Quote:
Originally Posted by Exodus16
I don't believe the Roman Catholic Church or any Protestant church nor the Local Church denomination is "the church"
The church is not about doctrines and teaching but people.
I can disagree with a brother/sister and still meet together with them.
You can claim the Biblical support of one city one church ; but it is unsubstantiated. The brothers from the Lc do not fellowship, pray or coordinate with anyone who doesn't follow their prescribed doctrines/methods and are more divisive than any denomination.
Do you pray with your Eatern Orthodox neighbor, or your Presbyterian neighbor?
whatever doctrine a person clings to be it speaking in tongues, ground of locality or full immersion baptism doesn't divide them from Christ. What divides the body is refusing to accept those who don't agree with you.
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Exodus16, you can claim that but the fact is many of us have a denominational background, have left our denominations and meet as one. That is a greater example of Christian fellowship and unity than "hand shaking over the fence" between denominations.
In my time in the local churches we have at times read the Bible and prayed with Catholics, house churches, and even met with Buddhists and individuals from various other religions. So this disproves your claims. What we don't do, is join Catholic mass and join their services (and why should we?).
Regarding church, we do church according to what the Bible shows us.
For example, you think that just because you meet with a sister and have Christ in your midst, you are a church. This is a common belief and I used to think like this too that if I meet with a couple of Christians we are a church.
But the
Bible tells me that you cannot be a church for the following reasons:
You need leadership, elders (Titus 1:5). Without elders you cannot have an administration and authority for deciding matters and cannot exercise discipline (Matthew 18:17).
You need to observe the Lord's Table (1 Corinthians 11:24).
Baptism is also what the church does (Acts 2:41).
Furthermore, the elders must be male which disqualifies you because you are sisters (1 Timothy 3:2).
Furthermore you cannot be a church unless you have a lampstand (in Revelation, each city-church had a lampstand).
You can have the Lord's presence just as anyone individually can, or even an unbeliever can have the Lord's presence.
Sorry but that does not make you a church.
I like this website:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs...look-like.html
"6 Ways the Bible Tells Us What Church Should Look Like".
Having Jesus in your midst is only one of those 6 qualifiers.