Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
This section stood out to me ...
Why Doesn’t Our Church Have a Name?
In the New Testament, the believers simply came together wherever they lived to be the church in that place, e.g., the church of God in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1), or the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thess, 1:1). We do refer to ourselves as “the church in Chicago” or “the church of the Chicagoans,” but we do not take these terms as a name; we are only using them to describe who we are. We are incorporated as “The Church of the Chicagoans,” but that is only for legal purposes, or for practical matters such as designating this website. Again, we don’t take such descriptions as our actual name.
To “denominate” literally means “to give a name to; designate” (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition). Christians today are so divided in part because they are denominated; that is, they want to be called by some name other than the name of Christ, e.g., Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc.
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The Church of the Chicagoans says they only take a name because they have to. But they assert that the "denominations" take names because they want to. It's right there in black and white, folks - the difference between the LC church and "fallen Christianity" is that the LC, while doing the same thing, has a good heart, and doesn't want to do it, but the "denomination" has a bad heart and wants to do it.
On this ground your church is built? By peering into the hearts of others?