I think Larry has Jim Schue running scared or Jim would be here in this thread.

Yeah, where is him/her? UK, in reading his/her posts about wanting to see Tim fail and use the term "Bible tossers", and other posts I researched, I didn't gather he was. But to each his own, here is a great point and someone needs to "like" this comment.

 

I've been in many debates with my wife over then years on many topics and religion is including. Once she didn't speak to me for two/three days. Now, I have a very nice and sweet girl as my wife, she always puts other in front of her self. For her not to speak to me this long was unusal, It was over a religious topic, and we still love each other.

 

Do I love Jim? I don't know much about him but I care about him and want him to have a great time and wish nothing but the best for him, and others to that I have debated with. If he needed my help in anyway and asked me I'd do my best to help him.

Well, there are at least a dozen ways of interpreting Jesus tells Peter "On you I'll build my Church" not the least of which is a fundamental difference between catholicism and other branches of Christianity.

 

However, I won't focus on that "Great Schism"...instead, I'll simply ask, what is the rate of Church attendance that will qualify someone as a believer? If I miss a Sunday, am I non-believer for that next week? If not, what if I missed three Sundays in a month? As what point is the line crossed from believer to non-believer? BTW...what am I "believing" specifically, to be a believer? That I need to go to church?

 

Jesus tells Peter "On you I'll build my Church". As Jesus teaches us through parables and metaphors, why does the Church have to be a physical building, if it is built upon me?

Lastly, I'll leave with this saying, though I forget where I heard it. "Being in a church no more makes one a Christian, than being in a garage makes someone a mechanic." (Actually, I think that the original line was "car" in place of "mechanic" but it makes more sense to me that way.)

Actually in the original text, Christ asks Peter who folks are saying he is (Christ) and Peter answers. Then when asked by Christ who Peter says He is, well you get the answer you quoted. But translated from the original text it's meant under the premise or answer Peter gave. And that's true today. The Church is founded upon the premise that Christ is the son of the Living God and the church is founded upon that. And we are the church. So, while I agree with you TB&G that going to church makes you no more a Christian than a garage makes a mechanic, we are still commanded to "not forsake the gathering of believers" and instructed even moreso as end time approaches.

 

And I'll bow out of this argument with this, what about shut-ins. Those physically unable to attend? Are they not still Christians? I'm not condoning missing church at all, but to think if you don't go that you've erased your name from the book sure isn't scripturally sound.

The notion that one has to go to Church to be considered a Christian is complete lunacy IMO.

The notion that one has to go to Church to be considered a Christian is complete lunacy IMO.

How about the notion that one SHOULD go to church? You on board with that?

I think Larry has Jim Schue running scared or Jim would be here in this thread.

 

Now look what you made me do!! You made me "like" this. :madman:

I think Larry has Jim Schue running scared or Jim would be here in this thread.

 

Yeah, where is him/her? UK, in reading his/her posts about wanting to see Tim fail and use the term "Bible tossers", and other posts I researched, I didn't gather he was. But to each his own, here is a great point and someone needs to "like" this comment.

 

I've been in many debates with my wife over then years on many topics and religion is including. Once she didn't speak to me for two/three days. Now, I have a very nice and sweet girl as my wife, she always puts other in front of her self. For her not to speak to me this long was unusal, It was over a religious topic, and we still love each other.

 

Do I love Jim? I don't know much about him but I care about him and want him to have a great time and wish nothing but the best for him, and others to that I have debated with. If he needed my help in anyway and asked me I'd do my best to help him.

 

Jim's been busy recently and is just getting back around to this. I appreciate your concern, Larry.

 

However, I feel it is misguided. And I'm still wondering how I fit in to the "people like you" fence Larry has constructed around me. I am concerned that he has no idea whatsoever about my relationship with God.

Jim's been busy recently and is just getting back around to this. I appreciate your concern, Larry.

 

However, I feel it is misguided. And I'm still wondering how I fit in to the "people like you" fence Larry has constructed around me. I am concerned that he has no idea whatsoever about my relationship with God.

 

In defense of Larry, you build fences too when you say "bible thumpers", etc and lump all evangelicals into it. And before you get all twisted and bent, everyone does it. Isn't it weird how we get so upset when someone does it to us, but don't even blink an eye to do it to others?

Who said it and who did he say it about?

 

I said it and I was talking about black people and mountainref.

In defense of Larry, you build fences too when you say "bible thumpers", etc and lump all evangelicals into it. And before you get all twisted and bent, everyone does it. Isn't it weird how we get so upset when someone does it to us, but don't even blink an eye to do it to others?

 

I guess. To be fair, my antipathy is a direct reaction. It's not a preconceived prejudice. I am how I am because the Bible-tossers made me that way. Had they just left me alone ...

How about the notion that one SHOULD go to church? You on board with that?

 

Not sure I can go there. Several years back, I hadn't been to church in several weeks. As I was leaving church, my minister stopped me and said that he'd noticed I hadn't been at church in a while. I told him that I had been working on my farm and that I felt closer to God and appreciated more the many blessings he had given me while I was at the farm than when I was sitting in church. He looked at me, paused and then said that if I truly felt closer to God on the farm than at church, I belonged on the farm. Henry can verify this conversation as she was standing right next to me.

 

And it was and is the truth. When I'm driving to the farm on early Sunday mornings I listen to the religious broadcasts on 700 WLW. They get me thinking; thinking that lasts pretty much the entire time on on the farm. Perhaps it's just me or perhaps its because of the hectic professional life I usually live, but I do a lot more soul searching while at the farm, away from distractions. That soul searching includes thoughts about my Lord, my wife, my kids, my recently deceased Dad, etc. I drive home in a much better state of mind.