A Word of Love

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by OBW

We are encouraged to share however we share. And we no longer presume salvation as a line in the sand, "I can name the date and time" event. We accept that it might come from a lengthy observation period, complete with many questions, followed by more observation and more questions. And in the midst of this, "going to church" some, or maybe not. But eventually realizing that they really do believe in Christ. When did it start? Not always sure. It sort of happened gradually.

We may like to argue that either they do or don't believe. And it is partly true. But what do they need to believe to be considered "a believer"? The whole core of the faith? The guts of some creed (even if they never heard of a creed)?

And do we think we really believe it all? Probably not. Oh we would say that we believe everything in the Bible. But we aren't even sure what some of it is saying. And if we did, and thought about it, we might take a little while to come to where we actually believe in "that."

Yeah, we can say we believe it on faith. But isn't that sometimes a way of saying we don't get it but we are going to stand by it because it is in the Bible. You know. Important things like one church one city. (We used to think that was in there.) On the flip side, do you believe the things that are in there that you are convinced are not actually in there? I don't know what that would be. For you or for me. But at one time, it was for me that 1 Cor 3:10 or so and following was not talking about all believers. I was sure that it was. I now disagree with that position. Neither is really relevant to my daily walk. Nor to salvation. What if I don't believe that?

I didn't mention any of this to get responses. Rather to think some more. I believe a lot. And I'm convinced that part of what I believe is wrong (and I obviously don't know where that is or I would change my mind). But I am fairly certain that what is important is not wrong. And there is a lot less in that part than is so often argued about. It tends to distill down to "love God and love everyone you have any contact with or even think about."

Who does "we" refer to?

As to the teaching of "one church one city" by WN I can tell you that what I first came to believe is not that much different from what I now believe. I believe that there are numerous references to churches in the NT, the singular references are to churches in cities, the plural references are to churches in regions. I also believe that in one place Paul said to "appoint elders in every church" and in another he said to "appoint elders in every place". What does this mean? I believe that just like Jesus prayed that "we would all be one" so also, it is important for the Body of Christ to be one. I believe this is very important and the verses where Paul told us to "examine ourselves" when taking the Lord's table, that being divisive, or sectarian are some of the fleshly sins he told us to avoid.

The confusion comes when this "teaching" is used as a cornerstone for the most divisive teaching of all. But just because I reject the use of this teaching for building your own little division doesn't mean I reject what I first believed in the above paragraph. Just like "Jesus Christ Superstar" doesn't make me reject Jesus just because I don't like someone else's portrayal of Him.