word....using a current quote"His Word is His bond"...His word is our final authority, everything we need is in there and the most important being our salvation.
Now if any Christian church abides by these rules are we not serving the same God and if so, why all the quarrelling???
just to give an answer before some one asks why did I leave the catholic church.with my relationship with God growing,I did not agree to some of the things in the church and I personally decided that the church is not gonna change just for me and so I made a move.Please don't get me wrong, they're doing a good job but as with anything on this earth not everything is perfect....the church(all christians churches I mean) are imperfect and thats great because that allows God to work in us and therefore strenghtens the church so that no one can the glory but Him.
You didn't say what type of church you are going to now. If you want to know which congregational forum is the one you would most likely fit in with, we would need to know that.
I'm currently attending(well for the past 14years) a pentecostal church here in south africa.
elecmech you mention that none of them are correct, could you please explain a bit more in detail.for now, I honestly don't think belonging to a certain congretation is too important, what is vitaly important is that the gospel is preached and that people are given the opportunity for salvation.when browsing through the scriptures you see God always first providing redeemption and then counselling,as we know not all will want to accept the call of salvation.with that said I honestly get irritated when I hear people talk about this church doing this wrong and that church doing that wrong, Jesus made salvation personal for each and every single person, trying to exempt a church is not gonna bring salvation to a lost soul....in the same breath, paul warns us alot of wolves in sheep clothing, false preaches and assemblies, there I come back to my inital statement that the Gospel, God's unchanging word is our definitive authority and it is our guideline for and ever.
Find a Christ-centered church, where Bible Doctrine is taught, Christian hymns are sung by the congregation (as opposed to a band where the congregation is 'entertained') and where the Pastor has superb knowledge of the original Greek and Hebrew.
Then, find a pew and get to work! :-)
There is much to learn and continue your life in Christ!
Praying for your success in Him.
In Christ, Brother Mark +
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"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
- John 19:30 (NRV)
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"Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen."
Find a church that preaches the truth from scripture, makes a difference in your community for Christ, one you can make good friends in, and one you feel comfortable with. Don't worry to much about finding the "right" denomination, because there isn't one. They all have there fallacies, no church is perfect.
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