Hello Christian brothers and Sisters. I'm a Chaplain and I was blessed with tuition free Bible College education...

[IggyChaps]

Precious friend, A Very Warm Welcome to the Board.

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged, Enlightened, Exhorted, And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided! (+ I and II!) * ← PG rated "Approved" *
↑ do you mean ↑ 'high regard' for this? ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

Grace, Peace, And JOY!…

* PG = Perfect God / Parental Guidance:

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Aw blessings to you and thanks for the warm welcome. <3 My favorite verse! Love it!

 

[IggyChaps]

Do you know @Netchaplain ?

no. I'm pretty new here. :)

 

[IggyChaps]

Im just curious about the school--he sounds like an ad

not an ad my testimony. God bless you in the Love of Christ.

 

[Aunty Jane]

Greetings and blessings to you,

I do not mind your questions but I don't have much time to show you all the scriptures on ordination, ect. I have a business meeting soon. but I will def come back to these questions. They are awesome questions.
<<<<< snipped for brevity >>>>
I hope this helps.

What a very well reasoned answer…thank you.
You describe my own journey somewhat….but with some marked differences.

I became disillusioned with my own church because of the gross hypocrisy I saw there. But it wasn’t just my church specifically, but Christendom as a whole that got me agitated. They were all basically the same institution, but flying under different banners because of following the teachings of men.
1 Cor 1:10-13…
”Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should all speak in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you may be completely united in the same mind and in the same line of thought. 11 For some from the house of Cʹe have informed me regarding you, my brothers, that there are dissensions among you. 12 What I mean is this, that each one of you says: “I belong to Paul,” “But I to A·polʹlos,” “But I to Ceʹphas,” “But I to Christ.” 13 Is the Christ divided?…”
To all intents and purposes, the Christ is carved up into many divisions today. Unity is lacking and actions are misguided because of justifications and misinterpretation of scripture and mistranslation.

My beef is much bigger than just the teachings of Christendom’s church system….it is with the actions and justifications of those in positions of self-imposed authority that trangress the clear teachings of the Christ.

I agree that we need a first century Jewish mindset to understand what Christ taught. His words and illustrations are way more meaningful and dynamic when we do that.

His parable of the “wheat and the weeds” for example, means so much more from a Jewish agricultural perspective, than from a western farmer’s POV.

The “weed” in that parable (as you may know) is thought to be “bearded darnel“, called in the Middle East, “wheat’s evil twin”. It is a noxious weed that plagues ME farmers because it is almost identical to wheat in the early growing stages, but once it is grown enough to identify, it’s root system is so entangled with the wheat that to pull out the weeds means also uprooting the wheat, so the admonition was to allow them to grow together until the harvest, when the ears present in a very different way and are clearly identifiable. By harvesting both at the same time, the uprooting means also a separation to different outcomes. The weeds are collected first and destroyed, whilst the remaining harvested wheat is taken to the farmer’s storehouse. His crop might be diminished because of the weeds, but there is still a harvest.
Understanding who the “weeds” represent (imitation Christians, sown by the devil and identified by their “fruits”) and who are represented by the “wheat” (Christ’s genuine disciples, also identified by what they practice, or refuse to practice) is very important. Those who harbor delusions about the kind of “Christianity” they practice, will not be corrected by God, who is allowing hearts to make important decisions about the worship of the Father and the doing of his will, not following the teachings of men. (Matt 7:21-23; Matt 15:7-9)

I am always blown away when the deeper digging reveals gems in details that are not readily discernible from a cursory reading.

The one thing that bothered me more than anything was Christendom’s “friendship with the world”, (James 4:4) supporting its politics and its bloodshed. Justification for that IMO, is unconscionable. According to Jesus we are to be “NO PART of the world” (John 17:16; John 18:36) and we are to “love our enemies” and to “pray for them”. (Matt 5:43-44) No Christian can be a patriot because Christianity has no nationality. All Christians are “brothers”, so to take up arms to kill your “brother” of a different nation because of political differences, is anti-Christian. (1 John 4:20-21)
To deliberately shed the blood of any fellow human, which in todays warfare particularly, with weapons of mass destruction, we know that there are many innocent victims……making the killing indiscriminate.

These are just some of the issues that took me away from the “church” system and any of its teaching institutions.
I believe that we are in exactly the same situation as the first century Jews when Jesus came the first time. The majority rejected Jesus and his disciples as apostates because of the false teachings of the Pharisees who also had their own schools of religious study…..it was the very reason why Jesus chose his apostles from among the uneducated ones……he would personally educate them so that the “leaven of the Pharisees” would not influence them. (Matt 16:6, 12)

In this “time of the end” when we await Jesus’ coming as judge of all the earth, we see a familiar scenario.
The genuine Christians are a hated and misunderstood minority, accused of heresy by the established mainstream! Yet the real heretics are their accusers. (John 15:18-21) History is repeating right under everyone’s nose, and the devil is laughing at his success in a deception that is now global. (1 John 5:19)

I will be interested in your thoughts….

 

[Aunty Jane]

Paul sent out many to be ordained, Timothy is just one example. The Levi, the priest would receive offerings for the service as a priest it's biblical. The Levi were born into there vocation, the scribes also, ect. The bible says,
"For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward." 1 Timothy 5:18

Therefore, if you have a pastor with a family and he is serving his church doing community outreach, and services, taking care of the flock ect. How can he do this full time and keep a roof over his head and family how can they have meals to eat and clothing. We need to pray for our pastors and support them because they take care of God's sheep. Now we are not suppose to prostitute the word of God like simon the sorcerrer did. but yes a workman is worthy of his wages.

I would love to explore these things with you as well…..who is a “priest” in Christianity, and according to scripture, where would they officiate?
And was there ever just one “pastor” in the Christian congregations of the first century?
I have encountered quite a few men in my own ministry who have confessed to having a desire to do God’s work, but that the “salary” for a minister was too small. They saw a “career” as something that would be of financial benefit, not just spiritual gain. Sacrifice is part of our service, but many are not willing to make the sacrifice.…not to mention the “overtime” that is necessary when caring for the needs of the flock.

…..but I will wait till you have some time….

All the best…