Quote:
Originally Posted by djohnson
SC if you don't have name for your church who to people write checks to for offerings? And which organization gives them a charitable donation receipt for their tax write off? And what name is used to buy real estate and to sue over real estate? Or are all those places left blank on the checks, receipts, contracts, court documents, etc?
|
DJ, Nell,
The churches of the NT have no names ... and yet they do. This is the same thing. On the one hand, they're just the local churches of that city. On the other, they are "The church in ___." The world demands a name and sees through that lens. So to them, "The Church in ___" is a name. But to we who buy into this no-name thing, it isn't a name, plain and simple.
I'm not fighting for this issue. If you want to say we name ourselves, go for it. I do know that the stance we have taken is awkward among other Christians in so many ways. They aren't comfortable with it.
As with many doctrinal quibbles, you can point out a lot of hypocrisy, misapplication, etc. with this principle. What you can't do, however, is find anything in the Bible that supports denominating (naming) churches. So you lose this argument every time.
SC