And Your Denomination Is ... ?

[Fenner]

Guys, thanks so much for sharing! I actually thought no one would answer here lol.

Like I said, I myself am an Independent Baptist; I guess you would call us traditional in our worship because we sing the old congregational hymns and still have pews, we preach exclusively from the King James Bible and we're considered "conservative" in our beliefs of separation and doctrine (but we just call it living by what the Bible says ); we have missions conferences, campmeetings, revivals, and we like to eat(!) lol.

We're a small church, though. What sets us apart is that our church is bilingual, meaning that we have an interpreter alongside the pastor as he's preaching, and we sing both Spanish and English songs in the service.

We've had our tough moments, but there's a faithful few there, and that little flock has the power to keep it going.

We like phrases like "sticking with the stuff" and "the old paths"; we pass out tracts and have Sunday School classes, plus a bus ministry. We have an "oldfashioned altar" that we pray in, and that's where people go to get right with God (not exclusively, though ).

I know that many of the churches you're all acquainted with have these things, but I didn't grow up in church, and all of these things were so alien to me.

Thanks again, everyone. This isn't the end of the thread, though!

I wasn't raised in a church either. My Father was Catholic and my Mom was Baptist. My Dad would take us to the Catholic church on occasion. Then at some point he sent my Brother and I to Catechism classes. Then we had our 1st holy communion and other stuff that I didn't understand at all. I was also baptized in the Catholic church when I was around 10 years old.

My Dad died when I was 16, so my Mom decided it was time to go to the Baptist church. It was totally different. The preacher yelled on the pulpit a lot. I was OK there for a while, I was also baptized there because they wouldn't accept my Catholic baptism. Then someone came a courting, sort of and caused problems for me. I mean like someone who is important in the church, their son. Anyhow this person and I went on a youth bus trip. He held my hand on the way home and some said (him) that other things happened. What I don't know. Maybe I was asleep because I got on the bus a virgin and got off the bus a virgin. So I was basically meant to feel like I should wear a red scarlet letter. When I was 18, I refused to go back to the church. The pastor wouldn't even say hello to me. Nor would he let his daughter talk to me.

When I needed guidance the most, those people turned on me. My family was going through many changes that they knew about and when I needed the help, I was turned away.

I left church and promised myself never to let that happen again. I didn't want anything to do with God or Christianity or anything. I knew God existed, but felt I wasn't good enough to be part of his family.

I used to walk by this Presbyterian church in my old neighborhood. When my husband and I were looking for a place to get married, I thought we should to in and talk to them. We started going to the church. The Pastors there helped me find my way back to God.

That church is no longer open. I go to a different Presbyterian church now. I am so glad I found my way back.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[TaylorTG]

@Simona25, TinTin, and Ugly

I believe he got a little carried away because there is another thread where people discuss about the Catholic Church being evil and the new Pope being the antichrist itself.

Yes sir. When I was typing in post #49, I had RoboOp's 'Catholic heresy (for the record)' thread in mind, a thread which Praus linked to me some time ago. Rest assured, ladies and gentleman, I had no malicious intent behind post #49, which was written solely from a humorous standpoint.

When I typing in that post, a smile was on my face, rather than a frown.
[HR][/HR]@TinTin and Praus
Thanks for calling me a donkey, TinTin! At first I thought that was an insult, but after doing my research, I found out that donkeys, in biblical terms, are creatures who were essential to the growth of the kingdom of God!

Genesis 22:3
"SoAbraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the brunt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God has told him."

Donkeys like me transported Abraham, one of the key prophets, to the place where God directed him! Praise me and my relatives, the donkeys!

^Awesome bible verse below! Praise the father!

[FONT=kepler-std !important]Judges 15:15-17
[/FONT]And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and seized it, and with it he slew a thousand men. [SUP]16[/SUP]And Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey, have I slain a thousand men.

^WHOA! Hallelujah!

[HR][/HR]Thank you so much for calling for a donkey, TinTin! Now that I know that it was a compliment, rather than an insult, I shall now, with my unholy hands, bestow a holy blessing on your entire country!

Lord, please send massive 700 feet tall floods to Australia that will spring up bountiful harvests at all of its farmlands!

May TinTin's beard grow into a hairy artwork so stylish that shaving it off would be a disgrace!
Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ServantStrike]

And what if the equal and opposite were occurring and four old men were assaulting a young women. If they pepper sprayed her and beat her with bibles and umbrellas.

Not as funny is it?

If this weren't fake, I'd be with you completely on this one. It's funny in a hollywood movie, not so much in real life.

Listening to that tape, they didn't even wait until he talked to them to start with the pepper spray and beating. In real life, they would probably be going to jail, as they should be.

No one has the right to strike another human being in the name of pre-emptive self defense. If it had been done with a gun and not pepper spray, it would be murder, potentially with three "witnesses" who would spin the tale. We just had a very divisive court case about this very issue, and I don't seem to recall it being funny in the multiple 10+ page threads it spawned on this forum.

Fortunately, it's fake. Food for thought nonetheless.

 

[Pipp]

Guys, thanks so much for sharing! I actually thought no one would answer here lol.

Like I said, I myself am an Independent Baptist; I guess you would call us traditional in our worship because we sing the old congregational hymns and still have pews, we preach exclusively from the King James Bible and we're considered "conservative" in our beliefs of separation and doctrine (but we just call it living by what the Bible says ); we have missions conferences, campmeetings, revivals, and we like to eat(!) lol.

We're a small church, though. What sets us apart is that our church is bilingual, meaning that we have an interpreter alongside the pastor as he's preaching, and we sing both Spanish and English songs in the service.

We've had our tough moments, but there's a faithful few there, and that little flock has the power to keep it going.

We like phrases like "sticking with the stuff" and "the old paths"; we pass out tracts and have Sunday School classes, plus a bus ministry. We have an "oldfashioned altar" that we pray in, and that's where people go to get right with God (not exclusively, though ).

I know that many of the churches you're all acquainted with have these things, but I didn't grow up in church, and all of these things were so alien to me.

Thanks again, everyone. This isn't the end of the thread, though!

I did (pretty much) grow up in church , but I didn't repent and accept the Lord until I was 16.
It sounds like you just described my church exactly... like exactly exactly .... lol
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Art05]

I wasn't raised in a church either. My Father was Catholic and my Mom was Baptist. My Dad would take us to the Catholic church on occasion. Then at some point he sent my Brother and I to Catechism classes. Then we had our 1st holy communion and other stuff that I didn't understand at all. I was also baptized in the Catholic church when I was around 10 years old.

My Dad died when I was 16, so my Mom decided it was time to go to the Baptist church. It was totally different. The preacher yelled on the pulpit a lot. I was OK there for a while, I was also baptized there because they wouldn't accept my Catholic baptism. Then someone came a courting, sort of and caused problems for me. I mean like someone who is important in the church, their son. Anyhow this person and I went on a youth bus trip. He held my hand on the way home and some said (him) that other things happened. What I don't know. Maybe I was asleep because I got on the bus a virgin and got off the bus a virgin. So I was basically meant to feel like I should wear a red scarlet letter. When I was 18, I refused to go back to the church. The pastor wouldn't even say hello to me. Nor would he let his daughter talk to me.

When I needed guidance the most, those people turned on me. My family was going through many changes that they knew about and when I needed the help, I was turned away.

I left church and promised myself never to let that happen again. I didn't want anything to do with God or Christianity or anything. I knew God existed, but felt I wasn't good enough to be part of his family.

I used to walk by this Presbyterian church in my old neighborhood. When my husband and I were looking for a place to get married, I thought we should to in and talk to them. We started going to the church. The Pastors there helped me find my way back to God.

That church is no longer open. I go to a different Presbyterian church now. I am so glad I found my way back.

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Art05]

I wasn't raised in a church either. My Father was Catholic and my Mom was Baptist. My Dad would take us to the Catholic church on occasion. Then at some point he sent my Brother and I to Catechism classes. Then we had our 1st holy communion and other stuff that I didn't understand at all. I was also baptized in the Catholic church when I was around 10 years old.

My Dad died when I was 16, so my Mom decided it was time to go to the Baptist church. It was totally different. The preacher yelled on the pulpit a lot. I was OK there for a while, I was also baptized there because they wouldn't accept my Catholic baptism. Then someone came a courting, sort of and caused problems for me. I mean like someone who is important in the church, their son. Anyhow this person and I went on a youth bus trip. He held my hand on the way home and some said (him) that other things happened. What I don't know. Maybe I was asleep because I got on the bus a virgin and got off the bus a virgin. So I was basically meant to feel like I should wear a red scarlet letter. When I was 18, I refused to go back to the church. The pastor wouldn't even say hello to me. Nor would he let his daughter talk to me.

When I needed guidance the most, those people turned on me. My family was going through many changes that they knew about and when I needed the help, I was turned away.

I left church and promised myself never to let that happen again. I didn't want anything to do with God or Christianity or anything. I knew God existed, but felt I wasn't good enough to be part of his family.

I used to walk by this Presbyterian church in my old neighborhood. When my husband and I were looking for a place to get married, I thought we should to in and talk to them. We started going to the church. The Pastors there helped me find my way back to God.

That church is no longer open. I go to a different Presbyterian church now. I am so glad I found my way back.

Sorry for the long post.

I know about being baptized into the Catholic church, because I was baptized by a priest at the age of seven. Both my parents are what I call nominal Catholics; the name and not the thing, and so it is with the large population of hispanics here in my area. The reason is because Mexico's national religion is Catholicism, and they have strong familiar ties to a certain idol of theirs, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and to a great number of superstitions. They also see it as a sort of patriotism to believe in those superstitions.

Anyways, I was baptized in a Catholic church in Mexico. It was sort of embarrassing for me, because Catholics baptize infants (as was my older sister when she was baptized), and I was a tall seven year old lol. Of course, their baptism does nothing in the soul of man; it neither removes sin nor does it cleanse the heart from the influence of a wicked nature. My other cousins went on to do their first communion and their lives have been afflicted by iniquity. I even went to a few of their church services (maybe about six or seven in my whole life), and I tried to be respectful to that religion. Eventually I didn't associate with Catholicism, even if I refused to ever be an atheist; even in my lost state I knew that God was undoubtedly existent and omniscient. During this time of growth (I was a very inquisitive young man) I had friends of the Russelite sect, and they told me of their beliefs. Of course, they were as great a sinner as I was.

God is so good, though, in that He brought to my knowledge, little by little, that gospel by which He saved me and cleansed me from a warped view of what true religion was. Although some Christians may say that I'm still alittle warped (lol).

 

[Nautilus]

I go for the United Methodist Churches. I'm not a member of one but there are two less than 10 minutes from my house which is nice. One is a bit more old-fashioned in building and crowd, but the ther one is a nice mix and they have a good contemporary service(what I normally go to) that includes a coffee bar which is admittedly nice at that time of day. But then they have a traditional service in the gorgeous sanctuary, which I go to during the christmas season.

 

[Fenner]

I know about being baptized into the Catholic church, because I was baptized by a priest at the age of seven. Both my parents are what I call nominal Catholics; the name and not the thing, and so it is with the large population of hispanics here in my area. The reason is because Mexico's national religion is Catholicism, and they have strong familiar ties to a certain idol of theirs, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and to a great number of superstitions. They also see it as a sort of patriotism to believe in those superstitions.

Anyways, I was baptized in a Catholic church in Mexico. It was sort of embarrassing for me, because Catholics baptize infants (as was my older sister when she was baptized), and I was a tall seven year old lol. Of course, their baptism does nothing in the soul of man; it neither removes sin nor does it cleanse the heart from the influence of a wicked nature. My other cousins went on to do their first communion and their lives have been afflicted by iniquity. I even went to a few of their church services (maybe about six or seven in my whole life), and I tried to be respectful to that religion. Eventually I didn't associate with Catholicism, even if I refused to ever be an atheist; even in my lost state I knew that God was undoubtedly existent and omniscient. During this time of growth (I was a very inquisitive young man) I had friends of the Russelite sect, and they told me of their beliefs. Of course, they were as great a sinner as I was.

God is so good, though, in that He brought to my knowledge, little by little, that gospel by which He saved me and cleansed me from a warped view of what true religion was. Although some Christians may say that I'm still alittle warped (lol).

I wouldn't say the Catholic baptism doesn't do anything in the soul of a man. I actually have some very devout Christians in my family and friends who are Catholic. I was treated with much more respect at the Catholic church then I was at the Baptist church I went to.

The Priest the helped me with my first confession and first holy communion was very kind to me. He also was the man who baptized me. I didn't quite understand a lot about first holy communion and confession then because I was never taught. But he personally saw to it that my brother and I learned about these things.

I guess it's personal experience and opinion. I wish I would have had the same experiences in the Baptist church as I did in the Catholic church.

 

[Wandering_Here]

I was brought up in an Assemblies of God, although the one we went to was less charismatic and definitely served more meat than milk. I'm non-denominational. I believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that salvation only comes through Christ Jesus.

 

[Richie_2uk]

Pentecostal man here!

 

[Praus]

@TinTin and Praus
Thanks for calling me a donkey, TinTin! At first I thought that was an insult, but after doing my research, I found out that donkeys, in biblical terms, are creatures who were essential to the growth of the kingdom of God!

Genesis 22:3
"SoAbraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the brunt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God has told him."

Donkeys like me transported Abraham, one of the key prophets, to the place where God directed him! Praise me and my relatives, the donkeys!

^Awesome bible verse below! Praise the father!

[FONT=kepler-std !important]Judges 15:15-17
[/FONT]And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and seized it, and with it he slew a thousand men. [SUP]16[/SUP]And Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey, have I slain a thousand men.

^WHOA! Hallelujah!

[HR][/HR]Thank you so much for calling for a donkey, TinTin! Now that I know that it was a compliment, rather than an insult, I shall now, with my unholy hands, bestow a holy blessing on your entire country!

Lord, please send massive 700 feet tall floods to Australia that will spring up bountiful harvests at all of its farmlands!

May TinTin's beard grow into a hairy artwork so stylish that shaving it off would be a disgrace!
Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!

That doesn't have anything to do with Praus.

 

[TaylorTG]

That doesn't have anything to do with Praus.

You made a comment about the donkey. Therefore, you are indirectly connected to the conversation.

 

[kenthomas27]

I'm from the Church of the Flipping Grateful. Church services are held wetting a line for sauger under the frozen shade of Pickwick Dam or might be found on a Saturday night sitting alone in front of a laptop.

Fenner - I appreciated reading your heartfelt honest testimony. Thanks.

 

[Kevin82]

I attend a Full Gospel Church, A branch of the Assemblies Of God

 

[TaylorTG]

I attend a Full Gospel Church, A branch of the Assemblies Of God

Nice tie.

 

[Descyple]

I belong to the denomination called "The Church of the Habitually Late", but I rarely make it on time for the services!!!

 

[Yahshua]

Matthew 14:18

18 “Bring them here to me,” [Christ] said.

19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish...

...and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks...

...and broke the [leavened loaves].

Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

20 They all ate and were satisfied...

Wow...

Q: How does God feed so many people?

A: By sending his bread, and breaking that bread into many different pieces so that as many who are hungry can eat and be satisfied.

He even performed this miracle 2 times (time + time)...but wouldn't perform the miracle a 3rd time when asked. No, he would not satisfy their bellies the final time no matter how much they wanted him too; he would not offer them the same leavened bread to eat, but offered them a purer version of it instead.

He explained that the daily bread their "ancestors" ate still resulted in their deaths, but the pure bread he now offered will cause any who eats it to never die.


...but painfully, only a few could accept the purer bread he offered the final time...while the majority of his disciples turned away.

John 6:25-59

----

I believe the existence of so many denominations is scripture being fulfilled to the glory of God: Christ's body, the bread, was broken into so many pieces so that as many who were hungry (the world over) could eat, have their fill and be satisfied. And that bread has been shared for 2 thousand years. And sure, while there's leaven in pieces it's still bread to eat. I believe this is the process of how God reconciles the world to himself...like casting lines with different bait to draw in as many different fish as possible (with the core truth still there)...

The only drawback is even after eating this bread God's people still die. So there's coming a time when we'll be offered this bread without leaven; pure bread that will finally end death. I just hope we don't let our bellies (i.e. fleshly preferences) prevent us from accepting it, like most of his followers did back then.

....

I don't have a denomination or a specific church building I attend, nor do I quite know the theological/doctrinal labels too well. I do attend a monthly bible study every 3rd Saturday though.

 

[Praus]

You made a comment about the donkey. Therefore, you are indirectly connected to the conversation.

Deut 22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

 

[TaylorTG]

@Praus

Deut 22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.

I shall​ plow an ox and a donkey together anyway.

 

[Tintin]

I belong to the denomination called "The Church of the Habitually Late", but I rarely make it on time for the services!!!

Descyple, it sounds like you're a dedicated member!