Subject: need for a bible-anyone |
Bible Note: You wrote: "The writings in the bible by the Apostles and prophets are our only guide." So you would agree with a statement such as this one? "To let God be true means to let God have the say as to what is the truth that sets men free. It means to accept his Word, the Bible, as the truth. Hence...our appeal is to the Bible for truth. Our obligation is to back up what is said...by quotations from the Bible for proof of truthfulness and reliability. That is the course the inspired writers and faithful characters of the Bible took and recommended." You wrote: "To put it plainly if the church of Christ that I know to be the true church of God that we have today is not the true church, then just by the standards set forth in the bible then we have lost the church and the whole of humanity and all are going to Hell." So where was the church between the end of the first century and the beginning of the 19th? You wrote: "To know a denomination you can go to the scriptures and see if what they practice is in accordance with the New Testament." Paul wrote: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." --2 Timothy 3:16-17 The "Scripture" Paul was referring to here is the OLD Testament. Looking through nearly every book of the New Testament, I see that "the writings of the Apostles" that serve as "our only guide" sure make a great deal of reference and reinforcement of the Old Testament teachings. Then I turn back to Psalm 150 and see the Church of Christ's false teaching about music (unless God has changed His mind). I see choirs in the Old Testament, without any prohibition against them in the New (God changing His mind again?). Not every denomination allows women pastors or pastor rule. Timothy apparently was a single pastor. So what I see are a lot of traditions of men given the weight of commandments of God, along with some valid arguments against SOME practices in SOME denominations. All this, and still no definition of what a denomination is. The Churches of Christ fit most, if not all, the traditional marks of a denomination. --Joe! |