Sophia7 said:
I agree. As I said in my previous post, the early Christians in Jerusalem met every day in the temple courts. I do not believe that the Bible forbids going to church on Sunday. I guess I wouldn't do it every Sunday, though, because I wouldn't want them to think that I was going to become a regular member. I also would not take communion at a Lutheran church anymore if I had the opportunity (although I did a couple of times when I was a teenager since my dad still had Lutheran ties) because I do not agree with their beliefs on the meaning of the bread and the wine. (Just as a side note, they also had grape juice at their communion services, which were open to non-Lutherans, as an alternative for those who didn't drink wine.)
Sassy, I understand why you would feel uncomfortable, as if you were going back to where you came from. And I don't know what your earlier experience with Christianity was like apart from the doctrines that you later learned were unbiblical.
My experience, as I grew up in the Adventist Church, was somewhat different. I knew many of the correct doctrines, but I wasn't taught about having a relationship with Jesus. I wasn't taught to pray or to read the Bible regularly or anything like that although I wasn't discouraged from it either. And I wasn't taught how any of our doctrines relate to Jesus. I was taught legalism although I don't think that was really the intention of my parents; they just didn't understand what being a Christian was supposed to be about themselves. It wasn't until I was 16 and began to read the Bible myself that I actually accepted Jesus into my life in a personal way.
For me, going to other churches occasionally as a teenager was a good experience because I met people who were more spiritual and who studied the Bible more than most of my Adventist acquaintances at the time. I didn't have any Adventist friends my age because I went to public high school, and my church had pretty much no youth program during those years.
There were some awkward moments when fellowshiping with non-Adventists, such as telling people that I couldn't eat pepperoni pizza (though I wasn't a vegetarian then), but they were generally considerate of my beliefs. I was well-grounded in Adventist doctrines and not at all likely to be swayed by things that I thought were unbiblical. However, many of the people that I met in the Baptist church that I visited sometimes for church and youth group and at the Baptist summer camp that I worked at were sincere Christians even though they didn't share our beliefs about the Sabbath or the state of the dead or hell or dietary principles or whatever.
Those experiences definitely gave me a better understanding of people outside of my Adventist culture, as did attending public school, and for me that was a good thing. For those who were not raised Adventist and have left other churches, I can understand your position, and if you want to make the choice never to visit a Sunday-keeping church, you are free to do so. In general, though, I do not believe that it is wrong to visit another church on Sunday occasionally, especially if we have friends there that we would like to invite to our church. Also, I think that we would all do well to have more fellowship with other believers every day, not just on Sabbath or Sunday.
Well said, Sophia. I didn't think I WAS saying it is a "sin" to go to church on Sunday. But...I do think it's important to set an example. As long as one has kept the Sabbath, if they wish to go to church with friends, or whathave you on Sunday, I cannot state that that would be a "sin". I do not, however, think it's all that good of an idea. It's almost like we would be saying one thing, but doing another.
I've been in plenty of other denominational churches, more than I care to count. I just have no desire to go back into what God called and told me to come out of.
I have not EVER professed to be speaking for everyone, but yet, it appears that that is how they are often taken.
I was born a baptist, I was pretty much raised a baptist. I have attended everything from Pentecostal to Churches of God, with a little bit of Methodist thrown in for flavor. I am still saddened at all that I wasn't taught at all, and all of the error I was taught and believed.
I have friends and family that are scattered along the denominational trail, I have no problem with fellowshipping with other Adventists at all. I just have no desire to go to their churches with them any longer.
God's holy day, His Sabbath is on SATURDAY, and I KNOW there is way more to it than just going to church, for those of you who think I do not. If I don't know THAT much, I have no business calling myself an Adventist. However, I do believe that it is when I should be going to worship service, and I can't show others the right way by example, if I'm going to other ones on the wrong day. Teaching by example is a much stronger way than by word. It's important, to me, to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk.
Now, notice, I am not saying that EVERYONE should feel the way that I feel about it, or that they shouldn't go to Sunday keeping churches...this is how I feel about it for MYSELF.
