Bible Question:
Iam very confused..I have always had faith and believed in christ,but just this past year i have totally given up my past life,and am trying so hard to do right. i love hearing his word,so ive been attending church..but i dont feel right with some things they do, (like people saying "god just told me"...or speaking in tongues,etc..)How do i know which church is right?all of them do it nowadays! or instead,the sermon is about ties or what they use to do,or what event to plan!!am i wrong for just wanting to hear the word of jesus? |
Bible Answer: Dear maricjess, As our Brother Hobbs has suggested, be in prayer! The Lord knows you need a church. Now put feet to your prayers by diligently searching. Be sure to attend a church every single Sunday. Aska lot of questions. Also, note that you can tell a lot about a church in its mid-week meetings. Dr. Michael Horton writes, "Until this century, Christians of all types believed that there are true churches and false churches. Just because it says 'church' over the door doesn't mean it is one. That is why the reformers drew from Scripture two undeniable marks of the true church: It is where the Word is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered. "To be sure, the reformers knew that this happens in varying degrees. For instance, even in a conservative Protestant church, one might be disappointed with the handling of a certain text. One might be absolutely convinced that the preacher was in error in his explanation. But that does not mean that an otherwise sound church should no longer be regarded as a true church. The reformers meant that it had to be a church in which the clear preaching of the text focused on Christ's promise to save sinners. In other words, the preaching of the Law and the Gospel must be clearly affirmed and proclaimed in the local parish, if it is to be considered a true church. When a denomination or a church officially rejects the Gospel or any essential teaching of the Nicene Creed, it commits apostasy and is no longer part of the visible body of Christ. Individuals within it may be saved, but the congregation or denomination has officially severed itself from Christ's visible church. "The second mark of a true church is that the sacraments are affirmed and employed alongside the Word as a means of grace... "If a church fits these definitions, you may want to overlook other problems. When taste, rather than truth, is the criterion for choosing a church, people will place music style, programs, and children's activities at the top of the list. The most essential issue is this: Is this a place where God and his revelation in Christ's person and work is clearly declared, and where people are serious about growing in Christ through Word, sacrament, prayer, evangelism, and missions? Is this a place where my children will be trained in addition to the instruction they will receive in the home? Will they grow up hearing the Gospel?" He continues with the following list of questions to ask a potential new pastor: "1. What is the church's view of Scripture? Is it infallible, the only ultimate authority for faith and practice? "2. What is the church's confession of faith? Where does this particular minister stand on it and is it the criterion for the teaching and preaching of God's Word? If you really get 'lucky,' you might even find a church that still uses its catechism. A confession of faith is not equal to Scripture, but it does set forth what the church body believes God's Word teaches and expects us to know. A catechism is simply a means of instruction about that confession of faith, usually through a question and answer approach, with biblical texts supporting each answer. In many confessionally consistent denominations, one may find Sunday school curricula that follow a person all of the way from pre-school age to the twilight years. This is important, because it organizes our thoughts about God and reading of Scripture into a coherent, clear, and systematic whole. "3. Is the service conducted as God's meeting with his people to give them his grace and for them to respond in thanksgiving? Or is it modeled on entertainment? "4. Is Jesus Christ proclaimed as a moral hero or as redeemer? In other words, is he made to sound like Freud, Ben Franklin, a politician, and an end-times seer, or is the preaching concerned with 'Christ and him crucified,' as Paul put it?" In Him, Doc |