Posted by PS on August 11, 2004 at 03:01:58:
In Reply to: Re: Worship posted by Rob on August 11, 2004 at 00:27:38:
: Do they tell you that you "could" go to hell if you are doing things differently than they are? That's the issue i'm running into. They say that God is expecting us to follow the scriptures to a T literally, and where it speaks we are to speak and where it's silent we are to be silent (really this means that if it's silent, it is forbidden as in the case of instruments in worship).
They are wrong. The Bible is not silent about instruments at all. It endorses thewm wholeheartedly. They simply are not addressed in the New Testament epistles as a point of doctrine. Neither are retirement plans, credit cards, automobiles, airplanes, radio shows, television shows, landscaping services, indoor plumbing, microwaves, pets, houseplants, and vaccinations. Are they all forbidden too? Do any of your friends have dogs? Then they are going to hell.
Come on, man, let the legalists have their judgmental games. Jesus tells us that our business is not judging, surely not telling who is going to hell, which only He can determine. To speak for him on that issue is the wickedest pride and serious moral failure. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Jesus is the justifier. And Jesus tells us that his law is love, that the essence and culmination of the entire Torah is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This law I will follow. This Spirit leads people to God. The Church of Christ is dying because they cannot make converts effectively anymore. I wonder why. ;-)