You have yet to answer as to why you think Ephesians 4:11-16 do not apply to you.
Okay, I think I have answered this before. I think you just disagree.
The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.
If the rules of the Sabbath harm you, you are allowed to break them. If the rules of the Sabbath do not benefit you, you are allowed to break them.
Jesus allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath. Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees were all over Jesus about this.
For 19 years I tried it your way. It did not work for me. I was not made for keeping rules. The rules were made for my benefit. If the rules do not benefit me, I am out. I learned this lesson waaaaayyyyyy too late. I should have left long, long ago.
So, there is my answer.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
Okay, I think I have answered this before. I think you just disagree.
The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.
If the rules of the Sabbath harm you, you are allowed to break them. If the rules of the Sabbath do not benefit you, you are allowed to break them.
Jesus allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath. Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees were all over Jesus about this.
For 19 years I tried it your way. It did not work for me. I was not made for keeping rules. The rules were made for my benefit. If the rules do not benefit me, I am out. I learned this lesson waaaaayyyyyy too late. I should have left long, long ago.
So, there is my answer.
None of the above answers the clarity of the Scripture.
I don't see Ephesians 4:11-16 working in many of the Oneness churches. If this were happening, then people would be entering in as babes, maturing and then leaving out to preach, witness and evangelize and the churches would be growing larger.
Instead, when a church becomes a corporation, it tries to stop loss of income. Christ's body is supposed to be a free living breathing organism...thriving and beckoning others to join the bride. Instead, the church is being bogged down with mortgages, interest, insurance and other ropes and chains to bind it with so it is enslaved to the financial system.
Obeying a pastor is quenching the Holy Ghost in many many cases and stifling the growth of the church because we have little ant hill kingdoms instead of a unified body of Christ.
Too many churches that are bitter enemies.
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It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (Psalms 118:8)
I made it through the night, no doubt with help from your prayers. My mind was fairly clear, but I managed to hurt my back picking up a tv stand (that was clearly labeled team lift only...) and the chest pain was pretty bad. I considered going to the hospital, but I'm gonna wait it out one more day, because it's the type of hospital that if you have drugs in your system, that's instantly the cause of the ailment, and they stop testing right there. Anyways, I'm off to bed. Nighty-o.
I would be interested in knowing exactly when this happened as I was dealing with bad acid reflux issues last night. Merely coincidence?
Okay, I think I have answered this before. I think you just disagree.
The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.
If the rules of the Sabbath harm you, you are allowed to break them. If the rules of the Sabbath do not benefit you, you are allowed to break them.
Jesus allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath. Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees were all over Jesus about this.
For 19 years I tried it your way. It did not work for me. I was not made for keeping rules. The rules were made for my benefit. If the rules do not benefit me, I am out. I learned this lesson waaaaayyyyyy too late. I should have left long, long ago.
So, there is my answer.
Well that is a convenient outlook on scripture. "If said scripture just doesn't work for the way I like things...then that scripture just must not apply to me".
Thats pretty extreme foolishness for even this forum, and this forum has had some real doozies!
Okay, I think I have answered this before. I think you just disagree.
The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made for the Sabbath.
If the rules of the Sabbath harm you, you are allowed to break them. If the rules of the Sabbath do not benefit you, you are allowed to break them.
Jesus allowed his disciples to pick corn on the Sabbath. Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. The scribes and Pharisees were all over Jesus about this.
For 19 years I tried it your way. It did not work for me. I was not made for keeping rules. The rules were made for my benefit. If the rules do not benefit me, I am out. I learned this lesson waaaaayyyyyy too late. I should have left long, long ago.
So, there is my answer.
You still have not addressed the role of pastors, evangelists, teachers, etc that Ephesians chapter 4 says are put in your life for a reason. Why do you not need them when the Bible says you do? You are not avoiding "my way" by being unchurched. You are avoiding Gods way.
If your only response is that Sabbath analogy that is very sad. By that analogy you can just discard any part of the Bible you don't agree with or want to submit to. You are way too smart to believe that logic. That is worse logic than the pretzel logic of legalists.
__________________ "I think some people love spiritual bondage just the way some people love physical bondage. It makes them feel secure. In the end though it is not healthy for the one who is lost over it or the one who is lives under the oppression even if by their own choice"
Titus2woman on AFF
"We did not wear uniforms. The lady workers dressed in the current fashions of the day, ...silks...satins...jewels or whatever they happened to possess. They were very smartly turned out, so that they made an impressive appearance on the streets where a large part of our work was conducted in the early years.
"It was not until long after, when former Holiness preachers had become part of us, that strict plainness of dress began to be taught.
"Although Entire Sanctification was preached at the beginning of the Movement, it was from a Wesleyan viewpoint, and had in it very little of the later Holiness Movement characteristics. Nothing was ever said about apparel, for everyone was so taken up with the Lord that mode of dress seemingly never occurred to any of us."
Quote from Ethel Goss (widow of 1st UPC Gen Supt. Howard Goss) book "The Winds of God"
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