Dear AndalusiaMan,<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"] As much as I'm grateful for knowing Reformed theology I still at times miss the earlier days of my Christian life when theology didn't matter much. Jesus was new to me and I just wanted to know I was His.</font><hr></blockquote><p>The end of theology is to strengthen that blessed assurance, not make it insipid. The Heidelberg Catechism places your desire above all others as the foundation of life:<br><br>[color:green]1. Q. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?<br> A. That I belong, body and soul, in life and in death, not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ...</font color=green><br><br>Although there is no perfect church on earth (btw, I knew in your first post that you were speaking sarcastically!), one mark of a [color:blue]healthy church</font color=blue> is that it will always be strengthening that assurance in its members by constantly displaying Christ, and Him crucified. Although that sort of preaching will, and must, produce application in its members' lives, any church whose identity is rooted in anything other than the person and work of Jesus Christ--ie, worship style--is in real danger of straying from its first love. <br>

In Christ,
Paul S