lol. Again, sounds really quite simple.
Whoever comes to me (call out on the name of the lord, and you will be saved) does the words jesus says,
why would they not? they trust Christ He saved them, They love him for saving them, WHo would NOT do what he says?
Mind if I ask what baptise church you went to? I gew up in a baptist church, I continued in that church even after I joined th emilitary and went to many baptist churches all around the US. And i have never heard what you claim.
I heard you do not go to church unless your dressed right, women do not cut their hair, men do not let their hair grow period, must Always be clean shaven. Hellfire and brimestone was preached almost every week. They would walk people out of the church they did not think fit their "legalistic mold of what a person should look like in "gods house"" there was so much judgment and hate when I went on visitation with anyone, I do not know how anyone could come to God (they wanted you to stop sin first, THEN you might be able to get saved) I could name you lists and lists of stuff which sicked me to the core of my being, and made me leave God for 5 years, Until God took me to my knees, and I was contemplating suicide because there was no hope left in me for anything (of Course I know God did that for a reason)
it was getting out of that church and having come back as the prodigal son, and finding a loving, caring, giving church that disciples its people (I did not even think I needed that, I knew the word, and studied it for many many years) in all areas, including confronting them with sin issues in a loving manner as Christ did, Making sure you had the help you needed to overcome sin. Actually went out and brought people to Christ and showed them the love CHrist showed when he walked the earth (I did not fathom how loving he really was) and finally really understood what Faith in God in ALL areas is. Which I never got from the baptist church.
Again I would love to know what churches you are talking about? I learned the importance of obedience in my current church, Not in the baptist church where all I heard was hellfire and brimestone, and how God will strike you down if you even look the wrong way at someone. I learned that how when you love others as God loved you. That was God being a light through you, and that love drew people to him (I see it every day and every week) and it is not about following some code of laws. but is about LOVE, TRUE LOVE, even to those who you would not normally love.
I was struck when a friend of mine I met in churhc told me what brought him to Christ is when he went to a home church and saw a Goth, A nerd, A valley Girl, A jock, and a western guy hanging out laughing and having a good time, Praising God, and you could tell they loved each other. You will never find that in the world, because in the world, they mock each other, they hate each other, they war with each other. But in Gods house, all people become one in Love and unity. There is no jew or greek (he finally understood what that meant) but all people are one in the eyes of God.
I do not live and relate with sinners, I live and relate with people who love God, Want to do all they can to better themselves and make themselves more like God so God can use them, because they have seen th epower of God in their own and others people lives (the reason for obedience)
I never saw that in a baptist church, A catholic church (yes I went to a few of them also) or other "denominational" churhc I have visited or had the time to attend.
legalism is not the answer, Love is. This is what I have experienced, And why I HATE LEGLALISM with a passion. I have witness countless number of people destroyed with legalism, and many not even give God a second look because of the legalistic approach many want to take when giving the gospel of God.
I went to two baptist churches, the first one was Mount Washington Baptist which was a baptist church that was trying to break away from the strict southern baptist traditions. They still kept some of those traditions like you had to be nicely dressed, no jeans and t-shirts, 10% tithing, and looking down on others when they sin. But when it actually came to preaching the gospel, they preached Jesus came in the flesh, died on the cross for our sins and rose on the third day. Believe that go on your way and you are saved. Not quite !!!
I left that church after 12 years of being in and out of it, do to wanted to follow my own desires and wants.
I went a few years doing my own thing, not being affiliated with any church. When I turned 28 I was talked into joining a Catholic church from friends, so I started going and did not feel comfortable from day one. They started off telling me that even though I was coming there, I was not actually a member of their church tell I took the RCIA classes and completed them, and then took holy communion. I took the classes hoping to get more insight into scripture, unfortunately they spent more time on history teaching and how prophecy applied to the Catholic church, but not enough on actual scripture study.
After five years of this, I started to get more into scriptural study myself do to what little I was given had me to start questioning some of the activities of the Catholic church.
In my studies I found out how much obedience was emphasized all throughout the bible, and how people still have the free will to go against the guidance of the Holy Spirit after they have become partakers in Christ and received the Holy Spirit. Now yes there is the debate why would God have His Holy Spirit come to somebody who He knows will not listen to it. My answer to that would be it is summed up by what our Lord said that He wishes none will perish. If you open the door a little He will come in, but you can still shut that door on Him again. The choice is ours to accept or not to accept.
I left the Catholic church do to the teachings contrary to the bible, and that is when I went back to the baptist church again because I did not see any other denominations at that time that was teaching completely by the bible. They were all adding or taking away from the word.
So I tried my hand at the baptist church again, but this time went to a different one that a lot of my family was going to. Beaumont Baptist church was a good church at first, and was holding on by the skin of its teeth do to a small congregation in a middle to lower class area. The preacher made it fun, taught by the bible during sermons, and was not strict at all. It had a come as you are policy, which is what the bible says.
Because of the small congregation, nobody besides me and my sister wanted to step up and help in roles in the church. Me an my sister were stretched thin trying to run the pantry, get fundraisers together, go around ministering to the neighborhood to try to get more people to come to church, and other events like VBS for kids.
The church got bad do to financial problems, that brought the baptist board of operations in.
They came in and wanted the whole church to change its approach, and wanting to push it more back to a southern baptist style. People started to leave instead of coming, and in the last year I was there we had maybe 10 people at the most that showed up for church each week. Our pastor got fed up from the changes they were trying to make, so he left as well.
The discernment that was going on made me start looking around before it the church faltered do to bad philosophies.
This is when I heard about the non-denominational movement. I looked into it, and saw the only thing they taught and preached was directly from the bible. This was exactly what I needed and was looking for in a church, so I became non-denominational and since then have been in studies now for a few years to get ordained as a minister.