Choosing A Church

[Jazzy]

What do you look for when choosing a church to attend?

 

[Josiah]

Correct teachings.


.

 

[Stephen]

Correct teachings.


.

How do you judge what are correct teachings?

 

[Josiah]

How do you judge what are correct teachings?

@Stephen

See this: What I Like About Lutheranism (view the video at the end, too)

Then....

1. Scripture. Is the doctrine Scriptural and not just self (individual person, church, denomination) insisting that itself (alone) is the authority? Does it present what the whole of Scripture presents?

2. Tradition. And by this, I mean ECUMENICAL, HISTORIC affirmation, especially regarding what Scripture teaches. Is there historical continuity?

3. Justification. The centrality and objectivity of the Gospel. Is the teaching affirming that Jesus is THE Savior? Or does it undermine that by teaching or even imply that we save ourselves by our _____________, that Jesus is NOT actually the Savior but only the possibility maker/door opener, the helper, the offerer? Christianity all hinges on this.... is the teaching Christ centered, Cross focused? Without this, it's not Christianity, IMO.


Blessings!


Josiah



.

 

[Stephen]

@Stephen

See this: What I Like About Lutheranism (view the video at the end, too)


Blessings!


Josiah



.

I don't watch videos. This is a discussion forum not a cinema.

 

[Josiah]

I don't watch videos.

Then,


@Stephen

Click on this and read it as part of my reply to your question to me: What I Like About Lutheranism
(skip the very helpful the video at the end since you so insist)

Then.... after reading that....

1. Scripture. Is the doctrine Scriptural and not just self (individual person, church, denomination) insisting that itself (alone) is the authority? Does it present what the whole of Scripture presents?

2. Tradition. And by this, I mean ECUMENICAL, HISTORIC affirmation, especially regarding what Scripture teaches. Is there historical continuity?

3. The centrality and objectivity of the Gospel. Is the teaching affirming that Jesus is THE Savior? Or does it undermine that by teaching or even imply that we save ourselves by our _____________, that Jesus is NOT actually the Savior but only the possibility maker/door opener, the helper, the offerer? Christianity all hinges on this.... is the teaching Christ centered, Cross focused? Without this, it's not Christianity, IMO.

That would be the start. The video explains this much better and more completely.


Blessings!


Josiah


.

 

[Stephen]

Then,


@Stephen

Click on this and read it as part of my reply to your question to me: What I Like About Lutheranism
(skip the very helpful the video at the end since you so insist)

Then.... after reading that....

1. Scripture. Is the doctrine Scriptural and not just self (individual person, church, denomination) insisting that itself (alone) is the authority? Does it present what the whole of Scripture presents?

2. Tradition. And by this, I mean ECUMENICAL, HISTORIC affirmation, especially regarding what Scripture teaches. Is there historical continuity?

3. The centrality and objectivity of the Gospel. Is the teaching affirming that Jesus is THE Savior? Or does it undermine that by teaching or even imply that we save ourselves by our _____________, that Jesus is NOT actually the Savior but only the possibility maker/door opener, the helper, the offerer? Christianity all hinges on this.... is the teaching Christ centered, Cross focused? Without this, it's not Christianity, IMO.

That would be the start. The video explains this much better and more completely.


Blessings!


Josiah


.

As I said - I don't watch videos.

 

[Josiah]

As I said - I don't watch videos.

Or read posts.

You specifically asked me a question.... but just ignore any response you don't want to read.

Okay. Understand. Honestly, I do. I was raised Catholic.



.

 

[tango]

How do you judge what are correct teachings?

Comparing them to what the Bible says is a good place to start, making sure to consider reading the Bible in context rather than picking bits and pieces out of it and stringing them together like a ransom note.

To give you an example, a church I briefly attended some time ago would frequently have open-mic "declaration times" where people would declare things. Their justification for this was Job 22:28, which says "You will declare a thing and it will be established for you". That didn't sound right the first time they mentioned it, so I looked up the verse. Sure enough, that's exactly what it says. The trouble is it doesn't mean what it looks like when taken out of context - in the context of the rest of the passage Job's friend Eliphaz said those words along the lines of "hey Job, what did you do to upset God? Get yourself sorted out and then you will declare a thing and it will be established for you". God never said those words, and if you roll forward to the end of Job you can see God having some stern words for Eliphaz. And yet places will pull that verse out of context and stand on it as if you can just declare something and it will happen, as if they were standing on a promise God made when even a cursory glance at context indicates God didn't say anything of the sort.

If you see teaching that looks like it's based on stringing together bits of verses like a ransom note, if you see the kind of teaching that is presented in a spirit of "this is what I'm telling you, don't question it" there's a good chance you're dealing with a bad teacher. If you're really lucky you'll find a teacher who teaches the exact opposite of what Scripture says and yet still acts as if they are some kind of advance guard against the forces of darkness.