8 Characteristics of a Counterfeit Christian Church

I agree with Joann37, well said!

To our new poster, JosephSmithNAW, please excuse the “rudeness” you encountered. I honestly don’t think their replies were meant to be rude, they were just having fun at your expense which is due more to immaturity I bet. And being a Christian, I am quite sure you have already forgiven them.
Welcome to FreeRepublic. I even printed out a copy of your article and stuck it in the back pocket of my Bible. I have a feeling that it might come in handy. Just between you and me, I have never had the gift of being able to successfully witness the Gospel story to people so I am not speaking of that being the reason. But I see more and more situations these days when I am needing to defend my faith to others (even close friends, relatives, and other people who profess to be Christian, even a “pastor” in a Sunday School class I was visiting the other day with a friend). Anyway I need all the armor I can gather... so thank you for your contribution.

"He deserves a bit of razzing"

Oh he does, does he? Just because he is a newbie? And you just joined in May of this year.... so relatively speaking you are quite the newbie yourself I think.

I was trying hard to be "lightened up". Didn't you see my "LOL"? And I did add a comment that the "hug" may indeed give some a much needed chuckle, now didn't I? I was just using your "hug" trap to point out a metaphor to you. You do know what a metaphor is, don't you? If anything I said was taken to be said with a hateful voice, then please forgive me for that was not my intention. That's one of the problems in forum posting when we can't see the posters smiles or hear the tone of their voices. Perhaps we need those silly little emoticons here in Free Republic so we can indicate our tone of voice.

:)

no, you are wrong, i clicked his link, i know it is a anti mormon thread.
i responded to the posters satire, i clicked the link...
no, i am not mormon either, but to be frank i am sick of all the fighting on FR over a persons faith. are we called to witness, yes, but i see very little of that. i see a LOT of peeps simply being rude. dont get all upset, i dont mean every one, i am generalizing.
i do not agree with a website that encourages people to go to their gatherings and their activities and get in their face to witness. i know i sure would not like it if mormons showed up at my Church and preached at me and against my beliefs. would you?
plus he is new, and picked a subject he new would be controversial. as i said earlier he deserved a tad of razzing. plus my response was primarily to the other poster, not the starter of the thread.
had he opened his first thread with a anti romney, anti huckabee, anti thompson thread, would you all be so quick to apologize? dont apologize for me, please. if i was sorry for having a light moment, i would have said so.
it is OK in light of the political horrors we face to cut loose once in awhile....

I was raised in Mrs. Eddy’s church. As I grew up I slipped into Buddhism for some years and then into simply not caring. When I cam back to it all I am Catholic. Christian Science seems to be Buddhism translated into a Christian vocabulary for Westerners. Sliding from that church to Buddhism was a natural. It’s like going from a counterfeit to the real thing.

i would like the emoticons! they are on the temp thread for FR and are helpful.
yup, i am kind of new too, as far as sign up date. i have lurked here for a few years. i dont recognize many of the names i see now, compared to earlier, so it is harder for me to “know” you and how you post.
i am sorry too, if i misunderstood. i thought you may have been lightening up, but hard to say.
every one seems touchy these days and to be expected given the election and the obamanation coming! i dont mean any thing in a negative way, dont know if that comes through....

Its OK. I maybe new to THIS forum but I have been on other online forums for quite some time now. I have come across this sort of thing and it doesn’t upset me :). In any case, thanks for the kind words. More than anything we need clarity of faith in these testing times.

"every one seems touchy these days and to be expected given the election and the obamanation coming!"

You are so very right my FRiend! We are all feeling the stress. My husband just reminded me yesterday that we can't fight Obama at this point. So we have to just find ways to improve the situation in a positive way and direction. I was very much involved politically in the Republican party (was even approached by them to run for local office when we lived in Charlotte years ago).... But after the election of Bush's first term when the party moved in the opposite direction from me, I lost all interest in working for the party. In my heart I know it's time to find a new party to work for and support, but deep down I know that a 3rd party will only insure Democratic victory. So politically I am a ship floundering without a rudder. And that makes me crazy sometimes. The only constant I can see in my life now (besides family of course) is God. And it is only God that keeps me sane. So, thank you for your kind words and I hope that we can still be FRiends.

I hope you know the whole hug thing was a josh, and you weren’t offput by it. I liked your post, and welcome to Free Republic (no irony).

I’d make a few comments, though:

2. Works-emphasis salvation

This doesn’t mean that spiritual exercises aren’t beneficial. One doesn’t “earn” salvation by prayer, almsgiving, sacraments, etc. But one who has been saved is inspired to these exercises. That inspiration often comes churches which rightfully prescribe them, intending for their flock to become perfected. The early Christian church referred to itself as “the way”.

3. The true church

There is such a thing as objective truth. Any denomination that doesn’t believe that it has a better understanding of the truth than all other denominations should adopt the beliefs of whatever other denomination is close to the truth! To do otherwise is to contradict reason. But a church may certainly be “less perfect” while many members within it members salvificly open themselves to receive God’s grace.

4. Authoritative leadership

This statement is very problemmatic: “A group where the leader(s) has an authoritative role, even to the extent that they say they speak for God, is another cause for concern. “

If someone claims a gift of prophesy to give them that authority, that’s dangerous. However, churches have pastors, who are granted authority, so that they can instruct those who are less educated or less initiated. Such authority should be based on an appeal to scripture (public revelation.)

6. Loss of salvation for leaving

Apostasy does indeed lead to damnation. A Corollary to my response to #3 include both that those outside a church may be saved. But if a person abandons more perfect truth for a less perfect truth, he is abandoning the truth. Yet if he would do so, he may have never possessed the more perfect truth, but rather belonged to a given church becuase of his upbringing. Thus, leaving for a lesser church may be either damnably abandoning the truth, or salvificly searching to discover the truth.

7. Authority beyond the Bible

In general, this is quite true. But, the bible does not self-define its terms or meanings. Historical contest exists beyond the bible, and may be essential in setting forth correct doctrine. For instance, abortion is not forbidden in the bible, but through historical context we know that the Jews and early Christians absolutely affirmed that life existed so we know that the prohibition of abortion is contained within the prohibition against the taking of innocent life.

yup, we sure are! this election hit a lot of us hard.
i dont think we need a third party, but to get back to basics and revamp the old one. if every one would stop focusing on the primaries and what we should have done, or on what wrong for a obama win (no votes, 3rd party votes in our party) we wont move forward! i am worried and that is a understatement!
i am lost at how we unite, right now our party is more like a herd of feral cats than a united and strong force to be reckoned with.
obama may be a empty suit with no original idea of his own, but his peeps know what they were doing. i talked to my SIL who voted obama, i ask why. she said she did not like obama, but she disliked sarah more. i reminded her that sarah was the VP. she seemed confused. ALL her friends, same deal. all voted obama none liked him but sarah was worse! talking to her you never would have known mccain was even running!
i thought he was dumb when obama debated her via the media, but appears strategically it was a wise move. who would have thought it?!! (and he is still running against her, per msm coverage)....
I think so too...God, family, focus on the constant and true! i forget at times to do that, which causes me a certain whackedoutness;)
maybe this election will be a strong reminder to not only our party, but all of us individually...i have to find a rainbow some where in this turbulent time!
i appreciate your kind words and hope we can be FRiends too:)