{"id":6542,"date":"2021-11-01T07:47:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T13:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theclarion.org\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2021-11-01T07:47:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T13:47:43","slug":"thoughts-from-the-bible-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/?p=6542","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from The Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

What kind of Christian are you?<\/strong>
\nby Terry Broome<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cnon-denominational\u201d aspect of the church raises a lot of questions in the minds of many religious people. More and more are using this phrase; however, many think it strange to hear someone from the churches of Christ declare that we are not a denomination. Unfortunately, we are all victims of what religious history has brought upon us. Today our minds have difficulty thinking in any terms other than that of denominational doctrines and disciplines. Human experience makes us feel compelled to identify with one denomination or the other, based quite often on private interpretations, and sometimes based on the social side of religion.
\nI like to use an \u201cisland\u201d approach in discussing the church in the Bible. If a person was stranded on a deserted island, and there found a Bible and began reading \u2014 if this person by some stretch of the imagination had never learned of Christ, the church (any church) or any other religious concepts, and had absolutely no preconceived notions or prejudices about any religion \u2014 and if he began reading intently and studying his Bible \u2014 if in the course of reading of the compassion of Christ and the offer of salvation \u2014 if in fact he could connect with just how sinful his sins had been and felt the need for salvation \u2014 if he were to search the Bible and do everything taught there in its right context \u2014 the Lord would certainly save him.<\/p>\n

The question then comes to mind, \u201cWhat kind of Christian would he be?\u201d There is of course only one answer and that is he would be whatever kind of Christian they were back at the beginning of the church in Acts Chapter Two. He would be just a Christian and be just a member of the body of Christ. If he was then rescued and came back to our country, he would suddenly be faced with the mass confusion of \u201chaving to choose\u201d a church. That\u2019s what concerns me. I just want to be a Christian. I don\u2019t want to have to choose one kind of religion over another. I want to be added by the Lord to His church and know that it is the same fellowship that the Apostles were a part of (Acts 2:38-47). That\u2019s what I\u2019m searching for.<\/p>\n

Our present divided state of religion is something the Lord didn\u2019t authorize, but in fact prayed that it not be so in John 17: 20-21, \u201cNeither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.\u201d Jesus told the disciples that He would build (establish) His church (Matt. 16:16-18) and that the Apostles would bind on earth things that were being bound in heaven. They were then commissioned a few chapters later (Matt. 28:18-20) to go into all the world and preach, baptize and teach the people to observe all things \u201cwhatsoever I have commanded you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In John 8:32 Jesus proclaimed that we can know the truth, therefore I believe truth is attainable. Private interpretations may get in the way of His truth so I have to be willing to lay mine aside and search the Scriptures (Acts 17:11) whether things or so or not. We have to believe He has authored an intelligible book that can be understood by everyone the way He authored it. Jesus said we can \u201cknow the truth.\u201d Otherwise, God would be the author of confusion and division. If we all accept the Bible as the final authority in all religious matters, and if we all agree to compare everything the Lord has to say on the matter, we should all be able to arrive at the Lord\u2019s answer to every relevant question. My answers may be wrong, and therefore I have to keep searching to find the Lord\u2019s answers. So must we all. We must strive to eliminate \u201cPrivate Interpretations.\u201d The Bible is its own best interpreter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What kind of Christian are you? by Terry Broome The \u201cnon-denominational\u201d aspect of the church raises a lot of questions in the minds of many religious people. More and more are using this phrase; however, many think it strange to hear someone from the churches of Christ declare that we are not a denomination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6543,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions\/6543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.theclarion.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}