[Ohio]

So I ask you, where are these gifted ones in the organised denominations today? Paul desired everyone to desire gifts and especially to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14). So where is the opportunity for a non-theologically trained and unqualified person to use their gifts such as prophesy and teaching in a 1 hour Sunday service? And I ask you, where are these gifted ones in the Recovery? Many have been quarantined and excommunicated over the years.

And since when does the functioning of all the members get limited to some 1 hour service?


My Bible tells me that in the body of Christ every member is needed, everyone has gifts, and we cannot say we don't need anyone. True

On that basis the system of only a few theologically qualified ones providing a service to a congregation Sunday in and Sunday, must be rejected. And the dominating Papal system in TLR must also be rejected.

That sort of system arose in the early middle ages and did not originate in the New Testament. Very little at LSM originated in the NT




Umm, the majority of churches they don't speak from the word of God but from the Sunday service sheet or prayer book. It is like that in the majors - Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran. What makes this somewhat different from people merely reading footnotes in LSM, is that there is no freedom for a member to pick and choose what they want to say from the book, and the same service is followed every Sunday (there are some variations of course, but usually minor). Since this is the majority then my statement that "Christianity is degraded" is no less true. Most "Evangelical" Christians do not meet in those archaic institutions. Where are you from man?


Ohio, when you say "always going to be some who sit silently" I don't think you comprehend the situation. Every Sunday, every week, every year, in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, which is the majority of Christianity, they hold a service, the Priest says the same thing every Sunday from the same prayer book. The congregation respond in the same manner at the same time when the Priest instructs them to. The only time the congregation can "function" is when they sing the hymns or respond to the rote prayers and responses written in the service books. And you say LSM is a cult? Well the average Sunday service looks more like a cult to me. The same order of processions, rituals, the robes, the candles and other things in the church, just enhance that cult-like effect.

Pentecostal churches have more freedoms but they are still tightly controlled by the pastor. I have friends who were worship leaders who were instructed by the pastor when they could raise their hands in worship and when they shouldn't. On the flip side, I have also been to Presbyterian churches where the pastor forbade anyone from closing their eyes and raising their hands during worship because it was too "Pentecostal".

So I am confident to stand by my statement that "Christianity is degraded". Because the majority of churches in the world today are of the sort I have just described. And I am confident in saying TLR is degraded. This forum is filled with its degradation.

If you have a problem with such generalisation, I will not say 90% are degraded or 20% are degraded because it doesn't make sense to talk like that. If our body is sick, even though it may affect only one part of our body, we will say "I am sick". We do not say "20% of my body is sick".