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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | DocTrinsograce | 149041 | ||
Dear Brother Ed, Good questions! Here are a few more: Is it worth being burned at the stake for refusing to sell spiritual benefits to finance a war (John Huss); or to be strangled and burned for not promising to stop preaching the gospel (Wendelinuta, Protestant widow); or to be beheaded and burned for being a Protestant minister (George Scherter); or to be beheaded for having Luther's sermons in your possession (Justus Insparg); or to be burned at the stake for your faith (Coomans); burned at the stake for not obeying the pope (Lord Cobham); or to be tortured and burned for attending Huguenot services; or to be burned alive and your goods confiscated so that your wife and their children starve (Thomas Harding); or to be burned at the stake for not acknowledging the presence of the real flesh in the sacrament (Traxnal); or to be burned at the stake for speaking against an idol (William Letton); or to be hung and burned for refusing holy communion (William Hunter); or to be burned for refusing the pope's false doctrines (Thomas Cramner); or to be one of forty Protestants whose throats were cut by priests so that they "might not fall," even though they recanted; or to be whipped and banished for being a Quaker (William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, Mary Dyar, and Nicholas Davis); or to be sent to the Gulag for possessing a Bible; or to be beheaded in front of a mosque for passing out Arabic New Testaments; etc. etc. etc. I say, YES! It is worth being an advocate of the truth at the cost of home, respect, prestige, position, family, limb, and life! If the truth cost the lives of prophets, apostles, teachers, preachers, and other believers -- and even our Lord Jesus Himself -- why should I be any less willing to give my all for so a great a prize? Your question, "...were they legitimate reasons," must be asked of those who stood amidst the smoldering faggots and those who kindled the fire. Those dying would say, "Yes, I die for legitimate reasons." Those doing the killing would say, "Yes, we kill for legitimate reasons." Frankly, I'd say, the much more Christian behavior is for those of us to part company and worship in different buildings, even when they may be side by side! Why is this a superior? For many obvious reasons! Such a solution leaves the ultimate decision of legitimacy in the hands of the Lord. Meanwhile, we have time to deliberate over the Word of God in order to validate the legitimacy of our own reasons! It allows the wheat to grow, although among the tares, such that the wheat can live peaceable lives to the glory of their Lord. The gates of hell will not prevail against the one, true, invisible Body of Christ! God is in control, not the Adversary! In Him, Doc |
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2 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | Aixen7z4 | 149445 | ||
In all of this maze, this post stands out, and this question: “Is it worth being burned at the stake …?” The question as to whether denominations should exist is a troublesome thing, especially considering the very low probability that anyone can persuade the church that denominations should cease to exist. And then, there is this verse in 1 Corinthians 11: “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (v. 19). “Factions have to exist in order to make it clear who the genuine believers among you are”. (???) (GW). The question for me is whether Paul is being straightforward here, or sarcastic. After all, this is the letter in which he had said there should be no divisions (1 Corinthians 1:10) and he would say there should be no schism in the body (1 Corinthians 12:25). But it is also the one in which he had said to the saints in that poor, weak, immature church: “Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you (1 Corinthians 4:8). Now is he saying that divisions in the church are an opportunity to show who is right and who is wrong? Some may even wrest a verse from 1 John to say that anyone who leaves their sect is wrong. “They went out from us, but they were not of us”. It is almost like not belonging to them is the same as not belonging to Christ. But now come this question, and this statement: “Is it worth being burned at the stake?” and “the much more Christian behavior is … to part company…”. What a choice! Is it not truly sad that the church has come to this, to a choice between parting company and being burned at the stake? We are repeating all the mistakes of the church in the Old Testament when the name of the Lord was being profaned among the heathen because of the behavior of his people. It is the same again today. Brethren persecute each other and part from each other, and new religions arise because the heathen cannot believe that our behavior was learned from the true God. Yet the Lord says, “And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD”, saith the Lord God, “when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes” (Ezekiel 36:23). And Jesus says, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). It is amazing to me how God can do those things. The church, with all its denominations, is seemingly in a poor condition. Someone was heard to say in church he did not know how we could have the nerve to go preach to the world. And yet, I saw that same man respond to an invitation to be saved. We still bring the Gospel. And God is still bringing people to himself. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Our God is awesome. |
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