I was asked where in scripture does falling down occur when prayed for? It has been said it is not there so it should not happen, even to the extent that the persons involved may be motivated by Satan.
I would like to point out the following activities that the church does which are not in scripture and things in scripture that the New Testament Church did but we don’t. Despite that fact, they do not seem at all worried about its absence from or inclusion in scripture and bearing in mind most evangelical denominations say that the bible is their guide for faith and practice.
1. Cars are not in scripture so why do we have them?
2. TV’s are not in scripture so why do we have them?
3. Planes are not in scripture so why do we travel by plane.
4. Sunday morning services are not in scripture so why do we have them.
5. “Church” buildings are not in scripture so why do we build them.
6. The New Testament Church met daily so why don’t we?
7. The New Testament Church ate meals together daily so why don’t we?
8. The New Testament Church prayed daily so why don’t we?
9. You will not find titles like Rev. Pastor or Dr. in scripture so why do we have them.
10.You will not find anywhere in scripture one man running a church so why do we do that?
11.You will not find one incidence of a church bringing a leader in from outside, so why do we do that?
12.None in the New Testament Church was paid to lead the fellowship so why do we pay people?
13.The New Testament teaches there are five ministries that of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd and teacher to build up the saints, so why do we have only one contrary to scripture.
14.You will not find one man doing most of the preaching so why do we?
15.You will not find tithing taught in the New Testament Church so why do we teach it?
16.You will not find religious leaders dressing up in the meeting in the New Testament Church so why do our leaders dress up?
17.You will not find dedicating babies in the New Testament Church so why do we do it?
18.You will not find church camps in the New Testament Church so why do we have them?
19.We do not find missionary societies in the New Testament Church so why do we have them?
20.The New Testament Church did not celebrate Christmas so why do we?
21.The New Testament Church did not celebrate Easter, so why do we?
22.The New Testament Church did not dedicate babies so why do we?
23.You will not find the New Testament in the New Testament Church so why do we have it?
24.You will find signs, wonders and healings in the New Testament Church so why do we carry on as though they were irrelevant?
25.Communion or the Lord’s Table is not in scripture so why do we have it?
26.The hymn, prayer sandwich meeting is not in the scriptures so why do we have it?
27.Denominations are not in the scriptures so why do we have them?
28.Praying with our eyes closed is not in scripture so why do we do it?
29.Churches as incorporated bodies are not in scripture so why do we incorporate them?
30.Churches did not have fancy names in the scriptures so why do we invent them?
31.There was only one church in each town in the New Testament so why do we have 20 or 30 or 40?
In most situations when I have raised these issues, the person has excused the non-scriptural activity with a reason that is non-scriptural or they have excused not doing what is in the scripture with a response that cannot be substantiated by scripture.
This leads me to the question “why are we afraid of putting into practice what the scripture clearly teaches?” I don’t find anywhere where it says you can do this if you feel like it or you can ignore this if you are not interested in doing it.
Maybe those who are running the show are doing so for their own benefit. Maybe the system is so embedded in our conscience that we do not have the temerity to question the validity of it. Maybe we are quite happy to ignore scripture as we then get a comfortable, non challenging Christianity, which means that we don’t have to pay the price of discipleship.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. Did you know that if Jesus said he would build his church, we don’t need to? If that is the case, most of what we do is a waste of time.
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3 comments:
You raise some interesting points there. Are you aware that the canon of what we now know as the NT was being formed within weeks of the death and resurrection of Christ?
No I didn't Ross. Some further information from you might be a good way to go.
Thanks
I wasn't aware of this myself until I recently looked at some John Dickson materials. I'll get back to you with the specifics at a later date.
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