The doctrine of a Church is a list of teachings that the church believes in. Or should I say is a list of teachings that the individual preacher believes in. This list is sometimes known as a Statement of Faith that the Church sets up as an expected requirement for new members to accept when they become members. These individual Statements of faith are not the same for all churches and differ quite a bit from one church to another. It’s stated in the bible that all preachers are ordained to bring everyone into the unity of the faith, but has not happened because all preachers do not accept the identical same list of teachings. It is not uncommon for a new preacher coming into a new church to change the established list of beliefs because he believes differently.
Once again I say that God has called many a person to preach and teach in our churches. Out of those who were called to preach, very few if any prepared themselves properly for God to actually ordain and send them. If it was true that God did send them to preach or teach, they would be in unity in the doctrines that have been adopted, just as the original early Christians were. Due to the fact that all of today’s preachers interpret the scriptures according to their own understanding and because many of them use a mixture of different versions of bibles which are not accurate in comparison with the original writings, God never commissions them into His service.
When you attend a church service what do you expect? How are you expected to conduct yourself? When any preacher gives a sermon, it is nothing more than a lecture about his individual beliefs. In some churches you are expected to just sit there and take it in whether you believe everything that is said or not. In some cases when the preacher says something you agree with, it is not out of order to audibly say Amen to support your agreement with what is said. Then there are some churches that feel you are out of order if you would do that. What recourse do you have if the preacher says something you do not agree with? Without a doubt you have none. If you would openly oppose what is said, a swarm of Deacons would immediately show you the door.
While you are in church listening to a sermon it is expected of everyone to show respect and be in order. But, there should be allowed a way for you to respectfully ask to be recognized in order to ask a question or voice your opposition to what you consider to be in error. In the early Christian church everyone in attendance could participate within a certain order and it was accepted. But this is not true today. You are today to do no more that sit in your seat like a zombie and accept everything that is said by the lecturer.
I don’t know about what everyone expects out of a church service, but I believe that many are there to learn about what God’s word means. Most preachers start out by reading a verse from the bible and spend the rest of the time applying it to everyday life. Well that is good, but in the course of your lifetime you are going to learn very little about the truth of God’s word. I would think that it is more important to learn about what the bible is saying and means, than to hear a lecture all the time consisting of made up stories of others which they have read about in a book about other people’s lives.
Most church services are set into a “program” for the services to follow. You have a prayer, a few songs then the lecture. Never is any time set aside for someone in the congregation to participate like they did in the early Christian church services. You might as well stay home and watch a televised service. Oh, but then you wouldn’t be there to participate in the passing of the plate to give your tithes which should not be required in our churches today anyway.
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