Posted on 10/10/2010 8:35:12 AM PDT by WebFocus
Q: I've always been a fairly independent person, and for that reason I've never bothered getting connected to a church. It always seemed like too much hassle. And anyway, I can watch a church service on TV if I want to. I know you probably wouldn't agree, but why? - N. McK.
Ans: Let me ask you a question: If you never ate a balanced diet, what would happen to your body? You know the answer: Eventually you'd grow weak; you might even open yourself to serious illness or disease. We all need a balanced diet if we are to stay healthy.
And the same is true spiritually. When we come to Christ, a whole new life begins for us - a life centered no longer in ourselves but in Christ. And God's will is for us to grow stronger in our faith, so we'll be able to resist temptation and serve God in whatever ways He leads us. The Bible says, "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation" (1 Peter 2:2).
But our spiritual lives don't grow stronger on their own - any more than our physical lives grow stronger on their own. We need spiritual nourishment - and without it we'll stay weak and vulnerable. What is that nourishment? God has provided it for us, and it includes the privilege of prayer, and learning the truth of His Word, the Bible.
But it also includes fellowship with other believers. We need their encouragement; we also need to learn from their experience of walking with God. Don't shut yourself off from God's people, but ask Him to lead you to a church where His Word is taught and lived, and where you'll grow stronger in your faith. You need other believers - and they need you.
-- Affectionately known as the "World's Preacher" for more than 60 years, the Rev. Billy Graham is one of the most influential and respected spiritual leaders of the 20th century. He has been a friend and spiritual adviser to ten American presidents and has preached the Gospel to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history - nearly 215 million people in more than 185 countries and territories - through various meetings. Hundreds of millions more have been reached through television, video, film, and webcasts. Send your queries to "My Answer," c/o Billy Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, N.C., 28201; call 1-(877) 2-GRAHAM begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-(877) 2-GRAHAM end_of_the_skype_highlighting, or visit the Web site for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: www.billygraham.org.
Part of physically attending a church is that it forces you to be shoulder to shoulder with fellow sinners.
You have to put up with them, love them, minister to them, forgive them, seek their good, sit near them, work with them. . .
it’s brutal.
Then again they may think the same thing about you!
In short, you get tried and sanctified. And you hopefully realize that you are a sinful hypocrite, too, saved by grace. I fear that those who state their disdain for church, saying it is full of stupid hypocritical idiots, have a pride problem evident in their speech. Participating in your church knocks your edges off pretty effectively.
If the church where you attend has left the gospel, find another church. But don’t decide you are too good to be a church member anywhere!
TV or radio church is a blessing for those who are housebound for whatever reason.
Still, they should be involved in church by having church members visiting them.
He could have given some verses, but he is right regardless. The Bible makes it clear we aren’t “go it alone” believers. A major means of grace is going to church.....with others.
I used to think I could just watch church from home, but you can’t.
“Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together...”
Unfortunately, many think they can and the church often says “whatever you think is best for you” instead of “No, the lord says you can’t.”
You can’t be a TV Christian any more than you can be an active couch potato.
Thanks. That’s a great sermon message right there in just a few paragraphs.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34
"One another" means other Christians. No one can fulfill this command if they avoid other Christians.
Join a small group.
Jesus: “Wherever two or three come together in my name, there I will be with them!”
Matt. 18:20
http://www.saddleback.com/newsandevents/decadeofdestiny/smallgroups/
Except when it comes to interpretation of said Bible.
We can pretty much wing it when it comes to Scripture.
And we know what "winging it", don't we?
Get Cracking, Catholics![article at the National Catholic Register]----------------------
A formative, family-friendly factoid from a recent study or survey in the news.
November 19-25, 2006 Issue
Posted 11/16/06 at 8:00 AMAccording to a study released in September by Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, evangelical Protestants are a whopping eight times more likely than Catholics to read the Bible on a weekly basis. Of course, the survey only looked at private Bible reading; it did not take into account the Scripture passages Catholics take in at every Mass. Still, we tip our hats to our separated brothers and sisters in Christ for their zeal for the Word of God.
Yesterday saw...a forceful plea from a key papal advisor [Bishop Salvatore Fisichella, the rector of the Lateran University and President of the Pontifical Academy for Life] to reject the idea of Christianity as a “Religion of the Book.”
-- from the thread Synod: Christianity not a 'Religion of the Book'
"By doing nothing to practice his faith except attending Sunday weekly Mass (and the few Holy Days), in two years' time (after which the reading cycle ends), a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 3.7% of the Old Testament (932 verses), and in three years' time (after which the reading cycle ends) a Mass-attending Catholic will hear 40.8% of the New Testament (3247 verses). That all adds up to a total of 4179 out of 33001 verses mentioned in the chart, i.e. only 12.7% of the entire Bible (excluding Psalms) is heard by a weekly-Mass-attending Catholic........your own liturgy has been throwing out a majority of the inspired text from the Mass for nearly two millennia!....I'd be even more embarrassed to admit that the amount that I thought was "almost half of the Bible" was really less than one-eighth. That would betray a severe ignorance of how much content is actually in the Bible!"
-- Alex Murphy, November 1, 2009
on the thread Lectionary Statistics - How much of the Bible is included in the Lectionary for Mass? (Popquiz!)
Thanks. More stats: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.html#Sec4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axxlXy6bLH0&feature=PlayList&p=7DF6E6495777B998&index=0&playnext=1
However, what that has to do with the point I made in #7, escapes me.
Here is my point.
The recognition that there is an ecclesial dimension to being a Christian believer, yet that this dimension does not extend to the safeguarding of a single, unique truth in Scripture, is one of the more glaring incongruities of the Protestant profession. If the meaning of Scripture is a matter for the individual and private interpretation, then what is the church for? For the provision of a rain-proof structure to hear a sermon on Sunday with no guarantee that the Scriptural insights offered are any more authentically truthful than my own?
If such is the case, then why not start my own church? Using this logic, many have done precisely that.
It's incongruous to claim that Scripture is paramount, that it takes precedence over all and is of supremely critical importance, yet to also propose that the discernment of its true meaning is a matter for the individual.
If there is no guarantee of truth, one can even memorize the entire Bible but still be none the wiser.
Bible classes - Diocese of Arlington, VA
Google 15,000 results (0.10 seconds)
Bible classes - Diocese of Richmond, VA
Google 34,600 results (0.17 seconds)
Date: 10/10/10
That's not independent - that's lazy.
Um, well, actually, we are supposed to go to the Holy Spirit for interpretation of scripture.
John 16:13 "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth"
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