Subject: Mark 16:16 what does it say? |
Bible Note: Grace and Truth, the issue, friend, goes far beyond whether you offended me. You did. And I surely forgive you. The issue that you and your colleagues of the Church of Christ persuasion face is the general offense you are exacting upon other members of this forum who happen not to walk the same narrow theological path that you do. It is well and good in a free society [and on a public forum] to be able to air your views. You and your colleagues have done an exemplary job of doing that. But it is one thing to air one's views. It is quite another thing to insist that those views are the only right views and that the remainder of us live in darkness; that your denomination [that's not what you call it, but that's really what it amounts to] is the only true church and that the rest of us who proclaim Christ are members merely of a man-made organization. It is your premise, your pre-set notions of belonging to an exclusive organism that alone is the true church, that rankles many of us. I believe you and your colleagues have stated your position and I equally believe that the majority of the rest of us disagree with many of the doctrinal points you have attempted to prove by Scripture. None of you, in my view, will serve yourselves or your church well by continuing to pound out your views ad infinitum. To the contrary, the majority of current users have been especially kind and longsuffering with you, but patience has a way of wearing thin. Thus my suggestion -- and I give it without malice -- is that all of you who are of this feather stow away your doctrinal issues in an old trunk someplace and join in and interact, if you wish, with the other users on other biblical topics. The Bible says a great deal about a large number of other topics that are not nearly so divisive as are some of the highly charged and volatile denominational issues that generally tend not to unite but to cut deeper the chasm that separates Christians one from another. --Hank |