Bernard

Thank you everyone for your responses, I treasure all of them. You know, living in the 21 century sometimes leaks back into our reading and understanding of the bible. It is not very helpful, most of time. Rather, we should try to understand the context of the text! A wise man once said, "A text without a context is a pretext"! That means if we do not study to understand what the author meant by what he wrote and how the people at the time understood it, we are in danger of reading anything we want into the passage. The church in multiple times and places has certainly been guilty of that! But, back to the point of this post. I am sure that most of you will agree that our example and model for christian behavior would be Jesus Himself - although Paul suggests that his readers copy his behavior too. Jesus did not wear a cross although He would certainly certainly carry one up the hill of Golgotha. Jesus did not carry a copy of the Torah around with Him and hit backsliders over the head with it. Yes, He certainly chastised the temple leaders most pointedly, but remember how patient and kind He was when He spoke to the woman caught in the act of adultery - "Daughter, go and sin no more". Jesus didn't stand on city corners shouting that all sinners were going to hell. If He did say something like that, we know who He said it to. Jesus met the people where their needs were; He healed them, He fed them, and then He taught them challenging them to walk the narrow path. I would say that if the church spent more energy feeding, healing, and teaching we wouldn't have to be so concerned about filling the pews. God will take care of that if we follow the example of Jesus. That is more important than wearing large visible crosses and carrying bibles. I do not mean to be dogmatic here and this is certainly not a condemnation of those Christians whose conscience is clear regarding the issue. I rest on this; "Jesus said, 'When He, the Spirit of truth. has come, He will guide you into all truth'".

On a discussion website, I noticed a comment that said that the writer was turned off by individuals introducing themselves with a bible text. That started me wondering, what do people think of Christians who visibly wear large crosses and/or visibly carry bibles around with them. What does this behavior communicate to others, especially to those who are already turned off by church talk and the like? I understand that wearing crosses and waving bibles may be for some the way to worship God. However, while I hold each respectfully for what and who they represent, I do not believe that one must advertise that they are a Christian to others. By doing so, they bring glory and attention to themselves and not God. Didn't Jesus say; "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35. It would seem that our loving acts for others was advertisement enough! Also, " . . . God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart " 1Sam.16:7.

The word "anti" in Greek means "instead of" not "against" or "in opposition to". Just saying.

My Lord and my God!

I have the firm believe that Jesus will call all sincere believers out of the institutional churches and the world near the end of this age. I well imagine some of us will be quite surprised by who is among that group and who isn't. Just saying! Blessings.