Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Superior Hope | Heb 11:40 | Ancient | 127098 | ||
In relation to Sunday worship, I would like to add my two cents as well, Lord willing that I should be of profit to someone else. The scriptures tell us in Romans, "Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind." It is also written in Colossians, "Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a holy day or a new moon or a Sabbath day--things which are a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." Paul tells us in Romans that there is no command we have that is not summed up by the statement, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Going to church, while certainly a fine thing, is not a commandment. Hebrews 10:25 is often considered a commandment: "not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some ..." I find, however, that the preceeding verse adheres to Paul's teaching, and puts the statement into perspective: "and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." The early church, as recorded in the writings of Pliny the Younger, met on the first day of the week before dawn. The earliest church, according to Acts 2:46, met every day in the temple, not just on Sunday. When all is said and done, going to church is little more than a "work of the flesh" and is of no profit for righteousness. As it is written in Galatians, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." To summarize what I am saying: We are not commanded to go to church. Let every man be fully pursuaded in his own mind. The one that does not esteem one day above another, God will make him stand, and we should not judge another's servant, for no man should be your judged regarding Sabbaths, or other related holy days. Those that choose to go to church, you do a fine thing. Those that choose not to go to church, it would be better if you did, but it is not required. If you are weak, you could use the instruction. If you are strong, you could instruct others. So either way it is a good thing, and we don't want to forsake the assembling of ourselves because it is our opportunity to provoke one another to love. What day you go is not relevent. It's the spirit behind it; that you are going because you want to, wish to help others, wish to be an active member of a congregation, etc. Love and blessings, Ancient |
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2 | Superior Hope | Heb 11:40 | Country Girl | 127104 | ||
I might start to sound like I'm obsessed about this subject so I'll try to be brief and to the point. In my opinion, it's OK to become obsessed when we're talking about God's Word, most especially the NT. Again, IMO, we should see ourselves as being devoted to God's Word AND doing our best to imitate the attributes and all the other aspects of God and Christ we see in the Bible. In the OT, God got ALL of mankind's attention and worship. Those with the Law of Moses of course, worshipped him in accordance with that guidance. Those w/o that guidance worshipped Him in the same way as before the Law of Moses. The most important point of my statement that we must maintain our focus on Christ our Lord, just like Peter discovered while walking on water. When we take our eyes off our Lord, we endanger ourselves, taking our chances in the waves of this world. Although we can't cite specific verses saying "Thou shalt go to worship on Sundays," our Lord expects us to grow up spiritually and see that need in ourselves. Like I've been saying our Lord wants us to grow up spiritually and start figuring out for ourselves what He wants us to do. You might remember that only the first four of the Ten commandments were for God's benefit while the latter six commandments were issued for the Jew's benefit and eventually all of mankind. You see, God doesn't really need our worship or anything else from us. Sure God does WANT us to come Home to Him, He WANTS our worship as He is God and He craves to be worshipped. But IMO, in order for Him to be truly pleased, we should worship Him in accordance with His wishes and His guidance. You might compare this to the same kind of relationship with our own earthly parents. They love us regardless of what we do, even when we mess up and land ourselves in prison. But if we want to please them, we'll behave and develop ourselves in accordance with their wishes. I hope this makes things a little more clear. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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3 | Superior Hope | Heb 11:40 | Ancient | 127119 | ||
Country Girl, Remember sister, I'm not contradicting you. I think going to church is a good thing. I'm just cognizant of the fact that making it a commandment when it isn't a commandment creates an occasion of sin and stumbling for those that believe it to be a commandment and for one reason or another are unable to keep it. [Romans 7:9-11 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law; for I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the law sin was dead. I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me."] By all means ... let us go to church. But let us always remember WHY we go to church. It is not because we are commanded to, as you pointed out that no such passage exists, but because we want to. Those that don't want to go ... they don't have their heart in it anyway. So their worship would be false. Always remember that the commandment of the New Testament is to Love one another as he loved us. All others amount to this, are derived from this, and cannot exist or function without this. Blessing to you sister, Ancient |
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