Originally Posted by glew
We are speaking plainly-

I'll let others be the judge of that; from my perspective, what you have said has been a bit of a riddle to tease out. So I'm glad you are now speaking a little more plainly, since you didn't make explicit the connection between going to church and Peter's problems.

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In Jerusalem Peter went to church and he came out against the gentile believers. You asked how going to church is a trap and I am answering you plainly.

I don't know where it says that Peter went to church and then afterward wouldn't eat with Gentiles. Maybe you can direct me to the verse? I do know that when Peter came to Antioch, after some "men from James" arrived, he wouldn't eat with the Gentiles, "fearing those from the circumcision." Now since this would require him to refrain even from taking the Lord's Supper with the Gentiles in the church at Antioch, well, he wasn't really going to church in Antioch, now was he? Or at least he was only attending a small meeting with the Judaizers. But Paul rebuked him on that account, so I do believe Peter ever after was fine attending church with Gentile believers.

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And the moral of these true to life little stories is that there is such of a thing as “imprinting”. I am sure that the same thing happened to Peter and all the apostles including Paul. That the religious institution of their childhood imprinted itself on them and it claimed ownership. It is no different today as human nature does not change so easily.

Your stories are interesting but I don't see how they are especially relevant for explaining how "going to church," in particular, is a trap. Certainly, going to church can be a trap, particularly with wrong motives in play or if the church is not spiritually healthy. But that doesn't make "going to church" a trap in itself.

Last edited by CovenantInBlood; Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:01 PM. Reason: Spelling error.
Kyle

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.