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Bible Note: Dear Cuddle, I disagree with you. We do, indeed, have a good definition of the church. We have the Word of God which defines quite well. The Scriptures tell us its author, purpose, tasks, means, and ultimate end. In my own tradition, that definition has been articulated well. I'd encourage you to look to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 26. For brevity, I quote paragraphs 1 and 2: "The catholic or universal church, which (with respect to the internal work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. (Hebrews 12:23; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:10, 22-23; Ephesians 5:23, 27, 32) "All persons throughout the world, professing the faith of the gospel, and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it, not destroying their own profession by any errors everting the foundation, or unholiness of conversation, are and may be called visible saints; and of such ought all particular congregations to be constituted. (1 Corinthians 1:2; Acts 11:26; Romans 1:7; Ephesians 1:20-22)" Your confusion arises because you do not distinguish between what is visible and what is invisible. The visible are the organizations and individual congregations of living human beings. We know from Scripture that what is visible is not yet pure, containing tares along with the wheat (Matthew 13:25-41). Please note that an extremely important doctrine is the Sufficiency of Scripture. To assert that we lack a workable definition of the Church is tantamount to denying this doctrine. Notwithstanding, few of us in the forum would deny the criticisms that you've leveled at the congregations that draw the most attention in our day. In Him, Doc |