It's Time To Get Over It

Correction... the Back Pew has hit upon the essence of "church membership".

Originally Posted by tbpew

Chan's previous post contained a very familiar admonition;
They will give account to God. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

So, the preacher is a false prophet and should have been dealt with accordingly. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

This position is established on a FALSE PREMISE; the premise that the asemblying together of the saints is predicated on some identity called a "local church". There is no such thing as a local church. There is only one church; this ONE church has God as its builder and maker.

Letters were directed to the Saints who live in Rome, Galatia, Ephesis, Corinth, etc. But there was no local church there, there was only a basic geography that was shared by a diversity of individual members, having a common faith in an invisible God and pertaining to the singular body of that God's Christ.

The idea of local churches spawns the idea that there should be local heads, local rulers, local masters. There were seven letters written to saints assemblying in the area of Philadelphia, Thyatira, Ephesus, etc..., but God does NOT have seven bodies, seven New Jerusalems, seven Christs.

One church reveals one body.
One body reveals one head.
One head reveals one master.

One master denies any occassion for striving, rivalries, envies, and contention among men seeking to make disciples unto themselves.

Men love to create seperations that validate or legitimize some specialty thought or function. The body of Christ is ONE body with an immeasurable diversity of thought and functionality from its creator and manifested through the bondservants who are member-vessels.

The scriptural admonition is to NOT FORSAKE assemblying together. AMEN! Don't ever forsake this! Creating this idea called "a local church" inherently forsakes this admonition to assembly by creating impediments/obstructions to the limitless connections between and amoung members of the Body of Christ. If I assembly with 20, 60, or even 500 is it OK to NOT ASSEMBLE with the a whole multitude of giftings and servants that don't happen to meet in your building, on your schedule.

Hey I do understand that without an artifical new identity created, good 'ol man will lack a platform upon which to establish a pre-eminent seat. Imagine that, saints will have to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling within the witness and presence of the Spirit that dwells within them. Certainly it is prudent to acknowledge the admonition to NOT FORSAKE ASSEMBLING. By assembling each person has access to establish connections through which each member can be blessed and edified by the diverse giftings/ministries the "church builder" has provided for his ONE church.

Well, the letters in Revelation 2-3 were to the CHURCHES (plural) and the readers were commanded to hear what the Spirit said to the CHURCHES!!!!!!!!

Paul established leadership in EACH CHURCH that he planted by appointing elders (I believe more than one elder in each church and, thus, a plurality of leadership).

Chan, too many people assume "assemblying together" means attending a weekly lecture at a State-authorised "service" sponsored by a non-profit religious corporation of the State.

This is why "attending prayer meetings and Bible studies with fellow saints" is never accepted as a "substitute for regular church attendance".

We have converted the koinonia of the Body into a franchise business focused on weekly motivational speaking seminars and musical entertainment.

[Nahum]

Originally Posted by tbpew

Chan's previous post contained a very familiar admonition;
They will give account to God. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

So, the preacher is a false prophet and should have been dealt with accordingly. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

This position is established on a FALSE PREMISE; the premise that the asemblying together of the saints is predicated on some identity called a "local church". There is no such thing as a local church. There is only one church; this ONE church has God as its builder and maker.

Letters were directed to the Saints who live in Rome, Galatia, Ephesis, Corinth, etc. But there was no local church there, there was only a basic geography that was shared by a diversity of individual members, having a common faith in an invisible God and pertaining to the singular body of that God's Christ.

The idea of local churches spawns the idea that there should be local heads, local rulers, local masters. There were seven letters written to saints assemblying in the area of Philadelphia, Thyatira, Ephesus, etc..., but God does NOT have seven bodies, seven New Jerusalems, seven Christs.

One church reveals one body.
One body reveals one head.
One head reveals one master.

One master denies any occassion for striving, rivalries, envies, and contention among men seeking to make disciples unto themselves.

Men love to create seperations that validate or legitimize some specialty thought or function. The body of Christ is ONE body with an immeasurable diversity of thought and functionality from its creator and manifested through the bondservants who are member-vessels.

The scriptural admonition is to NOT FORSAKE assemblying together. AMEN! Don't ever forsake this! Creating this idea called "a local church" inherently forsakes this admonition to assembly by creating impediments/obstructions to the limitless connections between and amoung members of the Body of Christ. If I assembly with 20, 60, or even 500 is it OK to NOT ASSEMBLE with the a whole multitude of giftings and servants that don't happen to meet in your building, on your schedule.

Hey I do understand that without an artifical new identity created, good 'ol man will lack a platform upon which to establish a pre-eminent seat. Imagine that, saints will have to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling within the witness and presence of the Spirit that dwells within them. Certainly it is prudent to acknowledge the admonition to NOT FORSAKE ASSEMBLING. By assembling each person has access to establish connections through which each member can be blessed and edified by the diverse giftings/ministries the "church builder" has provided for his ONE church.

Wow!

If the only "church" in town was a Roman Catholic "church", would God require a believer to attend meetings there?

If there was only a Roman Catholic "church" AND a Baptist "church", would God require His child to attend meetings at the Baptist church?

Not everything calling itself "apostolic" is, and not every thing calling itself a "church" is.

Not everything claiming to be of God is of God...

Originally Posted by Eliseus

If the only "church" in town was a Roman Catholic "church", would God require a believer to attend meetings there?

God would send the believer to another town.

If there was only a Roman Catholic "church" AND a Baptist "church", would God require His child to attend meetings at the Baptist church?

God would put the believer where God wanted him.

Not everything calling itself "apostolic" is, and not every thing calling itself a "church" is.

Not everything claiming to be of God is of God...

So, what's your point? Do you think God is limited by the city limits? God will send the believer where God wants him to be. If the believer doesn't go, he is in rebellion against God.

Originally Posted by Eliseus

Chan, too many people assume "assemblying together" means attending a weekly lecture at a State-authorised "service" sponsored by a non-profit religious corporation of the State.

Assembling together means assembling together where the Church is in operation. The Jerusalem church often met on Solomon's Porch outside the Jewish temple. Other churches met in homes and elsewhere (including, later in the first century, the catacombs outside Rome). Since the weekly "lecture" is the primary place in today's church where the saints are equipped (see Ephesians 4:11), those who insist they don't have to participate are refusing to submit to being equipped and, thus, are in rebellion against God.

This is why "attending prayer meetings and Bible studies with fellow saints" is never accepted as a "substitute for regular church attendance".

Again, regular church attendance is how the saints are equipped for the work of serving God.

We have converted the koinonia of the Body into a franchise business focused on weekly motivational speaking seminars and musical entertainment.

There is some truth to this, particularly in churches where music and preaching style are used to get some kind of emotional response from the audience.

[Michlow]

Originally Posted by tbpew

Chan's previous post contained a very familiar admonition;
They will give account to God. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

So, the preacher is a false prophet and should have been dealt with accordingly. That's no excuse for entering into rebellion against God by refusing to be part of a local church.

This position is established on a FALSE PREMISE; the premise that the asemblying together of the saints is predicated on some identity called a "local church". There is no such thing as a local church. There is only one church; this ONE church has God as its builder and maker.

Letters were directed to the Saints who live in Rome, Galatia, Ephesis, Corinth, etc. But there was no local church there, there was only a basic geography that was shared by a diversity of individual members, having a common faith in an invisible God and pertaining to the singular body of that God's Christ.

The idea of local churches spawns the idea that there should be local heads, local rulers, local masters. There were seven letters written to saints assemblying in the area of Philadelphia, Thyatira, Ephesus, etc..., but God does NOT have seven bodies, seven New Jerusalems, seven Christs.

One church reveals one body.
One body reveals one head.
One head reveals one master.

One master denies any occassion for striving, rivalries, envies, and contention among men seeking to make disciples unto themselves.

Men love to create seperations that validate or legitimize some specialty thought or function. The body of Christ is ONE body with an immeasurable diversity of thought and functionality from its creator and manifested through the bondservants who are member-vessels.

The scriptural admonition is to NOT FORSAKE assemblying together. AMEN! Don't ever forsake this! Creating this idea called "a local church" inherently forsakes this admonition to assembly by creating impediments/obstructions to the limitless connections between and amoung members of the Body of Christ. If I assembly with 20, 60, or even 500 is it OK to NOT ASSEMBLE with the a whole multitude of giftings and servants that don't happen to meet in your building, on your schedule.

Hey I do understand that without an artifical new identity created, good 'ol man will lack a platform upon which to establish a pre-eminent seat. Imagine that, saints will have to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling within the witness and presence of the Spirit that dwells within them. Certainly it is prudent to acknowledge the admonition to NOT FORSAKE ASSEMBLING. By assembling each person has access to establish connections through which each member can be blessed and edified by the diverse giftings/ministries the "church builder" has provided for his ONE church.

Excellent post!

[tbpew]

Eliesus wrote:
We have converted the koinonia of the Body into a franchise business focused on weekly motivational speaking seminars and musical entertainment.
...and in doing so, a new paradigm/premise from which to define the saints "assembling together" has been established within the experience of the believer.

This alternate expression/lifestyle has replaced a vastly larger dynamic that the Spirit of God could guide us as benefactors and contributors within the Body of God's anointing. In this surrogate model of assembling, size/numbers replace the free-flow of access to "whomsoever will" that the Spirit will lead us to connect with. This system has even greatly curtailed mobility involving the giftings and servant ministries (Eph 4), static becomes the norm, dynamic the exception.

In this creation of a surrogate system of saints assembling in a very specific, finite local group, fidelity, loyalty and alegience to a new man-made thing is introduced. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

I offer NO dispute with the admonition that Chan would have us be reminded of; DO NOT FORSAKE our ASSEMBLING TOGETHER! The construct authored by men to create a myriad of local churches does JUST THAT. We are expected to pledge our allegiance to some thing that has been authored by men, thus dramatically curtailing our free assembly with those who our Lord will lead us to serve and be served by.

Without a surrogate system where men can better make disciples unto themselves, the countless SECTS would lose their sponsoring energy. Without a central command structure authored by individual men, each individual must seek the Spirit to be led concerning his own calling and election. At the end of this life, each individual will face their own Lord to provide an account of what we have done with the precious treasure we have been given.

God is one. He has one body. He has one head over that body.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Eliseus

Chan, too many people assume "assemblying together" means attending a weekly lecture at a State-authorised "service" sponsored by a non-profit religious corporation of the State.

This is why "attending prayer meetings and Bible studies with fellow saints" is never accepted as a "substitute for regular church attendance".

We have converted the koinonia of the Body into a franchise business focused on weekly motivational speaking seminars and musical entertainment.

I would agree that attending prayer meetings and Bible studies with fellow saints would constitute assembling together.