Subject: need for a bible-anyone |
Bible Note: You wrote: Do I and other professing Christians of various other communions, in your view, have any hope of salvation, since we are not card-carrying members of your 'Church of Christ' but do maintain that we are truly members of the Church of Christ? First, it isn’t my church, nor do we carry cards (perhaps that was in jest, but I have found that one needs to be clear). What I write is directly from God’s word. I believe I have supplied Scripture to my posts. Secondly, as I attempted to point out before, there is a universal church to which every faithful believer is a member of. Acts 2:47 “…and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Now, does that mean only in one location? Or does He speak of the whole body of believers, church universal? The Lord Jesus is the only one who can add members (Acts 2:47) or remove them (Rev 2 and 3) from the church universal. Would you agree that is true? “Every Christian was simply a member of one united body of believers. Various congregations existed (Corinth, Rome, Ephesus, etc.), but they were all part of the same body. Each congregation practiced and believed the same doctrines or teachings, that is, what was being revealed through the apostles (1 Corinthians 4:17; 14:37). Christians were admonished to remain united, divisions based on following certain leaders within the church” (Acts 20:28-30), “or dividing up the body of Christ into various sects or flavors of Christianity were condemned (1 Cor. 1:10). In fact, even sects based on following elevating one apostle over all others were rebuked (1:12-13).” Source: www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net Bible Authority: Lesson 18: The Local Church and the Universal Church The local congregation, the church of Christ, whether it be in Beijing, China, Nome, Alaska, Johannesburg, South Africa, or anywhere upon the face of the earth, it is a group of faithful believers carrying out the work set for it (the church) to do, in accordance with Scripture. Nothing more, nothing less. Thirdly, your hope of salvation does not lie in my views, it lies within Scripture, with Jesus Christ. I am simply trying my utmost to present that to you. I find example after example, in Scripture of folks failing to do what they were suppose to do. For instance: Lev 10:1-3-Nadab and Abihu offering up “strange fire” to the Lord; 2 Sam 6:1-7 Uzzah reached out and touched the ark. Certainly he thought he was doing the right thing; however, the ark was to be carried by Levites, specifically Kohathites (Num 4:15 and 7:9), not rolled along on a cart. The whole period of the Judges, the Kings, all the events that led to their captivity. God laid out specific instructions in the NT as well. He has given us the pattern to follow, we need only to follow it. Mouse2 |