Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
There is no place in the Bible that it says that if a church does not call itself the church then it's not the church.
Suppose you have a duck, but the duck calls itself a chicken. Does that mean it's not a duck? No, it's still a duck. Has it lost it's standing as a duck? Can it no longer swim nor dive for food? Can it only walk around the yard and peck at the ground? No. Anyone would say that's stupid.
So if some believers calls themselves "New Life Community Church" they are still the church in that city, or at least part of it. The LCM churches are the same way, they are just part of the church in the city. What you call yourself is irrelevant. What the LCM calls itself does not change its status, other than in the minds of its members.
The idea that what you call yourself determines what you are is simply ridiculous. It's just not biblical.
You don't start being the church in the city just because you call yourself that and you don't stop being it because you call yourself something else. Your view of this thing is extra-biblical. As I said, it's simply a device to convince anyone you can that you are special. But you aren't.
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"the church in <locality>" is not just what we call ourselves but a description of who we are. I agree with you that what others call themselves doesn't change who they are. But it does build up unnecessary walls and barriers between them and other Christians, in a sort of "identity crisis".
Let me explain using your duck and chicken analogy.
It is like this: everyone is a duck, in God's eyes.
But some ducks like to call themselves chickens, because they think they are more like chickens than ducks, or chickens are better than ducks.
Other ducks call themselves turkeys for the same reason.
Now the ducks that call themselves chickens think they are special and different from the ducks that call themselves turkeys. Some of the ducks call themselves a duck first and then a chicken, or a duck first and then a turkey. Some call themselves a duck-turkey or a chicken-duck.
Realizing that they are more similar than not, the chicken-ducks and the turkey ducks like to get together occasionally for a meeting and for a moment consider themselves the "chicken and turkey duck meeting".
Some ducks tell the chickens and the turkeys that they are not chickens and turkeys but they are in fact ducks. These ducks tell the turkeys and chickens that they should stop calling themselves turkeys and chickens and meet with the ducks that just call themselves what they truly are - ducks. Now the turkeys and the chickens get angry with these ducks and say they are being divisive because they are not joining them in their "chicken and turkey duck meeting". But the chicken and turkey ducks do not realize that by calling themselves a different name, they have in fact made a division from all the ducks.