Jezebel -- why we should know who she is.

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

If it is inferred then we don't insist on it. No item of the faith is an inferred teaching. We do not infer that Jesus is Lord, we are told matter of factly that this is in fact the case and that it is an item of the faith that we should fight for. We do not infer that Jesus redeemed us on the cross.

Certain things we are told matter of factly, other things we are not.

There are things in the Bible which are stated matter of factly - head coverings for example, yet no one insists on those.

There are other matters which are not stated matter of factly - baptism by immersion, for example, and yet a number of denominations will insist on baptism by full immersion. We can know that full immersion is the proper way because we can infer this from how people were baptized in the New Testament. Yet there is no instruction saying full immersion is the right way. This is all inferred from how it was done.

Similarly, how we meet for worship can be inferred from how it was done. Is it not hypocritical to infer certain things from the Bible such as baptism by immersion, yet not infer the matter of where the church should congregate?

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Certain things we are told matter of factly, other things we are not.

There are things in the Bible which are stated matter of factly - head coverings for example, yet no one insists on those.

There are other matters which are not stated matter of factly - baptism by immersion, for example, and yet a number of denominations will insist on baptism by full immersion. We can know that full immersion is the proper way because we can infer this from how people were baptized in the New Testament. Yet there is no instruction saying full immersion is the right way. This is all inferred from how it was done.

Similarly, how we meet for worship can be inferred from how it was done. Is it not hypocritical to infer certain things from the Bible such as baptism by immersion, yet not infer the matter of where the church should congregate?

No, I agree with you. However, if the teaching is an inferred teaching it is wrong to insist on it as an item of the faith. Your claim (Witness Lee and his followers) that Christianity is degraded, adulterous, etc. is based in part on the claim that they are not meeting on the proper ground. They go so far as to state that taking a Lord's table meeting with other Christians could result in you getting sick and dying.

By doing this you make this doctrine the cornerstone of your sect, hence a damnable heresy.

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

No, I agree with you. However, if the teaching is an inferred teaching it is wrong to insist on it as an item of the faith. Your claim (Witness Lee and his followers) that Christianity is degraded, adulterous, etc. is based in part on the claim that they are not meeting on the proper ground. They go so far as to state that taking a Lord's table meeting with other Christians could result in you getting sick and dying.

By doing this you make this doctrine the cornerstone of your sect, hence a damnable heresy.

I see your point. It's not as important as the Trinity or whether Jesus came in the flesh or the Son of God. But at the level of its importance, I think it outranks the alternatives of denominationalism.

In as much as taking the Lord's table while not discerning the body I think 1 Corinthians 11:29 would apply.

Ellicott's commentary:
They did not rightly estimate such gatherings as being corporate meetings; they did not rightly estimate themselves as not now isolated individuals, but members of the common Body. They ought to discern in these meetings of the Church a body; they ought to discern in themselves parts of a body. Not only is this interpretation, I venture to think, the most accurate and literal interpretation of the Greek, but it is the only view which seems to me to make the passage bear intelligibly on the point which St. Paul is considering, and the real evil which he seeks to counteract

That said, I don't know anyone who has gotten sick or died from taking communion in a denomination or the local church. The only time I have gotten sick from church was from a potluck dinner.