Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
This is a thought provoking consideration Evangelical poses.
If there are sects then what are they a sect of or from?
It seems that the majority opinion of posters in this forum is that divisions and sects are normal. When awareness says “You’re all sects” he is bringing to the top of the table that unstated view that lives under the table..... and no one seems to mind.
Drake
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The most fundamental cause of the "divisions" in the Body is time and space. You can have large meetings with thousands of saints but they are very impersonal and are ideally designed to speak a single word that thousands are to listen to. That is not the meeting described in 1Cor14 where different ones can stand up speak, and every member can bring something to share at the meeting. Meetings of that nature are generally less than 100 people and often 40 or less. It stands to reason if there are a billion Christians on this planet on every continent that we would have a great variety of meetings.
Hence I distinguish between "heresies" -- schools of thought, and "damnable heresies" -- heresies that insult the name of Jesus.
You can't have a gathering of 40 without it being a "school of thought". Regardless of how much you tried to avoid that you could still be classified by someone as falling into a certain classification of thought. That is unavoidable. So to me the only prerequisite for this meeting are those given in Matt. 18.
However, if that gathering has certain prerequisites that are extra biblical, then that could classify as a "damnable heresy" or what Evangelical and you loosely refer to as "sects and divisions". Simply having a meeting hall for Christians and teaching the word does not make you a "sect or division" in my opinion. It simply makes you practical.