Obey Them that Rule???

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Michlow

Whew! I admit, I was kinda worried when I saw that you had entered the fray. Here I was thinking "I am doing my best to hold off both Coon & Chan, I don't know that I can take much more."

So I was quite glad to see that you agreed with me on something, even if you couldn't remember what it was

I agree with this quote:

Originally Posted by Michlow

And I agree that we need someone that we can trust to keep us accountable. Unfortunately, the current church model, with its separation between clergy and laity, and veneration of leadership has done little to inspire that.

I agree that the current church government is faulty in many ways, and makes submission and more accurately, trust, more difficult. However, there is something to be said for trusting God to lead us to the right place and place us under the right authorities.

Because I cannot fully submit, for reasons listed repeatedly both on this thread and the church twice a month thread, I only visit church sporadically and do not get involved.

Here's my take: I don't attend church regularly to please the pastor. I attend regularly because scripture says "forsake not...the assembling." I attend out of submission to God. ...the point being that your church attendance shouldn't be based on how much you agree with the pastor. It's a good thing to fellowship with other saints, worship with other saints and hear preaching and teaching from the Word.

Of course, I am blasted for that, but I am trying to do the best for all involved. Both to follow my own conscience, and to not cause problems in that assembly or for that Pastor. (Honestly, some of you Pastors, would you WANT someone with my thoughts, etc. to be there every service and trying to get all involved? Sharing my thoughts with the other saints, etc? Yeah, I didn't think so )

Just because you attend a church doesn't mean you have to "share your thoughts." I don't agree with our pastor on everything, but in the interest of unity, I keep my disagreements to myself, or between my husband and I, and if it were something that needed voicing, I would voice it directly to my pastor and no one else. I know you were teasing, but just thought I would point that out.

I consider things like attending church, prayer, reading my bible, giving, using the gifts God has given me, etc., to be service to God, not service to the church, so those are things I do no matter what church I attend. It may be a good idea for you to evaluate some essential things and decide what you ought to do based on scripture, and not what the church "expects." In some cases the church expects certain basics because God has pretty much already commanded them. Again, the point being...you should do them in service to God, not to please the pastor--who you may not always be in agreement with.