Today

[rl69]

Today after our roping I was talking to a man,a Korean War vet, a retierd teacher 51 years I believe. And most importantly a man of faith. He is a member of the church of Christ and we were talking about the differences of our churches. What we found out about each other is that we both understand salvation has nothing to do with whether or not you have a piano on the stage, or you put on a pair of short briches.

It reminded me of Jesus and John the Baptist. John led a life beyond reproach by human standards. Jesus lived a life that was highly ridiculed by the religious right. Both taught the same truth. But they lived a totally different life.
Matthew 11:18 19

[Boaz]

Good post ! Realization that we are ..believers ..first . Faith and only faith binds us . Our common belief in the father , son and holy spirit . The basic and fundamental faith we share . The agreement there is one true GOD , that Jesus Christ is our savior that died and shed his precious blood to pay a debt we could never pay . That the Holy spirit exists within us .

Enough said . YES ! We are the same .

[Wayne Smith]

More than that - if God is truly infinite - my understanding of Him is a tiny corner of an Infinite God! If your corner is different than mine it makes us both incomplete, not wrong. If we avoid the boundary of what is God and what isn't - i.e. Sin defined by His Righteousness - then we should learn from one another rather than fight with one another.

Most people's god is simply a reflection of themselves, warts and all. When we fight with one another we end up defending our warts, not understanding God as He is.

[Pine Baron]

Excellent post, Wayne. I find myself diffusing a contentious argument with a simple request to pray together. Go in Peace.

[buckwheatpaul]

I agree with your post.....there are so many different beliefs but quite often the real difference is in our way of our ministers deliver the Message. Great post! Paul

[GhostHawk]

AMEN and Amen and Amen!

I have to say that I think 95% or more of church's do not get it.
They know where their bread is buttered and by who. So they don't often preach the hard core stuff. Afraid I guess that they might turn some people away.

In the small town Methodist church I grew up with. We had just built a new church on a block of its own on the edge of town. Land donated by my Uncle, who lived 2 blocks away.

The catholic Church in town reached out to my Dad. "We have a problem, we too want to build a new church, but we want to stay here, rebuild it over where the old one was"

Dad said let me see what I can do. Within a week the Catholic Priest and our Minister sat down for dinner at our table and we hammered out a deal.

For the next year our church housed both. Their service was early, ours at 11. Holidays they combined, the Methodist preached to the Catholics and vice versa.

What matters is not the differences. No, not even a little bit.

What matters are the things that both believe. "He is RISEN"

The other thing that matters is that this is not a Chinese Restaurant. One from column A, one from B.

No this is a "Believe it all, or admit that you don't really believe".

If you can't get your head around the Virgin Birth, Moses parting the Red Sea, or the Resurrection. Just admit it. And don't call yourself a Christian.

When the right time comes you may find that all those doubts have long since fled anyway. Lord knows I had a head full of them in my younger days.

No longer. I believe LORD, all of it Lord. I am your sheep.

[Blackwater]

All too often, our devout beliefs CAN turn into a stodgy insistence that our way is THE "right way," and all others are wrong. I had a run with that as a young man for a while, but it didn't last long. It couldn't. I don't believe God made us or the world in such a way as to make a way so narrow as that. I believe He knew how weak and variable we are, and simply pointed a pathway we are to walk, and HOW we do that, and HOW we go about worshiping me is really not a biggie with Him. He just wants us TO worship Him, as is befitting to God in man's eyes.

I'm no great theologian, but I don't believe God made this world, nor sent Christ to sacrifice Himself in our stead, so that he could make some narrow, stylized path that only a few would or could ever find. All I think He really cares about is that we genuinely love and serve Him, and worship Him, and do our best to follow the advice and instruction Christ left for us. That's my view, and I invite any instruction to the contrary.

My view takes into consideration the fact that He said, "Many will come in my name and say 'yea, yea', but they do not know Me." Sometimes, some believers pay way too much attention to the trappings of a service, and too little to the message Christ left for us to ponder and follow and come to understand better than we already do. And that is a lifetime job, in my book. It constantly humbles me, at least.