[Mary Etheldreda]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

No...I just think he's been misinterpreted.

Once we have Jesus, that's ALL we need...no churches, pastors, or ANYTHING.

Friend, you have yet to explain how you've come to any of these conclusions. They're clearly not Biblical. Do you mean to suggest the Holy Spirit has led everyone else astray for thousands of years, waiting until your birth to reveal the True Faith™?

[Paul Tarzan]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Friend, you have yet to explain how you've come to any of these conclusions. They're clearly not Biblical. Do you mean to suggest the Holy Spirit has led everyone else astray for thousands of years, waiting until your birth to reveal the True Faith™?

Nope...the Holy Spirit has been TRYING to lead folks to true Christianity, but too many were stuck in the mind games Churchianity brought forward.

The first of which is the hierarchial structure. In accordance with Matthew 23:6-11, I have rejected titles and positions...read it and know Jesus said church leaders should NOT use titles such as Father, Bishop, Pope, Reverend, Pastor, Deacon etc.

[Pim Pendergast]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

You seem to be a fan of Paul's letter to the Galatians. Perhaps you've never read the first two verses.

Gal 1:1-2 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

One would think that if Paul disapproved of church, he wouldn't have planted so many or written so many letters to them. Tell me in which verse Paul tells the Galatian fellowship to disband.

You say you don't need to be go to church if you have Jesus. But Jesus spoke of the church.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

When Jesus said, "This rock," He was referring to Himself, not Peter as the catholics would have you believe. Peter was merely an elder, not the first pope (1 Pet 5:1). Jesus was kind enough to give the disciples instructions on how to carry out church discipline years before there even were any Christian churches (Mat 18:15-20). Christians are supposed to pray in groups (Mat 18:20), but how can you do this if you don't have fellowship with other believers? When Jesus dictated to John the letters to the seven churches in Asia (Rev 1-3), he rebuked the churches for many things -- for being luke warm and losing their first love, for example -- but He never rebuked any of them for being churches. Outside the Christian and gnostic traditions, there are no other written references to Jesus close to the time when He lived. One's opinion of Jesus must be based on the writings about Him, and according to the writings about Him, He supported the church. Unless you're just making it all up as you go along.

You say Jesus disapproved of titles and positions within the church, yet Paul supported the appointment of bishops (elders) and deacons (1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; Phil 1:1). The Bible commands Christians to be subject to the overseers of the church (Heb 13:17), yet how can you do this if you don't go to church? The Bible clearly warns people against giving up on going to church (Heb 10:25).

Paul beautifully describes the church as Christ's body (1 Cor 12:12-31). He tells us even the least member is important.

1 Cor 12:14-24
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.

Turn your life over to Jesus -- for real this time -- and find a place to fellowship. Perhaps there is an independent Baptist church out there that is missing a bowel or an armpit.

[Pastor Isaac Peters]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Once we have Jesus, that's ALL we need...no churches, pastors, or ANYTHING.

Wrong. We still need churches:

Hebrews 10:25: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We still need pastors:

Ephesians 4:11-12: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

[Oliver Brendan Hayve]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Nope...the Holy Spirit has been TRYING to lead folks to true Christianity

Tell me again about Divine omnipotence (Matthew 19:26).

[Artofburning]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

From that day forward, I have made it my mission to free all of you from the scourge which LBC's vile blend of Churchianity brings to the table, and filling in that spot with the love only Jesus can bring.

Sir, it's clear to me you don't know Jesus Christ as well as you think you do since you're using the words love and peace so liberally:

Matthew 10:34-37
"Think not that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household."

Clearly Jesus Christ is angry and has a very serious agenda. We at Landover Baptist Church are God's personal harbingers of the end of times (which will come, Jesus said it will), when Our Lord and Saviour will rapture only those who are truly worthy of Him from this wretched, atheist-rampant world. It is our God given job to ensure people know of Jesus Christ, even if The Truth hurts or is difficult to hear:

Matthew 7:21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

The Holy Bible articulates with perfect precision that which God demands from all of us and so we must take it literally. Every time people such as yourself misconstrue or cherry pick His Divine Word to fit his or her own personal agenda, He becomes insulted - and as we all know, Our Lord doesn't take insult lightly.

[Faith_Machine]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

...and basically explains my whole view.

Stop right there. This isn't a platform for airing your views. This is a place where people come to praise Jesus. You'd better get to praising, buddy. And don't be half-hearted about it!

[Dr Laurence Niles]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Customer: hello, there. May I have a table for one?

Waiter: of course, sir. This way and here is a menu. May I suggest the 'Special'?

Customer: the special?

Waiter: yes sir, Christianity. It's very popular. All the courses complement each other perfectly: a true delight to the senses.

C: well, that sounds loverly. Let me see, I'll take that bit, then that bit but I don't want that. I don't like that at all.

W: the killing gays bit, sir?

C: yes. Can't have people being put to death, eh?

W: a common view sir, but might I suggest the Chef has a better sense for the taste sensations than you?

C: well I guess he has had more experience than me in this sort of thing but I really do think that I would enjoy this Christianity more if I did it my way.

W: as you wish, sir.

C: ah, om nom nom, this really is delicious food, om nom nom.

W: is everything ok, sir?

C: by Jove, yes; this tastes wonderful.

W: very good, sir.

C: om nom, oh, oo, er, waiter?

W: yes sir?

C: I do beleive I have indigestion!

W: yes sir, this is not uncommon. You see the bitterness of the killing gays balances out the sweetness of eternal Salvation®. You can't really have one without the other.

C: I see. I guess then it does make sense to kill gays: even though on it's own it does not sound very appetising, prima facia.

W: yes sir.

C: and I guess should have put my faith in the Chef rather than my own ideas of what works and what does not.

W: yes sir. I'll pass on you compliments to the Chef.

C: I'll certainly know to follow the Chef's advice to the letter next time, making my own decisions about how to have Christianity sure is a way to get most awful indigestion, what?

W: absolutely, sir.

God bless

[Faith_Machine]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Very nicely put, Dr. Niles. I just hope people aren't so dumb that they don't understand "indigestion," in this case, is a metaphor for aeternal damnation.

There aren't enough Tums or Pepto Bismol in the universe to put out the fire in your belly when Satan is pumping you full of molten hot demon sperm, now is there?

[WWJDnow]

Re: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

My name is Paul Tarsan, and I was once someone like you, caught up in the mind-games of Churchianity, the hierarchial structure and all that. But then I saw the light and gave up religion to follow JESUS.

I think you have us confused with the Catholics. Ours is a BIBLE BELEIVING church.

Here's what Jesus has to say about churches:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Revelation 2:7

He is the only one who matters at all in this world, right?

Uh, where exactly does the Bible say that?

From that day forward, I have made it my mission to free all of you from the scourge which LBC's vile blend of Churchianity brings to the table, and filling in that spot with the love only Jesus can bring.

LBC is a tremendously loving environment. The Bible says that God is love, and we believe in the Bible.

So you will be in my prayers, and I will be there to steer you in the right direction when you need it.

Thanks, but God doesn't listen to the prayers of heretics.

Peace be with you.

And to you.