Rowina (18 July 2013)
"To Bob Anderson on
the wild history of the Church and its utter imperfection"
That is amazing, the account of the various sects, beliefs, and
heresies which have occurred in the Church of Christ since Jesus
walked the earth. I hope everyone will read it who has
not, I gather that it comes from Moriel Ministries online.
The only problem here is that the author gives us no guidance as
to what "church denomination" or group is the true one. He
gives us a long long list of false ones, and I can recognize
that much of what he's saying is true.
But how, practically, does a person today find a correctly
scriptural church? In my small town, for instance, there
are many churches, as our population is known as churchgoers,
and also we are known as people who are friendly to churches
other than our own, who participate in hearing visiting
preachers at other churches in the neighborhood, for
instance. We agree, I think, on the fundamentals of the
faith: Jesus came to die for our sins, to redeem us and
point us in the right direction, and was resurrected from the
dead as we shall be, with our true home in Heaven. All the
various denominations agree on these fundamentals.
But then they do not agree on other beliefs and practices.
Yes, the Episcopalians have in error accepted gay
marriage. In our town, the Episcopals don't go as far as
the Archbishop of Canterbury whom you describe, who is so
ecumenical that he has New Age and Hindu worship in his
cathedral. Yes, the Vineyard people do emphasize working
for Jesus NOW, rather than hoping for imminent rapture--I heard
a preacher there this weekend who emphasized loving everyone
now, being love, being Christ to the hurting and lost.
Yes, he was a good preacher, but I still hope for the rapture
(he didn't deny it would come along).
I could go down the list of our denominations in town, but my
question for you and Mr. Moriel or whoever he is: how do
you find a perfectly scriptural church in your town?
I have never found a perfect one in my town, but I have found a
bunch of people who do love the Lord and each other--and may be,
incidentally, marked off from the atheists and agnostics and
Unitarians who do NOT love the Lord as we do. I'm not
saying there are no
non-believers out there, far from it indeed! My own family
causes me suffering over non-belief.
Anyway, this description of church heresies may help someone
reading it to find an almost-good church, but to find a perfect
one in the real world you would have to start your own.
And that may be a problem we have had before.