Just the other day the mother who knows full well how far she has strayed made a statement about how thankful she was that her daughters are SOOOOO spiritual. Yet, on facebook they post pictures in two piece bikinis and other immodest dress, and they place no restrictions on what they watch on TV or go see at the movies, and their daughters routinely go see rated-R movies full of filth and sin with their father–a gospel preacher.

Matt, I am in emphatic agreement with you on this topic. I hope we haven’t spent so much energy talking about our differences, that we don’t recognize and appreciate what we hold in common. Christians must not love the world, and we must not be conformed to it. That is the pivotal battle for our generation, and for the next.

I can understand why liberal folks/liberal congregations react to conservative teaching, especially when its imperfectly performed, the way they do.

I can also understand why you would emphasize the need for grace in the church to cover all of our shortcomings.

My point, however, is that if you or I abuse the range of plausible truth or ignore the authority of Scripture altogether then that reflect a heart problem as much as it does a doctrinal problem.

The truth is in the Word and it is obtainable whether we are willing to seek it out or not. I think my liberal brethren are battle fatigued and at some point along the way stopped caring what the Bible has to say because the task of reasoning through the scriptures and being of the same mind with their brethren became too difficult.

No doubt pettiness, ignorance and mean-spiritedness (on both sides of the aisle) have contributed to this depressing state of affairs.

However, the answer is not to retreat to the “as long as you’re sincere you can keep making the same mistakes and still be saved” position. That is a slippy slope with no bottom. It is as if my liberal friends in the church (and I have MANY of them) are using all of their energy just trying to stay in this zone of being blissfully happy. For them, that is the only purpose of Christianity; it is their only goal and they think ignorance and tolerance is the only way they can achieve/maintain that nirvana in this post-modern enlightened state in which we live.

I am currently trying to raise three teenagers in the church. They attend a COC private school that is desparately running from its COC identity. It is sad the Baptist private school where my children used to attend embraced their identity and prided themselves in having distinct morals while the COC school does neither.

At the same time I have relatives also trying to raise teenage daughters in a liberal congregation in another state. They grew up in the conservative church and now they speak about it in the same harsh tones as other liberal brethren. Just the other day the mother who knows full well how far she has strayed made a statement about how thankful she was that her daughters are SOOOOO spiritual. Yet, on facebook they post pictures in two piece bikinis and other immodest dress, and they place no restrictions on what they watch on TV or go see at the movies, and their daughters routinely go see rated-R movies full of filth and sin with their father–a gospel preacher.

I believe the truth–as demanding as it can be–is still be more compelling, more powerful than any alternative. Everything else is meaningless, living a lie and vainty. In the end, all that matters is fearing God and keeping his commandments.

If I sound like an old time gospel preacher so be it. After all, I’m just paraphrasing the oldest preacher I know.

If hope everyone that’s in a relationship with God through Christ will pray about these urgent and most serious matters. The culture of the church has been serious corrupted, and there is no other antidote than rediscovering His Will for us as revealed in Scripture.

he next logical question for you should how does one engage in that act “in the name of Jesus Christ” i.e., by His authority?

You change the meaning of Col 3:17 when you substitute your preferred phrase for the phrase in the text. The Holy Spirit doesn’t need your help, because he provided his own explanation of the phrase. Doing everything “in the name of the Lord” means “as is fitting in the Lord.” (verse 18). It means doing what pleases the Lord (verse 20). It means doing it with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. (verse 22). It means doing everything as for the Lord rather than for men (verse 23). It means doing it as service to the Lord (verse 24). In other words, it means doing everything in a manner worthy of one who calls Jesus Lord. It’s not talking about limiting what you do to an authorized list. It’s about “whatever you do”.

Your arguments in many posts, including this one, rest on the same faulty assumption: that the scriptures lay out a concept called “authorized worship” which pertains to what activities are permitted (and required) in the Sunday assembly of Christians. There is no point in arguing about which “acts of worship” are permitted in the assembly, and which are not, because you have not (and cannot) show that the inspired scriptures contain the underlying concept. The whole house collapses because there is no foundation.

Until you understand the importance of answering that question, it is futile to discuss with you whether the act of prayer is a necessary part of what the disciples did when they assembled together on the first day of the week, according to NT precedent, precept and principle.

Bread is the direct object of eating, while playing is neither the object or predicate of singing. It is (as evidence by the use of the conjunction “and”) an addition, and by all accounts of the New Testament an unauthorized addition.

Play on Sam, if you must, but don’t pretend to know that God is pleased. And do not pretend to fear a God whom you do not care whether or not He is pleased by your offering.

If this admonition offends you then stop playing, and offer the kind of music God has plainly commanded (singing and making melody in your heart) and in which you can know that you know that you know He is well pleased.

God is a Spirit, and those worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

First, you suggest a person’s only standard for how to worship and organize a congregation is “as he believes God requires” then all truth is reduced to a test of sincerity. Yet the teachings and example of the apostle thoroughly refute this proposition.

Second, you suggest such a person “could not act otherwise.” However, this is true ONLY if that person cannot know objective, absolute truth regarding authorized worship or church organization. I wonder if you would extend this sort of post-modernist thinking to all areas of doctrine? If so, then you would turn the whole point of Scripture on its head. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the apostle unto all truth and commanded the apostles to teach disciples to observe all things that Jesus commanded. Surely “all things” does not exclude worship and church organization any more than it does the kerygma.

Next, you turn passages such as John 14:15 and 15:14 on their head by arguing that so long as a person loves God he does not have to keep His commandments. It is naive to assume that habitual unauthorized worship is simply making “a mistake.”

Finally, with regard to your comment “he’s still saved” there may be a window of grace during which a congregation of the Lord’s body is beginning to show tell-tale signs of straying or spiritual sickness but the Lord has not yet removed their candlestick. However, that does not change the fact that eventually it can and will be removed. Else there would be no such thing as an apostate church, false gospels, denominationalism or world religions for that matter. If a person knowingly or negligently rejects the truth or stops seeking the truth, and instead practices and teach others to practice unauthorized church organization or worship, then how can you say “he still resists the work of the flesh and shows the fruit of the Spirit”?