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

Carlos,

I read through your post and where we split ways is our interpretation of 1 Corinthians. It appears your belief is that all the gifts are in operation today, where my stance is that certain sign gifts have ceased. An example is the issue of tongues, those were known languages and inmportant in the start of the early church. Also in the early church they did not yet have all of scripture, the finished revelation of God as we have now and the Spirit did work in a marvelous way, gving people utterances, but that isn't necessary today, we have the full revelation of Jesus Christ in the canon of scripture. Healings is another one, not that God can't heal through prayer, but people aren't gifted such as Paul or Peter were to be able to lay hands on people and make them well. Again that was for the purpose of establishing the church.

When I said you would "freak" out someone, it would be considered strange and unbiblical in our church body. It would be disruptive and might even in some cases cause others to follow suit, causing disunity. Look at what happened at the Toronto Blessing. You would always be welcome to attend our fellowship, but it would be expected that the form of worship would be respected.

You spoke of causing a brother to stumble as pertaining to meats, yes, but it pertains to all aspects of our lives as christians. Any action can cause a brother to stumble. Not everyone is called to teach, that is where arrogance begins. That is the probem with many churches today, people in the teacher's seat who do not understand spritual truth. God speaks through individuals today, in the pulpit and in teaching, it is His gifting. Many times people think it is God speaking to them or through them who are sadly mistaken. How many entered into error because of listening to deceptive spirits? Our hearts are desparately wicked who can know them?