Now this is what i call relevant!!!

[deltaguitar]

http://www.newspring.cc/

These folks started out 8 years ago with 15 people in a bible study and now have 8000. Their services are awesome and they teach the bible not a bunch of hype.

[jaxfam6]

I think you read something wrong
they did not start with 15 but it says 115. So they have grown, just not by as much as you lead us to believe.

"In the beginning of NewSpring Church 115 people met in a small auditorium of the local college in Anderson, South Carolina. Eight years later, we are 8000+ strong, "




=)

[jaxfam6]

I hate this comment. "He has eternally existed in three personalities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God" Call me old fashioned all you want but how can something eternally exist in three personalities and yet the three are co-equal and ONE GOD?

I know what people are going to say but it does not change the fact that it makes God sound like he has a multiple personality disorder. God is ONE, PERIOD. I am one person, I have three or more shoes I fill in a daily basis but that does not mean that my personalities are seperate and co-equal. THEY are ALL ME.

[2020Vision]

Social Movement - check
Good Things Produced - check
How to be a Good Human Being - check
How to help your community - check
Doctrine/Truth - whoops! No biggie... so many others checks, this one isn't thatimportant.

I do like their website though. Very "user friendly"

[A_PoMo]

Originally Posted by jaxfam6

I hate this comment. "He has eternally existed in three personalities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God" Call me old fashioned all you want but how can something eternally exist in three personalities and yet the three are co-equal and ONE GOD?

I know what people are going to say but it does not change the fact that it makes God sound like he has a multiple personality disorder. God is ONE, PERIOD. I am one person, I have three or more shoes I fill in a daily basis but that does not mean that my personalities are seperate and co-equal. THEY are ALL ME.

I won't get into a debate here but I will say that you're mischaracterizing the doctrine of the Trinity as badly as those Trinitarians who accuse Oneness people of being "Jesus only" and denying the Father and the Holy Spirit.

[staysharp]

Originally Posted by jaxfam6

I hate this comment. "He has eternally existed in three personalities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God" Call me old fashioned all you want but how can something eternally exist in three personalities and yet the three are co-equal and ONE GOD?

I know what people are going to say but it does not change the fact that it makes God sound like he has a multiple personality disorder. God is ONE, PERIOD. I am one person, I have three or more shoes I fill in a daily basis but that does not mean that my personalities are seperate and co-equal. THEY are ALL ME.

Actually, you are not one, but made up of many parts. Your body, soul and spirit are all broken up into compartmentalized divisions. Your consciousness, unconsciousness, thoughts, heart, mind, soul, emotion, head, tail and on and on and on...

[staysharp]

Originally Posted by 2020Vision

Social Movement - check
Good Things Produced - check
How to be a Good Human Being - check
How to help your community - check
Doctrine/Truth - whoops! No biggie... so many others checks, this one isn't thatimportant.

I do like their website though. Very "user friendly"

If you know Jesus, you know truth. Truth is a person, not a debatable subjective doctrine. If you follow Jesus, you will never be led astray.

[bishoph]

Originally Posted by deltaguitar

http://www.newspring.cc/

These folks started out 8 years ago with 15 people in a bible study and now have 8000. Their services are awesome and they teach the bible not a bunch of hype.

With all due respect.........why do we applaud those who do not preach truth. So what if they went from 15/115 or 1015 to over 8000 in just 8 short years, we should morn the fact that this many people are being deceived, and made a two-fold child of hell!

BTW, since it was stated that "they teach the Bible not a bunch of hype," IMO the may be teaching a lot of biblical principles and concepts, but like so many before them, they only teach what they consider relevant and leave the more weightier matters out. These they should have done, but not left the other undone.

Call me an UC or whatever label you desire, but since when are we willing to just disregard the scriptures and make every "believer" a saved, heaven-bound Christian. If this is what relevant means, please count me out.

[Carpenter]

The longer I am on this earth, the more I study, and the more I learn, the more I observe, and the more I strive to know the things of God, his nature, his manifestation, and his personality, I am finding the less I know.

It was fun before because I was able to stand rock-solid on my statement of faith.

Now it's all messed up, maybe the Catholics had it right keeping the word of God from their people...

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Carpenter

The longer I am on this earth, the more I study, and the more I learn, the more I observe, and the more I strive to know the things of God, his nature, his manifestation, and his personality, I am finding the less I know.

It was fun before because I was able to stand rock-solid on my statement of faith.

Now it's all messed up, maybe the Catholics had it right keeping the word of God from their people...

I read some interesting things by an ex Catholic today that I think would be a good reply to your last statement, Carp:

"The people, in power, decide who and what is heresy. If you don't stay in line, you can be branded a heretik! Is it too hard to believe that a church, which claims to be the only one with the truth, and controls more than a third of the world's professing christians, has been corrupt, since the day its top man claimed to sit upon the throne of Christ, on earth , and speak with authority equal with God, and has burnt, at the stake, ten thousand times ten thousand Genuine believers, Calling THEM heretiks?
Might appears to make right! Church fathers were inspired? Or writers of Scripture were inspired? Who would you rather believe.
Christ is the corner-stone, and the Apostles and Prophets were the foundation. The Church-Fathers (those who knew or came soon after the apostles) had no more God-given authority to interpret and impose their beliefs upon the Church, than do I. And I do not make such a claim. God's Word and God's Spirit will guide me, and it is to God alone, to whom I must give an account, And only God's Word can bind my conscience! I do, and have considered the beliefs and teachings of those who went before me, but they are not, by any means, my authorities.
Having said all that, can any of you point out any of my statements that would be considered "heretical" by most, here?"


And......

"the fact that many have mis-used and twisted scripture, is no reason to let someone else do all my theological thinking, for me. I was taught, by the RCC, that if I followed their teaching, which eventually might turn out to be in error (tho that would be impossible), that I would not be held accountable for obeying their wrong doctrine. However, if I should start reading the Bible and come up with other doctrines, THEN I would be responsible for my errors and for departing from the one, true church! Boy! talk about making puppets... teaching someone that they were not responsible to God.
There are others from EO and Lutheranism, for instance, who apparently, never, question their church's teachings, or compare them to scripture. Might some of them be avoiding the Reality of their responsibility before God, and attempting to shift that responsibility to their "Fathers", who gladly accept the respect, power, and glory, that their members heap upon them?"