The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum The importance of going to church

At first reading it sounds like you are making man the standard of how the worship of God should be done. Is this what you are suggesting to Carlos?

Most of us here who are of the Reformed tradition (in a good sense, i.e., in accord with the Confessions and Catechisms that came out of the Protestant Reformation they being summaries of biblical truth) hold to what is known as "The Regulative Principle of Worship". This principle stands against all others because it teaches that God and God alone determines how He is to be worshiped. Further, Nothing is to be done unless there is an explicit command to do so or by good and necessary inference, e.g., from example. Remember, we went through this in the thread concerning the offerings of Cain and Abel.

The Protestant Reformation was a seed bed from which grew the core doctrines of Scripture, e.g., the person and nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, justification, sanctification, eternal security, the administration of sacraments and along with several others, the worship of God.

Narrowing in on worship, the true Protestant Church teaches that God has set in order the guidelines that govern the meeting together of the saints, aka: corporate worship which first of all must consist of a plurality of Elders and Deacons. These are men who are gifted and called of God to serve in their respective offices for the purpose of preaching, teaching, ruling, disciplining and providing for the saints. One of the prominent elements of Protestant biblical worship is the centrality of the preaching of the Word by those called to that responsibility. (Scripture references can be provided if needed) This preaching of the Word is to be done by those who "labor in the Word and doctrine" (1Thess 5:12, 13; 1Tim 5:17). This cannot be done as suggested by some, i.e., a extemporaneous speaking by anyone who happens to be in the assembly.

It is true that no one denomination nor individual church "has the corner of the truth", i.e., knows and teaches everything God has revealed perfectly. But this must not be construed as some form of agnosticism. One need only read through the Protestant Confessions and it will become very evident that they all agreed on most everything across denominational lines. The Spirit of God was mightily active during that period of Church history and one would be an arrogant fool to disregard the work of the Spirit in those men and the documents which resulted from their joined efforts in searching the Scriptures to know what God has revealed as truth.

Finally, as the old adage goes, "If you find a perfect church, don't join it because you'll ruin it!"

Here is a worthwhile article on: "Choosing a Church", by Daniel Wray.

In His grace,