<<< If you have time let me know what you think about organized churches and how you think they should be according to the Word. When they were created for fellowship and have been turned into a kind of Bible education, which I don't think the Bible was made for. Not for memorization and a tool of argument but a tool for a relationship with God. Didn't churches used to meet in homes and spontaneously?, not in huge gatherings, where it is held weekly on the same day and time, and becomes sort of a routine. >>>
Hello Pat!
Hey, I called your dad tonight to wish him the best on his birthday ... I wanted him to know how important he is to me. He loved it. I told him that you had contacted me. He was thrilled. I told him that I understood why he was so excited about your desire for the reality of Christ. I think that news was the best birthday present I could have given him. I could hear it over the phone that tears were running down his face. YOU bring intense joy to him, and I am very moved by that. Thank you.
You sure don't ask simple "yes" or "no" kinda questions, do you? hahaha :) Actually, you really have pretty much answered your own question as far as I can see. I think you have been given much insight into reality.
The "church" is something that is alive and cannot be contained in a building. There's nothing wrong with buildings, they can make good places to gather for any number of reasons, but buildings are just buildings, organizations are just organizations. People look to a group to find identity. And even though some worthwhile things may come, it is the need to validate who we are by our association with a group that usually kills the life that springs up among us because it doesn't fit our formulas or help support our causes. I've seen it in big churches, small churches, and home churches. I think a lot of it is because of our American culture ... we're just not satisfied with life, we want others to know that OUR group is the "right" group.
Life happens in some pretty crappy places and I have learned to be satisfied with it wherever I find it. As to what I think it OUGHT to be ... I'm not real sure most of the time, but I'm seeing it happen more and more where I least expect it. :)
Jim
ps. You can ask me more specifics if you'd like, this wasn't meant to keep you from asking, okay? :)
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