Therefore when you gather in the assembly, it is not to eat a supper in honor of the Lord (kyriakon | κυριακόν | acc sg neut).
ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλεσιας, ἡ (from ἔκκλητος called out or forth, and this from ἐκκαλέω); properly, a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place; an assembly; so used
Ok, well, good point, so to define,
I use "church" for the buildings,
and "Church" for ecclesia, and you
can't lock one w/o locking the other.
I'm aware of all the good-sounding reasons why a church might buy
...whatever, thinking it will attract more...just more. Moremoremore.
I think it's perfectly fine to buy a Lamborghini, too; wouldn't a lost person
be more inclined to listen to me then? Of course, then I'll need to lock it,
and alarm it, right? Because, even in Aspen, other people are bad.
I've learned that that is attracting
the wrong person for the wrong reason,
and ignoring the guy I'm flying by, who just
needs understanding. My dog taught me this.
Obviously, this does not perfectly reflect the
position of a church; or does it?
I find it a quite functional analogy.
The priest might not be teaching
perfect Truth, granted, but he prolly is
more perfectly living it.
...When a building and not people becomes Christ's church and the overseer's of that building look out more for their material possessions than they care for people's souls, we are looking at gross disregard of the souls of people.
It takes mammon to purchase those things. If one regards those things higher than souls, then one is serving mammon and not God.
Jesus plainly said that we cannot serve both God and mammon...
Amen. And while I don't completely disagree with Lacey,
BAM, as usual it is not the words but their probable
application that may need to be examined. I suggest
that leaving the church unlocked is a perfect guide.
There's nothing wrong with buying something extra,
unless maybe your neighbor is starving.
You might consider the hypocrisy in this, and that if your ministry is hedged with protection, anything resulting from an unlocked church would either be sent from God, a manifestation of the church, or both. Pretty hard to smoke crack in a church if someone's busy praying in it. Just sayin'.
Do you lock your house?
__________________ Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:
There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
Every sinner must repent of their sins.
That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
You might consider the hypocrisy in this, and that if your ministry is hedged with protection, anything resulting from an unlocked church would either be sent from God, a manifestation of the church, or both. Pretty hard to smoke crack in a church if someone's busy praying in it. Just sayin'.
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