.

[prodromos]

I like your positive attitude and educated guess. But it isn't a substantiated fact.

Actually it is well attested. He was accompanied in his exile by the Deacon Prochorus who also acted as his scribe. On their arrival on Patmos, he healed a young man of demon possesion who was the son of a local dignitary named Myron, and the entire family was converted and baptised. By the time he was recalled from exile, the island of Patmos had a sizeable Christian community under his care.

 

[Neostarwcc]

I personally am confused on this issue.

I feel like, one second I should regularly attend church and another second I feel like Church isn't necessary. I do believe in the bible and the bible said that it is encouraged that we attend Church so we keep the Sabbath and converse with fellow believers. But, another minute I feel like it's useless and unnecessary since I'm already a devout believer and converse with my wife and family who are mostly all, Christians even if my family are Catholics and believe different things than I do. I also keep the Sabbath by praying on Sunday and doing the things that I would be doing in a church anyway.

Let me explain, I am very confused denomination wise. I mostly never agreed with the Catholic religion my entire life and felt like, I never belonged in it. That's why I never got my confirmation, never finished Sunday school, and never "Followed through with it" as my mother puts it. There are also only 3 Christian Churches in my town/area. I've been to one personally when I was little and I didn't like it much (Plus, It's a Catholic church and I don't consider myself Catholic anymore) another is a non denominational church that my wife and I are considering attending the other is a methodist one I think (unsure).

In the end, I guess my religion,faith, and denomination is just Jesus.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

I personally am confused on this issue.

I feel like, one second I should regularly attend church and another second I feel like Church isn't necessary. I do believe in the bible and the bible said that it is encouraged that we attend Church so we keep the Sabbath and converse with fellow believers. But, another minute I feel like it's useless and unnecessary since I'm already a devout believer and converse with my wife and family who are mostly all, Christians even if my family are Catholics and believe different things than I do. I also keep the Sabbath by praying on Sunday and doing the things that I would be doing in a church anyway.

Let me explain, I am very confused denomination wise. I mostly never agreed with the Catholic religion my entire life and felt like, I never belonged in it. That's why I never got my confirmation, never finished Sunday school, and never "Followed through with it" as my mother puts it. There are also only 3 Christian Churches in my town/area. I've been to one personally when I was little and I didn't like it much (Plus, It's a Catholic church and I don't consider myself Catholic anymore) another is a non denominational church that my wife and I are considering attending the other is a methodist one I think (unsure).

In the end, I guess my religion,faith, and denomination is just Jesus.

It is Jesus who calls the Church His Bride. That sounds pretty significant. I would get serious about looking for a church to join. You can study denominational distinctives, and that is helpful, but for a start, the basic marks of the true church are:

The three marks of the true church:

• The pure preaching of the gospel
• The pure administration of the sacraments
• Church discipline

 

[Noxot]

the bride of Christ are souls individually and the church collectively. they are two aspects of spiritual reality which are in truth a whole as it explains spiritual life/experience. it starts within and then outwardly all things of the fallen nature are again set in order, however the life of the spirit is much more than just forming church organizations. they were VERY important in ancient times for many reasons and there is no reason to disjunct such things. in fact maybe church organizations should take it to the next level just like the olden churches of their times were taking things to their next level. however the quenching of the spirit happens when we start to take the symbols for reality. earthly churches are a manifestation of the creativity of the spirit. they play vital roles in the world but if they lose their head then they are just a beast looking to cut peoples heads off, just like the rest of the parts of the world that are fallen and not partaking of the Divine.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

just go read the shepherd of hermas, there is a vision of what the church is in that book. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/shepherd.html

What's your argument or comment? I can't read all of that.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

the bride of Christ are souls individually and the church collectively.

I can't find any references to anything but the collective church. Can you back up your statement about individuals?

 

[Noxot]

you can NOT have one without the other.

 

[Noxot]

people tend to fall to one extreme or the other. you don't need to reference a book to understand reality.

I mean that if people do fall away from the truth they tend to believe one and cast away the other.

reality is reality, I dunno how else to explain it. if all you know are dogmas then you are still a babe aka flesh. <--- that truth is objectified reality because words alone have a very hard time telling the full truth. there are plenty of references to the individual who in faith loves God.

truth is spirit which is free and the lower reality is necessity which is made from spirit. those who exist in the sphere of the natural world will view the spirit with the understanding of the laws of the natural world.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

people tend to fall to one extreme or the other. you don't need to reference a book to understand reality.

I mean that if people do fall away from the truth they tend to believe one and cast away the other.

reality is reality, I dunno how else to explain it. if all you know are dogmas then you are still a babe aka flesh. <--- that truth is objectified reality because words alone have a very hard time telling the full truth. there are plenty of references to the individual who in faith loves God.

truth is spirit which is free and the lower reality is necessity which is made from spirit. those who exist in the sphere of the natural world will view the spirit with the understanding of the laws of the natural world.

I have no idea what you said, but thanks for the reply.

 

[Noxot]

I have no idea what you said, but thanks for the reply.

honestly I don't know how someone can not understand, this is the reason why I don't go to church.

 

[jimmyjimmy]

honestly I don't know how someone can not understand, this is the reason why I don't go to church.

Leave out relativistic gobbledygook and I might be able to comprehend what you are saying.

 

[sunlover1]

they play vital roles in the world but if they lose their head then they are just a beast looking to cut peoples heads off, just like the rest of the parts of the world that are fallen and not partaking of the Divine.

I agree here.

 

[sunlover1]

It is Jesus who calls the Church His Bride. That sounds pretty significant.

It is, but what did you believe that He meant when He said, "the church"?

I would get serious about looking for a church to join. You can study denominational distinctives, and that is helpful, but for a start, the basic marks of the true church are:

The three marks of the true church:

• The pure preaching of the gospel
• The pure administration of the sacraments
• Church discipline

The best way to find your place, in my opinion, is to pray and ask God to send you to it or
send it to you.
He has a "place" for each of us, in the 'assemblage"
This is Scriptural.

teaching someone to study denominational "distinctives" is to encourage
heresy btw.
i'm sure you didn't realize that.
GOD hates division and loves unity.
Bible tells me so

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

What a church looks like and how it worships differs from culture t culture. I am beginning to wonder if the american "lone wolf" christian that connects to other believers through the internet are merely another form of it.

 

[Noxot]

What a church looks like and how it worships differs from culture t culture. I am beginning to wonder if the american "lone wolf" christian that connects to other believers through the internet are merely another form of it.

yes americans tend to fall into the lie of individualism. the russians fell into the lie of collectivism.

something is only good in the Holy Spirit.

 

[SnowyMacie]

I think that Christians are commanded to gather with their fellow Christians, and I don't really see why a Christians would not want to be apart of any church at all. On the other hand, I do think that there is some times where it is okay to not really have an established "church home", when it may not be practical to do so, for example, a job in the transportation or air industry where traveling is your job.

 

[Tree of Life]

Is being joined to a local body of believers, and under the authority of the church, optional or manditory for a Christian?

Is it personal preference, like toppings on a pizza, or is it obligatory and fundament for all Christians?

I imagine you'll get a smattering of all the options on the poll for this one. I voted for the last one. Local church membership is constantly commanded in Scripture and the Bible really doesn't understand salvation apart from the visible church. But I will admit that it is at least logically possible for a person to be truly saved and not be a member of a church. Though if a person persists in defiance and refuses to submit themselves to a local, visible church then that person is living in sin and needs to repent.

 

[Tree of Life]

Encouraged is not mandated. We are the Church..it is who we are, not where we go. We are encouraged to "forsake Not" the gathering of ourselves together for edification, etc..but there is no mandate

Um... Lexically speaking the "forsake not" in Hebrews 10 is a command. Where do you get the notion that you can soften it to an "encouragement". Do you read other commands of Scripture with a similar hermeneutic?

 

[Noxot]

I could say that anyone who knows their own soul knows how much it is scattered and that integrity of the soul is only something that will happen to those who are gathered together in Christ and thus the soul is a tabernacle, for the Lord desires to dwell in the hearts of man and does not require that men build for him temples made by the hands of men. there is only unity through Christ, to gather yourselves and call yourself a church is a false unity. that would naturally happen with those souls who are similar in spirit and as the Holy Spirit guides each of us. there is no church if there are no stones.

but the hardness of man would think that they must build buildings and do certain things and conquer other peoples and force them to be Christians because the kingdom of caesar only knows how to force things upon others and knows very little of the liberty of the Son of God.

 

[Tree of Life]

Why do you think it is that all of the churches in the NT have names? I don't see where "Church" a person's identity. Do you see the church of "us" described anywhere in the pages of scripture?

Through both OT and NT the "church", "assembly", "congregation" seems to carry both meanings. Many times these words refer to a visible, organized community of those who profess faith and their children. But sometimes these words refer to an invisible community of true believers. When the NT talks about the church meeting together surely it's talking about the visible institution. But when the NT says that Jesus laid down his life for the church surely it's talking about only true believers.