GoodFruit
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Posts posted by GoodFruit
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27 minutes ago, Marilyn C said:
Hi GoodFruit,
That is a very good point. And you will notice that it mainly refers to prophecy & eschatological views. That is because it is the last great truth to be clarified across the Body of Christ. You notice we don`t all have different views of Salvation, baptism, infilling of the Holy Spirit, giftings, etc because those great truths have been clarified across the Body (in general). However we are still in the `tossed to & fro` stage (Eph. 4: 14) till this great truth becomes clear.
I would encourage you to persevere & think upon the 3 groups - The Body of Christ, Israel & the nations & see whom the Lord is talking to. This will clear up a lot of `muddy waters` for you, I believe. Many people read God`s word as all about `us,` whereas we can read it, & learn about the Lord & what He is doing for the other groups. We are not the centre, Christ is & God`s purpose through Him.
blessings, Marilyn.
Thank you Marilyn for your insight. I should clarify that you are correct and I agree with the bolded part above. But I have to say that the thread regarding Women Pastors had many differing options being floated to the point where I just had to sign off. I couldn't read anymore!
I get what you are saying about people seeing things from their tiny perspective or viewing things as an American only. I have often observed that myself in reading the comment boards on various websites.
blessings to you too!
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5 hours ago, missmuffet said:
No, I do not. The last Church I attended was a Community Church and although I loved the Pastor's sermons and I learned a lot became a mega Church it was huge and I felt lost. Also their were many cliques and I hate cliques. I have not found a Church where I am comfortable.
I've been in that boat, but I never got to a point where I just quit attending church completely. I stayed in the Lutheran church because I felt that it was better than not going at all and not partaking in communion with the Lord (ie Lord's Supper) which is highly important to me. When I decided to "church shop" I really tried to steer clear of a specific denomination with a prescribed doctrine and set of rules. I first went to an Evangelical Free Church, which is also one of the largest churches in my county (I would guess maybe 1,500 members?). I'm not kidding when I tell you that not one person even noticed me or greeted me - except for the pastor who was in the back of the sanctuary (where i was seated) as he was preparing to walk down the aisle to start the service. Before the service everyone was standing around mingling in their little cliquey groups drinking coffee and eating donuts. I never went back after that.
The next church I tried was a non-denominational. I stuck with it pretty regularly for about a year and by the end of that year, no one offered their friendship to me or even tried to get to know me at all. None of them hardly even knew my first name, other than the customary meet n' greet at the start of the service. Again, it seemed to be a bunch of cliquey groups and they were very heavy into children's ministry, which is not a bad thing at all, but I am a single older adult, they had nothing to offer me for my needs. I really liked the pastor, he was refreshing but he became ill and had to resign his position. They had a mish-mash of elders and guest speakers leading the service and it wasn't the same. The icing on the cake came when I joined one of their 6-week video/bible studies they offered. There were about 10 regulars each week and again, none of them really befriended me and I kind of felt excluded. They would all sit next to their friends and I would be sitting in a row by myself. The very last night, I asked the group leader (an elder) if there were any other bible studies or anything that the church had going. He told me not at the moment. He said there there were some small groups that met in people's homes, but he never offered to set me up with any of them or get into contact with them. I decided that this was not a church I needed to be a part of and never went back.
Since the start of this year, I have been going to an independent Bible Church that has been in my tiny town of 900 people for the past 125 years. An old white country church! It's a small group, most Sunday's there are maybe 20-25 in attendance and half of them are over 75! But everyone is warm and welcoming and have made an effort to get to know me personally. Everyone is genuine. They are struggling to stay alive but the pastor teaches the truth and not everyone wants to hear the truth! They have started a food pantry for people in my community that I have become involved in. They are also trying to do community outreach to bring in families and people who don't have a church. It is simple worship without a lot of fanfare. Sometimes bigger isn't always better.
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8 hours ago, Ezra said:
The important thing is to firstly know the Bible for yourself, then compare what is said with what is in Scripture. Denominational backgrounds are secondary. And I am not in any denomination.
Ezra, I completely agree with you on this. I learned the Word of God from diligent study of it on my own, not from what any pastor in church told me. But when I come to forums such as this one (and I have been on others too) and there are many differing opinions and interpretations of scripture, it makes me question if what I believe to be the truth is really the truth at all. Maybe I am wrong about things. Who do you really believe especially when you have 6 or 7 different people debating back and forth with each other as their view being the correct interpretation? It sometimes leads me into confusion about if what I believe is correct and those are the times when I think that maybe being on these forums isn’t such a good idea (personally for me). It’s especially difficult when several of you present very credible arguments but everyone can’t be correct. So who’s right and who’s wrong? We all want to believe that our interpretation of scripture comes from the Spirit but that is clearly not the case or else we would all be of the same mindset and there wouldn’t any differing points of view.
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8 hours ago, enoob57 said:
I attend a Independent Baptist Church & my Love is God's Word . • . I want to know what God has said! Not what someone thinks He has said
enoob57 thumbs up! When I was kinda researching different churches in my area as far as their core beliefs, I tended to be drawn to the Baptist denominations, although I never did go to one and see if I would like it. I know several people who are Baptist.
I know what God says too but I didn’t initially learn it in the church!
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9 hours ago, GoldenEagle said:
Hiya Goodfruit!
I grew up Southern Baptist. I currently attend a Bible church that has loose affiliations with Southern Baptists still. That said, the most important thing to me is that a local church follows the teachings of the Bible. I also realize I'm never going to agree 100% with any church I'm a part of and that's okay. It's all about bringing God honor and letting others know the wonderful news of Jesus Christ in the Gospel!
God bless,
GE
Hi GoldenEagle, the Bible church I am currently attending is independent. There are things about it that I wish were a little different but I guess what appeals to me the most is that the pastor does teach the truth of God’s word (as I understand the truth to be). People actually bring their bibles to church and open them! What a concept! The church I grew up in didn’t even have any bibles in the pews until about 7-8 years ago! All the scripture readings were printed in the bulletin. When they finally purchased bibles to go next to the hymnals, very few people even bothered to open them and read along with the scripture readings. People just sat there like typical robots listening. Now the church has the big fancy screens on the wall where the scripture readings are shown, along with the bulletin. The pew bibles are virtually unused now.
I actually think that when someone starts agreeing 100% with any particular church, that in itself indicates a potential problem. No church on earth is 100% flawless.
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20 hours ago, JohnD said:
The Church since the hostile Roman take over (by Emperor Constantine) had been bogged down and diluted with human tradition for 1700 years. Most denominations are variations of Roman Catholicism. The Southern Baptist Seminary adopted atheist teachings in Higher Spiritual Criticism of the scriptures, probably employ atheist professors by now, were definitely more concerned with $$$ in the 1980's than souls won to Christ.
Nearly all other denominations are the same.
JohnD, I get where you’re coming from. I’ve always said that being Lutheran is as close to Catholic as you can get without being Catholic. I am totally on board with letting the Holy Spirit be our guide into all scripture. But also believe that an actual church congregation does have a place in a Christian’s life for worshiping God and fellowshipping with other believers, along with mission-type work and serving the needs of the less fortunate in the community. And a study of the book of Acts alone pretty much tells me that God intended for there to be actual churches where believers gather.
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21 hours ago, Marilyn C said:
Hi GoodFruit,
I am fourth generation Apostolic Denomination. This came from the Welsh revival in 1917. My grandparents brought the teachings to Australia & New Zealand in the 1940`s. I don`t think it ever took off in America but is mainly in the UK & the Commonwealth. You will see many of my posts are different from the usual eschatological teaching, & that is because we have some differences from Pentecostal teachings.
Actually our denomination was called the Anglicans of the Pentecostals as we were more `formal.`
We are not the `New Apostolic Reformation` (NAR) denomination as their teaching are dominionism. (we take over the world).
The difference between the Pentecostal churches & Apostolic teaching is that we believed in the 5 fold ministries of the ascended Lord & operated in them. A hall mark of my early days was wonderful prophetic words extolling & lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. Today I see that the Apostolic denomination has taken on a lot of `Pentecostal` teachings & has become quite institutionalised. (like most)
I am now not an organisational person but relate in a `network` of relationships that are outward reaching. And finally there is a teaching on the `eternal purposes` that I learned in Apostolic meetings & Bible School, that has yet to be understood across the Body.
regards, Marilyn.
Hi Marilyn,
That is an interesting church history. I must say that I do admire your posts in the prophecy section of the forum. You bring new insight into things pertaining to eschatology and I enjoy reading your view on things. Eschatology is a passion of mine and it is a major part of my scripture studies. This is another failing of the Lutheran church I was raised in. I never once heard the word Rapture, let alone anything on Revelation or end times. It just isn’t spoken about and I literally knew nothing about it until I started delving into it myself about 16 or so years ago. I now have a pretty good grasp and understanding of it, but you bring all new elements to it.
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23 hours ago, shiloh357 said:
I am a Preslyterian. We base our theology on the life and songs of Elvis Presley.
Too funny Shiloh!
I have an Elvis Presley double CD of southern gospel songs he recorded before he became “the king” (little k, a big K is for our one and only King Jesus).
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On 9/15/2016 at 5:31 PM, nebula said:
Raise in a Lutheran Missouri Synod church that had many congregants who where influenced by the Charismatic and/or Jesus Movement. My beliefs tended to favor the Charismatic side of things. When I was in high school, we left that church for a newly formed Evangelical Charismatic church. I've been sticking with that persuasion, although I am accepting that there are faults and pitfalls with the theology and the way they tend to operate - mainly for lack of a suitable alternative church to go to.
Nebula, interesting! I have never heard of a LCMS leaning towards Charismatic. Must have been in the 70’s?
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On 9/15/2016 at 2:27 PM, Yowm said:
Started off in a Charismatic then Southern Baptist->Pentecostal->Non Denom->Reformed Baptist->Lutheran (LCMS>ELS)-> Reformed (Belgic)->non denom.
You can throw in a bit of Anglican (1923 BCP).
And my BC days was no Church at all, being raised under atheism.
Through it all our focus is to be on the Person of Jesus Christ and His Word.
Wow Yowm, you’ve pretty much run the gamut.
. Nothing wrong with that tho’, it gives a person insight into the beliefs of others and helps us to discern truth from error.
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On 9/15/2016 at 1:33 PM, missmuffet said:
I am a non denominational born again "Christian". I attended the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod for 25 years. I did not grow as a Christian in that Church so I left.
Hi Missmuffett,
I found that to be true in the Lutheran church I was raised in. I was not growing spiritually because every Sunday it seemed to be an exact carbon copy of every other Sunday. It’s been like that my entire life and I just accepted it because it’s all I ever knew.
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I was curious to know what faith denomination those you here are. I just thought it would be interesting to see all the different backgrounds y’all come from. Please do not misunderstand; I’m by no means trying to be judgmental about your personal beliefs. I have been reading a lot of posts from different people and it just got me to wondering what your doctrinal backgrounds are to help me get a better grasp on the lens thru which you view scripture. A lot of times, people interpret scriptures based upon a particular denomination’s teachings.
I’m not promoting one denomination over another but reading posts from multiple people with differing belief concepts can be confusing to me. Sometimes I’d just like to know where someone’s particular thought/belief/interpretation originates.
Myself, I was raised in the Lutheran faith, Missouri Synod, which is on the conservative end of the spectrum (Wisconsin Synod is ultra-conservative, ELCA is ultra-liberal). However, as I have aged and matured in my faith, I am not totally sold on the LCMS doctrine and I have some serious issues with some (not all) of it, particularly infant baptism and that baptism saves (although it is not taught outright, it is implied). A couple years ago I decided to start “church shopping” after having a heavy heart about the LCMS teachings and went to a couple non-denominational churches, which didn’t have any substance and were more about socializing than teaching the truth of God’s word. I then started attending a Bible Church that has been in my tiny little town for 125 years. On a good day, there might be a total of 30 people in attendance but the teaching is solid truth right out of the Bible. I do still attend the Lutheran church once or twice a month out of respect for my parents. My mother is a very active member of the church and it is her joy to have her children worshipping with her. As long as she is alive, I will honor her and not bring any grief or hurt to her by completely walking away from my church roots. Even if I don’t completely agree with the doctrine.
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21 hours ago, Walty said:
So, maybe I'm under some spiritual attack.
BINGO! You mentioned that you and your wife are re-committing your lives back to Christ and trying to grow strong in Him. This is when Satan attacks us the most. He's trying to play the guilty card with you and make you think you are doing something wrong and God's gonna be mad at you. Classic deceit and lie from the father of all lies. Be sober and alert, the devil prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour! If you feel like you have sinned by marrying your wife, you cannot undo the sin. It's already been committed. Divorcing your wife doesn't undo what you think you did wrong, instead it only causes you to sin again. God hates divorce. (Malachi 2:16) Also read 1 Cor. 7:10. You stated you love your wife and from what I can assume based on the info you provided, you have had a happy 16 yrs. together. How can you not see that as a blessing from God? If you have repented for what you think you have done wrong, then repent and accept Christ's forgiveness, grace, and mercy. Some sins have consequences that will affect the rest of your life and you just can't change the results. God can and does use sinful situations to His glory. Keep mind that Solomon is the product of what started as an adulterous relationship between David & Bathsheba. Jacob fathered the Tribes of Israel by four different women. God knows your heart and your desire to honor Him and your wife.
I do have one other question for you though, are you the only other man your wife has been with from the time she was divorced to the time you and her got together?
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I always liked to play Yahtzee and Boggle. I like card games too - euchre, golf, spades. I don't play any online computer games (on Facebook, etc.) but on my tablet I do have solitaire, Mahjong (matching tiles), a couple of word games, and my all time fav bible crossword.
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4 hours ago, ayin jade said:
Bats carry rabies. I know of a girl in my state who was exposed to rabies when a sick bat drooled on her foot.
The Truth about Bats
Here’s a few of the common myths about bats – and the real story:
All bats are rabid
Not even close. Bats, like other mammals, can be infected with the rabies virus and some of them are. But the vast majority of bats are not infected. However, a bat that can be easily approached by humans is likely to be sick and may bite if handled. Simply do not touch or handle a bat or any other wild animal and there is little chance of being bitten. Teach children to never handle any wild animal.
The Earth without bats would be a very different and much poorer place. More than 1,300 species of bats around the world are playing ecological roles that are vital to the health of natural ecosystems and human economies. Many of the more than 1,300 bat species consume vast amounts of insects, including some of the most damaging agricultural pests. Others pollinate many valuable plants, ensuring the production of fruits that support local economies, as well as diverse animal populations. Fruit-eating bats in the tropics disperse seeds that are critical to restoring cleared or damaged rainforests. Even bat droppings (called guano) are valuable as a rich natural fertilizer. Guano is a major natural resource worldwide, and, when mined responsibly with bats in mind, it can provide significant economic benefits for landowners and local communities.
You can learn more at....
Bats definitely have a purpose. Just sayin'
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5 minutes ago, da_man1974 said:
I need to get some bats around my house. I hate mosquitos.
That is a really good idea. Put up a bat house to attract them. I just saw on the news this past week that bats are becoming endangered as their numbers are dwindling.
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21 hours ago, ayin jade said:
Moles benefit gardens by aerating the soil, among other things.
But why would God create a mole to help something underground while destroying what is above ground (a nice grassy lawn) and enjoyed as His creation, which also causes man to set traps to kill what He created in the first place?
These are the things I think about every time I mow my lawn and see the destruction the moles (plural as I have multiple trails) have caused.
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1 hour ago, da_man1974 said:
Why did God make mosquitoes?
probably to annoy us enough to go inside and fellowship with Him.
They are also food for bats. They eat like 1,000 mosquitoes a night!
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14 hours ago, missmuffet said:
Who wrote Hebrews?
Author: Although some include the Book of Hebrews among the apostle Paul's writings, the certain identity of the author remains an enigma. Missing is Paul's customary salutation common to his other works. In addition, the suggestion that the writer of this epistle relied upon knowledge and information provided by others who were actual eye-witnesses of Christ Jesus (2:3) makes Pauline authorship doubtful. Some attribute Luke as its writer; others suggest Hebrews may have been written by Apollos, Barnabas, Silas, Philip, or Aquila and Priscilla. Regardless of the human hand that held the pen, the Holy Spirit of God is the divine author of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16); therefore, Hebrews speaks with the same canonical authority as the other sixty-five books of the Bible.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Hebrews.html
The Bible is silent on what God does not want us to know.
Moles? They eat worms and insects. Maybe so we would not be overcome with worms and insects? Everything was created for God's glory. Even that pesty mosquito. We may not know why but God does
The Native Americans have always been here. They may have come from Asia many,many years ago. Wasn't it the Europeans or "white man" that first came to America and infringed on their territory?
I am aware that there are several people who could have written Hebrews, but it is all speculation. Hence my burning question, and why is it such a secret?
The Bible is silent on what God does not want us to know.
Very true, and I'm sure He has His reasons. I don't outright "question" God about things that He has not made clear. I just have a curious mind.
The Native Americans have always been here.
That is an interesting perspective. Are you under the impression that God just mysteriously placed a people group into North America that have no lineage to the sons of Noah?
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14 hours ago, The_Patriot2016 said:
You want to know what I want to know? Why didn't God make more mountains....
I'm totally with you on that one! I love the mountains, especially the Smokies.
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14 hours ago, Jayne said:
You know, Jesus was really good at answering questions with questions.
I used to have a lot of burning questions until I realized that once I'm with God - wherever that may be in the end - I don't think we are going to care.
I agree that once I am home, nothing will matter anymore and I may not even remember anything about this world. Just a curious mind I have at this point.
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Do any of you have burning questions that you are anxious to find out the answer to when you get to heaven? I have a few I have thought about.
The biggest burning question I have is who wrote Hebrews. Another one that came up during my Sunday school class this past week when we discussing historical & extra-biblical writings and the fact that there is absolutely no information whatsoever on what Jesus' life was like as a child, teenager, or young adult. So it made me ponder this and wonder about it. Was it like any other typical Jewish boy?
Another burning question I want to ask God is why did He create moles? I mean what is their purpose because from looking at my yard, all they do is destroy it, so why did God create a mole?
I also wonder about the origin of the Native Americans. Ultimately we are all descendants of Noah and his sons, but what line did the Natives comes from? It's entirely plausible that they were able to spread to North America from a reference in Genesis 10:25 that indicates at one time continents were not split up the way they are now.
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Just now, RustyAngeL said:
Stevia has a very bitter taste for me, that is why I like the Agave nectar. All 100% natural. I use it in my iced tea as I said.
I use the liquid stevia instead of powdered, you only need 3-4 drops. NOW brand is very good. I have a bottle of Agave sitting on my counter at all times. Use it every morning in my raw apple cider vinegar that I drink.
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22 hours ago, seraph said:
FYI: Starbucks has a carbonated tea... Teavana® Sparkling Berry Sangria Herbal Tea
I used to always get New York Seltzers at the deli I worked at years ago, then couldn't find them anywhere. I recently found them at Von's. I do not like club soda, but I like those.
Yes, I remember the New York Seltzers. I don't do any sugar at all so I steer clear of anything that is sweetened both with sugar and artificial sweeteners. I use natural sweeteners only, mostly stevia. That's what I like about the flavored sparkling waters I've found, they are not sweetened in any form, but you have to read labels because some are.
I have an Elvis Presley double CD of southern gospel songs he recorded before he became “the king” (little k, a big K is for our one and only King Jesus).
Denominations
in General Discussion
Posted
I totally agree with you Shiloh. There is a verse in scripture that says not to cease from gathering together, as some had become in the habit of doing. I can't remember where it is at and I will need to take some time to find it, which I don't have right now. I will post it when I get a chance unless someone else here already knows it and posts it. Also, Jesus says where 2 or 3 are gathered together in His name, he is in the midst of them. Matt. 18:20.