When Do You Leave a Church?

Ransom said:
You practice Matthew 6:1, only it's the part Jesus said not to do.
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I do not parade my acts of  tzedakah in front of people to be seen. I rarely leave my home because of my wife's health.

Surely you can do better than that?
 
abcaines said:
That's why I love Calvary Chapel. No membership rolls. I remember when I got baptized at Bellevue Baptist, I "had" to join. I just wanted to be baptized. I reluctantly joined. I was going to stay with them whether I was a "member" or not because of the fellowship and the Word. I acclimated to the membership idea for the better part of 20 years before I started attending a CC. I was shocked when they told me they had no membership rolls. It was exactly what I was looking for when I was first baptized! Been with CC now for well over 20 years.
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It would make it sort of hard if a church practices church discipline. If there is no membership, then there's no authority to correct a person or groups of people when error/sin enters....just a thought, not necessariy so...input?
 
AverageJoe said:
It would make it sort of hard if a church practices church discipline. If there is no membership, then there's no authority to correct a person or groups of people when error/sin enters....just a thought, not necessariy so...input?
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A CC could just as easily ask someone to quit hanging around with them after taking steps with the person. What I've seen is someone who is in sin eventually can't stand to be around the church and leaves without being asked to do so.

I've seen church discipline worked out only once in 40 years of attending and that was someone who was being prideful and obnoxious; very obnoxious.

I do recall at the church I now attend a guy who was getting our youth group going; our Pastor was not in agreement with something and eventually had to come down hard. It made for some hard feelings and basically our youth group dissolved. The two couples who were involved left in a huff. The one that our pastor had an issue with ended up getting divorced and the wife went off the deep end. It was never revealed to me what exactly the issue was but what happened so soon afterwards made me think our pastor was on to something.
 
coverbd said:
I do not disobey Messiah. It's the churches that need the discipline not necessarily the parishioners.
The churches are a 1.2 trillion dollar business in America. Most if not all these churches are actually legal businesses. Having a so called church business disciplining parishioners makes as much sense as putting Mike Tyson in charge of a home for unwed mothers.
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Funny...There are several incidents where churches AND parishioners are disciplined. One can't twist scripture enough to justify not being in a church.
 
coverbd said:
I would have gotten back with you sooner, but I was helping illegal migrants board a bus for New York City.
I assemble with a couple of guys every Thursday morning at 6am for breakfast where we pray for our families
and our country. We have been meeting this way for 12 years now. My wife has women that come over to
the house for fellowship and Bible study every week also. My wife is not Messianic like I am, but I am working on that! Lol
Church attendance in this country is at an all time low from what I seen on the news. The couple of guys that I meet with
have the same experience about church with the phoney preachers, sex and money scandals, legalism and the fake Christians.
I believe Yeshua says in the New Covenant where there or 2 or more gathered in my name I am there in the midst.
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Wow! There are just as many, if not more, hypocrites in either the church or outside of the church, yet I bet you still congregate regularly with the people who have little or nothing to do with the Lord. So, not to be rude, but YOU are just as big of a hypocrite as you're accusing others of being.
 
AverageJoe said:
Funny...There are several incidents where churches AND parishioners are disciplined. One can't twist scripture enough to justify not being in a church.
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I'm not twisting scripture. We just don't go to church. We down stream any religious service we might like to watch. Heck you go to church in this day and age you might get shot. So why take the chance? What are these several incidents where churches and parishioners were disciplined?
 
AverageJoe said:
Wow! There are just as many, if not more, hypocrites in either the church or outside of the church, yet I bet you still congregate regularly with the people who have little or nothing to do with the Lord. So, not to be rude, but YOU are just as big of a hypocrite as you're accusing others of being.
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YOUR opinions are baseless. You know what opinions are don't you?
 
abcaines said:
A CC could just as easily ask someone to quit hanging around with them after taking steps with the person. What I've seen is someone who is in sin eventually can't stand to be around the church and leaves without being asked to do so.
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What is different about this and how you view the process in a formalized setting where "membership" is at play?
 
In an era gone by, martyrs died for the faith, now it seems we have a wave of Christianity that wants to take the easy way out and avoid doing the hard thing. Of course that sort of excuse making reminds me of AW Pink, a man who undoubtedly contributed to the faith in great (even while I disagree with his ardent TULIP) ways, he was so overcome with his severe sovereignty bias that he couldn't be bothered to worship corporately with anybody because they didn't go as far as he did on that issue. Swallowing a gnat, so to speak.
 
coverbd said:
YOUR opinions are baseless. You know what opinions are don't you?
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You've won the "Braying Ass" award for today! It's clear you don't know what opinion is, and probably don't know anything about facts.
 
Deleted for implied profanity. - Ransom
 
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coverbd said:
Opinions are like A-holes everyone has one including you.
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The Braying Ass award isn't opinion...it's a great observation of the true braying of one such as yourself....lots of noise, but, no substance.
 
Deleted for implied profanity. - Ransom
 
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Disclaimer:

Just because I rejoice in the fact that CC don't maintain membership rolls doesn't mean I don't see a parishioner as any less accountable the body.

One thing that changed in my life in an instant when I began following the LORD was I recognized the fact that I need to be in fellowship. Those who are familiar with my testimony will remember that on a Tuesday I told a Lutheran chaplain I could never commit to going to church every Sunday. THE FOLLOWING SUNDAY I set foot in Bellevue Baptist, Memphis TN and my life was radically changed. It was no longer drudgery going to church. By God's grace, I instantly recognized the fact that I need to sit regularly under sound teaching and connect with others of like faith. Would to God that I had been instantly changed in other ways as well but the instant transformation I experienced that Sunday in January of 1983 has served me well in the years since.
 
AverageJoe said:
The Braying Ass award isn't opinion...it's a great observation of the true braying of one such as yourself....lots of noise, but, no substance.
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Y'all are being far more gracious to him than I ever could be. Whether it be this forum or a church, I would have offered him the left foot of (dis) fellowship.
 
abcaines said:
Y'all are being far more gracious to him than I ever could be. Whether it be this forum or a church, I would have offered him the left foot of (dis) fellowship.
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I will remember that when I am soliciting bids for construction work.
I will put up a sign " Baptists need not apply with bids"
 
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