Date:   11/30/2005 11:16:35 AM ( 20 y ago)
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URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=407005

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i believe that gatherings of gods people are up to god, not the people.

i dont want to bash churches, but on the other hand i find so very little in them that is real and relevent to a personal walk following jesus and so very much of how do we grow(numbers), is everybody tithing, and how do we look in the community.

god does not look on outward appearances, he looks at individual hearts. look at sodom and gomorrah and the chat that abraham had with god at that time. it just takes one person to save an entire community from destruction. we are told by our lord that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. jesus was condemned for hanging out with gluttons and drunks and sinners, and he said he was not here for the righteous(in their own eyes) but to bring sinners to repentence.

who feeds us the word? is it a man? my bible says there is only one teacher, and that is the holy spirit. which is easier - to determine another is led of the spirit, or to hear that still small voice in oneself? even the angels cant tell the wheat from the tares, how are we to do so? in fact, every one of gods messengers in the bible got their message and learned of god from the lord himself, not someone else. and when they had the beam out of their own eye and were able to teach the truth, the truth was rejected more often than not. the truth is not popular. why a church thinks that they can seek the truth and gain membership is a puzzle to me.

as far as gathering together is concerned, it only takes two. where two or more are gathered in my name, there am i also. or, if any two agree upon anything touching heaven or earth, it will be done for them.

my experience with churches has been it is a good place for evil men to hide and evil women to gossip. i did not seek this out or make this up, its just been fact born out in direct experience. there is a definite psychology to groups(you have a good primer on that, donna), and crowds and majorities will never seek anything but selfish ends. just look at jesus and all that he knew, he chose twleve. he spoke to many, but his group was twelve men, some of them brothers, so that the entire group and their families were limited.

for myself, my church is two people i talk to once in a while on the phone. i dont dare step into a church here in my small town. i would raze the place or get kicked out - there would be no middle ground with me. i have been invited by some, but they have no idea or they would have never done so. i have not accepted, and i dont intend to. the closest i come to a church is right here, and still i am too close for most peoples comfort!
 

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