Quote:
Originally Posted by thestartupman
If you care to answer to this question, please explain why you think what you do. Try to keep the responses to those that claim to be Christians. Those that don't, don't really know what the church is like.
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we were discussing a similar topic this weekend at church- there has historically always been "the remnant"- that it, the true church, Gods chosen people, those who are saved, who though they are sinners who make mistakes, are the remnant of the faithful that God keeps. Then there is the Organized Church- state, national, world- Catholic, Evangelical, etc, it goes by lots of different names. Within the Organized Church there are believers, born again Christians- and those that are not saved. So there is a difference and you need to be able to discern between the two. You can be a part of both, one, or none.
I believe that you cannot know a persons heart- that is for God in His sovereignty to know. You will , according to the bible, be able to judge a person by his fruits. But whether they are truly saved is between them and the Lord.
Personally, I think the organized church has been infiltrated by prosperity preachers and also the 'Jesus loves everyone, if you are happy he's happy' tolerance crowd.
I think the remnant responds to the sin in the world more in the way that Jesus did by loving enough to show that sin is a trap and that Jesus made a way to free us from the slavery of it.
I think the organized church that is not the remnant, can at times be like the Pharisees in that the Pharisees manipulated the Word of God to their benefit. They wanted to look good to those that were watching, they wanted to point out the sins of others without first dealing with their own sin. And they also wanted at times to be popular amongst the people. But they werent concerned with grace or love, only the law.
Sorry for the long answer. the short answer, is "yes".
ETA a small clarification: personally, any of us can be like the Pharisees or like Jesus at any time. We are all sinners. We all falter. We can never be righteous without the Jesus' righteousness being given to us. Even saved Christians can be like the Pharisees sometimes, that is the process of sanctification working out. We are justified in Christ, and He is making us sanctified afterto be more like Him .
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