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christundivided said:So you believe in a universal application but you destroy it by denying a practical application in this present age. Isn't this position self defeating?
How am I denying that there's a practical application?
cu said:I have mentioned this before, but I don't understand how you can practically believe that all the members of the "body" given for edification of the "church" can practically apply to any local assembly.
I would like to remind you that are very found of certain writers. You have gleamed instruction, comfort, and direction from their writings/teachings. These same individual aren't part of your local assembly.
It is impossible to apply
Rom 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
Rom 12:5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Without a proper view of the universal church. Impossible. You can't deny the gifts of God given to the body of Christ is present in every believer. Your small local assembly does not a "full body" make...
I don't see why you have to stretch the analogy of a body like that to extend beyond the local church. It is possible to learn from other Christians in a variety of contexts, as you pointed out, but that learning or blessing from other Christians doesn't necessitate that the exchange is what defines a body/church.
cu said:I understand the desire for some to believer their local church is the end all of all things...
That may be the desire for some, and their selfish or arrogant motivation to believe in the uniqueness or exclusivity of their local church, but it's not mine. I've never subscribed to the notion that ours is the only one doing it right. Matter of fact, the picture painted in Revelation of the general state of churches shows me that there can be a variety of types of churches, and none of them perfect.