This has always confused me. On one hand the thought expressed here is that we shouldn't "attack" a denomination for "believing" a certain way. In other words, even though people have conflicting beliefs in regards to "beliefs" then one of the two must be wrong. Take that and look at the 50,000 denominations and the fact that it's nearly impossible to find two individuals within the same denomination that agree across the board, and we have millions of conflicting beliefs. Then on the other hand you say the thought expresses that we can't agree with any church if it's contrary to God's word and even admit that EVERY denomination has error in its teaching.
My question, if I were a non-believer, might go like this:
If you can't agree with any Church that isn't biblical but admit that every Church is in error (non-biblical) then technically we can't agree with any church because we're all just grabbing at straws here. You allude to the Holy Spirit but obviously if EVERY one is in error then the Holy Spirit has only given nuggets of truth to this one here and that one there and a little nugget to Sally even though she's wrong on this and that and a nugget to Joe even though he's wrong on that and this?
How am I supposed to pass this down to my children? How am I supposed to explain this to outsiders without making up excuses for the fact that it just doesn't add up? Is anyone else at all wondering if this ecclesiology is totally off base? Not particularly yours, Kdizzle but the bulk of protestant ecclessiology.
Again, this confuses me. So, take the bible literally. Name one church that doesn't consider itself biblical? I mean, the reason Methodists aren't Baptists are because they disagree on what it is they read. Both claim to be led by the Holy Spirit. Both have bibles and can read. Both pray and wish to serve God. On the other hand, they both can't be right or Truth isn't Truth at all but simply what you make it. It tells any person that is looking from the outside in that the Truth is relative, subjective, what you make it, what seems right to you.
The common response to this is let the Holy Spirit guide you and He will teach you the truth. I don't disagree with this but do you honestly believe that the Methodists aren't letting the Holy Spirit guide them or the Baptists are resisting the Holy Spirit? What is it that keeps the two from agreeing and having a like mind? Even though they refuse to be 1 they still insist they are both The Church?
Seriously, no one? Surely you know that you can't just reduce sound doctrine to a marketplace of ideas where above the truth the people are commended for lifting up the banner of opinion.
I agree but that can't mean that when people call a lie The Truth we simply sit idly by for the fear that someone might think we're being divisive. Honestly, can we water down the Truth? or can we at least be honest enough to say that we just don't make sense and are probably just as wrong if not more than we are right - collectively (from a protestant perspective, and I'm lumping the self-proclaimed non-denominations into protestantism).
Pluralism is the enemy of The Truth and it seems that there are people that call themselves Christian that seem to whole-heartedly embrace it in the name of self-preservation.
1 Timothy 3:15
if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the
church of the living God,
the pillar and foundation of the truth.
(notice here that the Truth doesn't read, "whatever way seems right to you based on the letter I've sent to you, do it THAT way - notice it doesn't read, "even though you have conflicting opinions on what it is I wrote to you, simply agree to disagree for the sake of appearing "agreeable" and break off into different schisms. Neither does the letter read, "The Church is the pillar and foundation of opinions which are relative, subjective, cultural, dependent upon the culture, times and subjective to any civilization or global "progress".)
1 Corinthians 1:10
[
Divisions in the Church ] I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
1 Corinthians 3:1
[
On Divisions in the Church ] Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.
1 Corinthians 4:17
For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in
every church.
Galatians 1:13
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the
church of God and tried to destroy it.
(notice here that he's not talking about a local single do-it-as-it-seems-right-to-them-personally "church")
How can we reconcile our conflicting ecclesiology with scripture and save face? We can't. Jesus even prays that it won't (and it won't).
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6"I have revealed you[
a] to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
8For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 1
3"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
17Sanctify[b] them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
I highlighted verse 15 and 20 for the folks that might believe in the rapture....
Can't get much clearer than that. He asks that his followers not be taken out of the world and goes onto to clarify that this prayer is not only for the followers that are present at the time Jesus prayed this prayer but also for ALL believers that will believe in him through the message of the disciples.
In a weird way this reply relates to the dancing thing because the dancing thing is just yet another little red flag that The Truth is low on the priority list.
Seek first the Kingdom...
God bless