Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Yes, Canfield is really just preaching to the choir. This is an argument from a person who's made up his mind, and is now trying to create an interpretation to match his belief.
His treatment of house churches is a circular argument. It presumes what it purports to prove. Nowhere does the Bible make it clear that the mentions of house churches correspond directly to city churches, and Canfield should know better than to pretend it does. He's reaching for a conclusion that the Bible doesn't provide, I guess because he thinks there ought to be one. But why does he think that?
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If you or I had thoroughly studied this topic in the N.T., we would not have come to the conclusion of one city -- one church. Oh we might have a hunch about it after reading Revelations 2 and 3 a few times, but an exhaustive study would not bring us to this conclusion, which explains why most scholars don't come to that conclusion either.
My personal belief concerning this matter of church ground is simple.
WN taught it. WN is so highly respected, that no one dares to question his conclusion. That is why we can today have 4 or 5 churches in a city all claiming to stand on the one unique ground of locality, and all clinging to WN's teachings on the subject, yet none of them can even say "hi" if they pass by on the street.
As John Myer once said, "
there is more scriptural basis for head covering in the N.T. than for the ground of locality."