Denominations

[GoodFruit]

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?

[GoodFruit]

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).

[GoodFruit]

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.    

[GoodFruit]

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.

 

[GoodFruit]

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.

Edited September 16, 2016 by GoodFruit
typo

[GoodFruit]

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!

[Marilyn C]

3 minutes ago, GoodFruit said:

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.    

Hi Goodfruit,

Thank you for your encouragement. I`m glad those comments I posted in the prophecy & eschatological sections have given you food for thought. If you want to discuss anything one to one just PM me & I would be glad to listen & share.

Marilyn.

 

[GoodFruit]

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.

[Marilyn C]

17 minutes ago, GoodFruit said:

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.

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.

   

[GoodFruit]

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.