Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
And this is where we tongue-in-cheek suggest that the thread is once again off-topic because there is absolutely no evidence that any of the BBs are apostles at any meaningful level, therefore their quarantine of TC would be meaningless.
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Yes, it may technically be off topic but I think all of the seeming disagreement on this thread was the fact that the topic was not well defined.
I don't think the issue was the apostolic gift, but the apostolic authority. What everyone really seemed to take issue with was people calling themselves apostles and taking the authority of an apostle. Those of us who were looking at this as a gift continually said that the exercise of the gift was not dependent on the title. If you remember Igzy gave an analogy of Apostles equaling the uniform of a policeman and I argued it was more like the bullet the poleiceman shoots the killer with that saves my life. I was viewing Apostle as a gift, Igzy was viewing it as authority. The uniform is a sign of the authority. Also, by definition Apostles will exercise this gift in regions where they are not received. That is why it is often necessary for God to do signs and wonders to accompany the work of an apostle. This is also why it is no longer necessary in most cases for the signs and wonders to accompany the work of ministry.
So, I think the real focus of this thread has really been on the exercise of the apostolic authority. If you define it this way I would agree with Igzy's post#1 and #5. The Bible is our authority.
One excellent example of this is in the practice of excommunication. In that case it was the Apostle Paul who prompted and made a case for excommunication to the church and it was the church that agreed. So if we can adjust our focus a little I think the example with TC is on topic.
Also, although they may not have used this language (I'll double check) the BBs were clearly miffed that TC was not receiving WL as the MOTA.