Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
It's ok about the OED, i have hard copy  .
Well I've been in denominations decades longer than I have in the LC and it has never felt like a denomination to me. It could be just that they are so different to denominations that I am persuaded they are not one. Or they truly are not a denomination.
In regard to your comment I quoted above, we have the common faith but we are no organization.
That is, there is no organization called the "local church organization". Living Stream Ministry is a ministry, that is an organization. But the church is not, in keeping with the concept of the church being the Body of Christ, and not an organization of man. There is a clear distinction between church and ministry.
There is no organization, just as there was no human organization with Christ and his 12 disciples. just people grouping themselves together to serve the Lord. There is no human organization, no hierarchy, and no official, permanent leader. The organization is spiritual.
There is no pressure to come to church meetings or not come to church meetings and no pressure to say or do anything in the meetings. There is encouragement for sure, but no pressure. |
Like Igzy said there is no New Testament condemnation of "organization". The word church means "assembly". Every meeting has some basic form of organization.
No, I think what we hate is:
These churches are not a perfect work, and the double minded men.
When we first came in we gloried that even though we were brothers of low degree in Christ we were in His high estate. What we hated about the Christian organizations we left was that they had lost that, when the rich were made low there was no glorying.
We hate the filthiness and overflowing of wickedness. We hate the spectator Christianity where everyone is a “hearer only, deluding themselves”.
We were attracted to the church because they visited the widows and the orphans in their affliction. They were unspotted from the world.
But we hated the organizations that hold the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons. They dishonor the poor and have respect to the rich, even though the rich oppress them and drag them into court. They don’t even act or speak like someone who is going to be judged by the Lord’s rule to “love your neighbor as yourself”.
What we hate is the bitter jealousy and faction, the confusion and every vile deed. What we hate is that they lust, they kill, they covet, and they are friends with the world.
How do we know? Because they are speaking one against another, even in lawsuits. We hate the corruption.
What we loved was not that it wasn't an organization but that everyone prayed, everyone worshipped, when someone was sick the elders prayed to heal the sick.
Instead we see phony elders who condemn them. There is no confessing of sins, no forgiveness, no turning a sinner back from the error of his ways. These are the things we hate.
We call this "organized religion" but that isn't really the issue, the issue is that it is dead religion without works of faith.