Comments on: Why Love the Church

By: Corporate Piety over Personal Piety » Evangel | A First Things Blog

Corporate Piety over Personal Piety » Evangel | A First Things Blog — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 04:11:41 +0000

[...] couple of days ago I did a post called “Why Love the Church” wherein I analogized from some words of G. K. Chesterton to the effect that we ought to love [...]

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:32:32 +0000

“TUAD – I am thinking of churches that deny any part of the apostles creed in general, but in particular those which deny the Trinity,”

Shun the teachings of Oneness Pentecostal Churches?

Sounds right to me. Although I do note that T.D. Jakes has an enthusiastic following as a Oneness Pentecostal preacher.

deny…the exclusivity of Christ and the resurrection.”

Shun the teachings of the Unitarian Universalists?

Sounds right to me.

By: David Wayne

David Wayne — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 22:20:19 +0000

TUAD – I am thinking of churches that deny any part of the apostles creed in general, but in particular those which deny the Trinity, the exclusivity of Christ and the resurrection.

Steve Drake – sorry, I made a leap in logic here that didn’t follow. I’d just point out that the general protestant tradition, at least when it came to the early reformers still held to the idea that the church is our mother. More specifically, the Jerusalem above is the church, or bride – Revelation 21:9-11. The Jerusalem above is our mother – Galatians 4:26. Also, I know there are those who would disagree with this but I take the woman in Revelation 12 to be a symbolic representation of the people of God of both testaments – Israel and the church.

C. Ehrlich – I guess you and I run in different circles. Pretty much all I hear from Christians, at least of the evangelical stripe, is criticism, be it on a local level or, especially, on the internet. We’re awash in “Revolutionaries” and people who love Jesus but hate the church and think of the church as pretty much unChristian. I can’t think of anywhere I have heard anyone say anything comparable to what Chesterton says here of England, that we are to love the church simply because she is the church.

By: Arthur Sido

Arthur Sido — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:46:49 +0000

The assumption being made here is that the traditional manifestation of what we know as “church” is a faithful representation of the gathered church. Many faithful Christians who love His church have come to the realization that what we in the West know as “church” is not only not a faithful representation of the church as originally constituted but with the rituals and traditions built into it, it actually hampers the spiritual growth of God’s people. One absolutely can love the Church and yet reject the traditions that men have created. In fact I would argue that if you truly love the Church, you are obligated to compare our practices with Scripture and reject those practices we don’t see commanded or modeled in its pages.

By: donsands

donsands — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:44:26 +0000

“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” -Paul the Apostle, with his inspired words to the saints at Rome.

Every Christian lives for our Lord, and we will die for our Savior. That’s what this word here tells us.
I know I don’t live for the Lord asa I want to, and I feel like, and know that i actually live for myself. However, the truth is that Jesus is our Lord, and Paul is here writing to saints. Jesus is Lord of the living saints, and all those who have gone on to be with their Lord.

He loves His Church: His saints. And He will never let any one take us from His everlasting omnipotent hands. John 10

By: Steve Drake

Steve Drake — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 19:35:21 +0000

C.Ehrlich said,
“As compared to mere admirers, strong and incisive criticism is actually more befitting of a faithful lover.”

Well said. We have the responsibility and challenge as the Bereans in Acts 17 to search the Scriptures to see if these things are so.

By: C. Ehrlich

C. Ehrlich — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:52:44 +0000

"These days I’ve come more to see my obligation to simply be a faithful son of the church and not it’s critic."

And so the strongest rebukes of the church have to be sounded by non-Christians, while Christians continue to do the exact opposite of what St. Paul advises:

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.

As compared to mere admirers, strong and incisive criticism is actually more befitting of a faithful lover.

By: Steve Drake

Steve Drake — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:32:26 +0000

“Most of us would, at least in some vague theoretical sense, acknowledge that if the church is Christ’s bride then she is our mother.”

If the church is Christ’s bride, and you and I are the church, then you and I are the bride of Christ. The conclusions follow from the premises, and this is a consistent argument. You have some unstated premises in your statement above that produce an illogical argument that the church is our mother, don’t you?

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:49:44 +0000

“And please understand here that I am not speaking of those churches that obviously have forsaken the true preaching of the Word and administration of the sacraments.”

Out of curiosity, which churches would that be?

By: The sort of love we ought to have for the Church « A Brick in the Valley

The sort of love we ought to have for the Church « A Brick in the Valley — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:32:55 +0000

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