Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
When you ask a question in that manner, it does become quite obvious a denomination is in place. When a church is considered a lampstand contingent on it's relationship to a specific ministry.
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And taking that one step further, in the case of other denominations, even if they were to assert that a particular assembly was being expelled from their association/denomination, would they contend that the assembly ceases to be a church? Or would it be that they merely are not granted the ability to claim affiliation and benefit from the resources of the group in the same manner that other assemblies in good standing would?
The latter is very different from declaring an assembly to not be a "lampstand." That is to deny that their assembling qualifies as "assembling" for purposes of the New Testament (thinking of Hebrews and "not forsaking the assembling" passage). Do the Baptists take that kind of stand? Or the Presbyterians?
I have mentioned the national ruckus that was raised over Irving Bible Church deciding that a woman could preach in their meetings, and especially once it actually occurred. While a "Bible church" is not part of a denomination, so no one can throw them out, I note that no matter how "concerned" many of the respondents were, none suggested that IBC was not a church. That it had lost standing as a legitimate church.
Now to the extent that there are sects/denominations that hold that only their group is correct, and only they are "saved" and/or "going to heaven," then I would suppose that those kinds would take the same kind of position as the LRC. In fact, that would be the only kind of group that I would expect those kinds of declarations to come from.
So the LRC has clearly identified themselves with those that exclude others based on non-core doctrines/issues. In effect, they have no true claim to any kind of "generality." For the LRC, it is all special. Or rather
they are special (and by implication no one else is).