Are religious traditions and denominational doctrines pushing people further away from God's presence?

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Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
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400
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#41
Addendum - 5 minute rule again

I keep the above handy for posting on sites.
 

YDo

Active member
Dec 9, 2018
151
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#42
What we all know now as the church is so different from the Church of Christ.

People using the pulpit for self gratification and as cows as opposed to glorifying God and serving Him in truth and in Spirit.
Sure.
Easy believerism for instance. Or the corruption of the teachings to make it appear God is a 24/7 Santa. Ask and he'll gift you. Osteen is the worst corrupter in that regard. Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, I avoid any pastor with Dollar as their surname, Hinn, his insane ex-wife.

The kingdom of God is within.
 

Zmouth

Senior Member
Nov 21, 2012
3,391
134
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#43
??????
Are you crazy!!
To answer your rhetorical question, my rhetorical answer would be 'maybe?".

So in essence, what might appear as incoherent ramblings might simply be a non-traditional response to the underlaying precept raised by the question of the author regarding whether the religious traditions and denominational doctrines are pushing people from the presence of God since it is written that he comes to God must believe he is.

Jesus himself taught, as written in John 3:12, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" So if the heaven and the earth were created in the beginning, then would this planet be a heavenly thing or an earthly thing? Likewise would somebody coming to God be a earthly thing or a heavenly thing?

Thus if God is omnipresent, then how can man come to God's presence if God is already present if omnipresent, yet how can God be omnipresent if the scriptures represent that God is not present in this world? (See John 8:23)
 

Jeauris

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2013
187
52
28
#44
What we all know now as the church is so different from the Church of Christ.

People using the pulpit for self gratification and as cows as opposed to glorifying God and serving Him in truth and in Spirit.
Yes sister!! Been thinkikng that for years -- \Paul warned us, approximately "I hear you are claiming things like 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Appolos.' Did Paul die for your sins?.. I am glad I did not baptize any of you.. do not have among you a spirit of sects leading to..." Sects since waaaay back also = Denominations and the things Paul talked of and worse have resulted. Should be. "Thew Church at Arizona," or "The church at England," ONE church, one body, not other sects other names other than Christ like Baptist, Catholic, etc
 

Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
4,028
400
83
#45
Keep in mind that the early elders created the creeds to define what a Christian must believe. They did this by looking at the many diverse issues being discussed by Christians. Anything contrary is heresy and any Biblical issue outside of it is to agree to disagree. These Biblical disagreements have caused the different gospel preaching denominations.

A second issue is all of the big protestant denominations have been taken over by secular ministers who did this in order to get access to the church money. This started in the 1880s and was completed in 1932 according to the book "Crossed Fingers" by Gary North. Only the independent churches much smaller sub denominations still preach the gospel message. Almost half of the people attend church but only a small fraction ever hear the gospel message. Thus the once Christian nation of the USA has become a secular nation. God's condemnation has been pronounced and awaits us.
 

Miu

New member
Dec 8, 2018
7
4
3
#46
Keep in mind that the early elders created the creeds to define what a Christian must believe. They did this by looking at the many diverse issues being discussed by Christians. Anything contrary is heresy and any Biblical issue outside of it is to agree to disagree. These Biblical disagreements have caused the different gospel preaching denominations.

A second issue is all of the big protestant denominations have been taken over by secular ministers who did this in order to get access to the church money. This started in the 1880s and was completed in 1932 according to the book "Crossed Fingers" by Gary North. Only the independent churches much smaller sub denominations still preach the gospel message. Almost half of the people attend church but only a small fraction ever hear the gospel message. Thus the once Christian nation of the USA has become a secular nation. God's condemnation has been pronounced and awaits us.
You are so right. Once a pastor told us not to follow other people that including pastors but to follow the word of God the bible and the ways of the holy Spirit. Indeed people be condemned for lack of knowledge
 

Hevosmies

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2018
3,612
2,633
113
#47
Yes sister!! Been thinkikng that for years -- \Paul warned us, approximately "I hear you are claiming things like 'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Appolos.' Did Paul die for your sins?.. I am glad I did not baptize any of you.. do not have among you a spirit of sects leading to..." Sects since waaaay back also = Denominations and the things Paul talked of and worse have resulted. Should be. "Thew Church at Arizona," or "The church at England," ONE church, one body, not other sects other names other than Christ like Baptist, Catholic, etc
I agree. But I also think realistically we are past that point now. The likelyhood of everyone giving up power in their denomination is slim.

I hang around pentecostal circles and we have had a few instances where someone was "called by God" and LEFT the church and then started their own church, which surprise surprise was almost identical in doctrine, but now he was the man in charge and had a different name congregation.

I think thats why we have so many new churches popping up. Someone leaves one of the mainline ones and starts his own.
 

Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
4,028
400
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#48
You are so right. Once a pastor told us not to follow other people that including pastors but to follow the word of God the bible and the ways of the holy Spirit. Indeed people be condemned for lack of knowledge
Every minister where I attended church advised the congregation to keep him honest by reading the scriptures he was quoting and other scriptures on the same issue.
 

Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
4,028
400
83
#49
I agree. But I also think realistically we are past that point now. The likelyhood of everyone giving up power in their denomination is slim.

I hang around pentecostal circles and we have had a few instances where someone was "called by God" and LEFT the church and then started their own church, which surprise surprise was almost identical in doctrine, but now he was the man in charge and had a different name congregation.

I think thats why we have so many new churches popping up. Someone leaves one of the mainline ones and starts his own.
The early elders saw this coming with the many diverse issues they saw back then. That is the reason why they created the creeds. To define what a Christian must believe and any Biblical issue outside of them was to agree to disagree. Anything contrary to them is heresy. The acceptable differences create the different gospel preaching denominations.