Do Any of You Feel Left Out?

[tigersnare]

Let's say hypothetically there is a Church, and it's members that refer to you and your camp(reformed), as "not in the fullness of faith", or "not in communion". Does that make you ever feel left out? Second class citizen? The ignorant relative?


I love those brothers and sisters, and I have no enmity between me and them, but sometimes I wonder if it's true. It's like playing at a charity baseball game, you're all on the same team, but you're in different dugouts. I feel kinda left out sometimes, and it hurts alittle to think I might be just being rebellious and ignorant to that church.

Ever crossed any of your minds that we might be in the wrong dugout?

 

[Terri]

If you have Christ as your Lord and Savior how can you be in the wrong dugout???

You can go to another religious group that has more rituals, but you know what you will have...more rituals.

Our trust should be in God--not in some religious group. We all need to keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.

I could never be a member of any group that believes that Christ's sacrifice alone is not sufficient for the forgiveness of ALL of our sins. That would be denying Jesus.

I know that I have the truth--that truth is in Jesus and so when I hear things like your "not in the fullness of faith", or "not in communion" I know that I am not the one that is deceived because my fullness of faith comes from being in communion with God, the author and perfecter of our faith--not being a member of some religious group.

 

[BronxBriar]

If you have Christ as your Lord and Savior how can you be in the wrong dugout???

You can go to another religious group that has more rituals, but you know what you will have...more rituals.

Our trust should be in God--not in some religious group. We all need to keep our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.

I could never be a member of any group that believes that Christ's sacrifice alone is not sufficient for the forgiveness of ALL of our sins. That would be denying Jesus.

I know that I have the truth--that truth is in Jesus and so when I hear things like your "not in the fullness of faith", or "not in communion" I know that I am not the one that is deceived because my fullness of faith comes from being in communion with God, the author and perfecter of our faith--not being a member of some religious group.

Terri,

That was so beautiful and touched me so deeply. I am a cradle Roman Catholic who has felt for a long time that God is calling me (for lack of a better word) to a different 'type' of worship. But every time I feel I may have found a home the guilt of leaving my birth church and the fear of "being in the wrong dugout" overwhelms me and I can't move. For now, I've been hanging out with the Lutherans and I feel very comfortable there...but I am still searching and your post gave me the strength and courage to carry on with the journey.

Warm regards,
Henry

 

[II Paradox II]

I love those brothers and sisters, and I have no enmity between me and them, but sometimes I wonder if it's true. It's like playing at a charity baseball game, you're all on the same team, but you're in different dugouts. I feel kinda left out sometimes, and it hurts alittle to think I might be just being rebellious and ignorant to that church.

Sure, I've felt a certain attraction there at times (I at one time got close to converting to the unnamed church =)

However, as I've grown I've seen that things are not as simple as often presented and that church history makes a better case for God's mercy to His sinful children than an ironclad case for any one group of Christians having a fulness of His faith. To be honest, I've seen places where I think we've gone wrong but also where they've gone wrong. In the end, one must rely on God's mercy because we are all at points not living up to His desires.

ken

 

[Terri]

Terri,

That was so beautiful and touched me so deeply. I am a cradle Roman Catholic who has felt for a long time that God is calling me (for lack of a better word) to a different 'type' of worship. But every time I feel I may have found a home the guilt of leaving my birth church and the fear of "being in the wrong dugout" overwhelms me and I can't move. For now, I've been hanging out with the Lutherans and I feel very comfortable there...but I am still searching and your post gave me the strength and courage to carry on with the journey.

Warm regards,
Henry

You are so kind Henry!

I will ask God to give you the strength, courage, and faith to continue your journey Henry.

Love you in the Lord,

Terri

 

[Bulldog]

I am not sure it would really bother me, as long as I went to a good, Bible-believing church.

 

[A. believer]

Let's say hypothetically there is a Church, and it's members that refer to you and your camp(reformed), as "not in the fullness of faith", or "not in communion". Does that make you ever feel left out? Second class citizen? The ignorant relative?

I love those brothers and sisters, and I have no enmity between me and them, but sometimes I wonder if it's true. It's like playing at a charity baseball game, you're all on the same team, but you're in different dugouts. I feel kinda left out sometimes, and it hurts alittle to think I might be just being rebellious and ignorant to that church.

Ever crossed any of your minds that we might be in the wrong dugout?

I think rather than it "hurting," you might be saying that it makes you feel kind of insecure, correct? After all, what the group you're referring to claims to have to offer is "certainty." No more having to rely on that old unreliable private judgment, once you've received certainty. I must admit that a few years ago, when I was first confronted with RC apologists on the net, although I never found anything they said remotely convincing, I did used to sometimes wonder what in the world I was missing that something that was, apparently, so self-evidently true in the eyes of these people could be based on such strange reasoning and argumentation.

Over time, as I did more reading, I began to gain a clearer and clearer grasp of the epistemological fallacies that were being employed for them to replace the search for truth with the search for certainty. One of the essays that really helped put things into focus for me in this regard was this one. Perhaps it'll benefit you, as well.

 

[Tinkerbell222222]

I know what I believe and I am strong in my faith in Jesus Christ, so it doesn't bother me. At one point in time, some one suggested that because I beleived in Calvinism I wasn't a Christain. I was kind of hurt and sad at first, but I realized that it doesn't matter what people think of me, just so long as I am living to please God, and I am.

 

[calgal]

Let's say hypothetically there is a Church, and it's members that refer to you and your camp(reformed), as "not in the fullness of faith", or "not in communion". Does that make you ever feel left out? Second class citizen? The ignorant relative?


I love those brothers and sisters, and I have no enmity between me and them, but sometimes I wonder if it's true. It's like playing at a charity baseball game, you're all on the same team, but you're in different dugouts. I feel kinda left out sometimes, and it hurts alittle to think I might be just being rebellious and ignorant to that church.

Ever crossed any of your minds that we might be in the wrong dugout?

I attended a Non Foudners SBC for a while. The emphasis was pretty calminian and as I was reading lots and lots and lots of Reformed books (Sproul and Horton), I began to become less comfortable at the church I attended. The comment about Calvinists not being Christians was made in a bible study (I went home and asked some friends including CC Woody about that and their howls of laughter helped! ) and these folks were simply well meaning and ignorant. I left that church and joined a Reformed body. And I find the comments about Calvinists to be somewhere between tragic (for the speaker) and amusing (for me).

 

[Vessel Of Mercy]

Sometimes I wonder about Peter being the rock upon which the Church is built and apostolic succession, and if the Roman church may be the true Church. Then I look at their historic account of what they call apostolic succession.

It also does good to consider the base clarity of the Scriptures in theology with Calvinist, Arminian, Open-View, and Romanist presuppositions (to name a few), and weigh each theological system with the Scriptures and the others.

Ben