Why are Christians leaving their churches?

[Bruce-Leiter]

God changes not... I'll stick with what He says in His Word. View attachment 56565

Yes, he doen't change, but people do, because they're fallen, which he also says in his Word.

 

[Dan Clarkston]

Yes, he doen't change, but people do, because they're fallen, which he also says in his Word.

I'm not following people so them being tossed about by every wind of false doctrine has no bearing on me.

 

[Hobie]

Among people who have joined this large nondenominational church, it seems to be a hunger for biblical preaching with direct application to our lives with the comfort and challenge of the Word.

The issue is who decides what is presented and discussed, someone will be behind it, a Joel Esteen, or worse, a Benny Hinn...

 

[Jay Ross]

The issue is who decides what is presented and discussed, someone will be behind it, a Joel Esteen, or worse, a Benny Hinn...

or you Hobie. Remember that most teachers of God's word today have shortcomings

 

[Dan Clarkston]

most teachers of God's word today have shortcomings

Shortcoming??? That's hilarious!

Servants of the devil describe them far more accurate.

 

[Jay Ross]

Shortcoming??? That's hilarious!

Servants of the devil describe them far more accurate.

I have no trouble with you quoting my post, but you left off the members' name who was badgering/bad mouthing two
preachers who many people revere.

I had included Hobie's name in my post and he was included with the other pastors who have their own shortcomings.

 

[Bruce-Leiter]

Shortcoming??? That's hilarious!

Servants of the devil describe them far more accurate.

Do you think that you have no shortcomings, Dan? See this passage:
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always,
1Th 5:17 pray without ceasing,
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Paul commands us and also admits that he is imperfect in this passage:
Php 3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
Php 3:10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
Php 3:11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Php 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

If Paul admits that he still has to run the race toward resurrection perfection, who am I to claim that I'm already completely perfect in practice?

 

[Dan Clarkston]

If Paul admits that he still has to run the race toward resurrection perfection, who am I to claim that I'm already completely perfect in practice?

Yeah man... who are you... who who

 

[Bruce-Leiter]

Yeah man... who are you... who who View attachment 56751

I'm an 82-year-old widower. I was an English teacher for 8 years, a sales manager for 3 years, and a pastor for 27 years with master's degrees in English and Theology. Then, God made me a published author in retirement from the ministry.

I was christened a Methodist, grew up in and joined a liberal church at 12 years old, became a believer at 16 in a Baptist church, attended a cult for a while, and joined the Christian Reformed Church at Calvin College. I accepted the Reformed faith as the most biblically consistent while in college.

Sadly, my wife died suddenly four years ago. Now, it's just God and me in my condo.

 

[Dan Clarkston]

I accepted the Reformed faith as the most biblically consistent while in college.

Sorry to hear some folks have accepted false reformed theology... that's too bad since the reformation was a continuation of numerous false doctrines that came out of the catholic cult.

John Calvin and Martin Luther were both heretics that were big fans of the writings of augusrtine another heretic

 

[Bruce-Leiter]

Sorry to hear some folks have accepted false reformed theology... that's too bad since the reformation was a continuation of numerous false doctrines that came out of the catholic cult.

John Calvin and Martin Luther were both heretics that were big fans of the writings of augusrtine another heretic View attachment 56872

Prove to me that all three were heretics by quoting their own writings in context. If you can't, I'll know that you have retracted your accusations.

 

[Johann]

I'm an 82-year-old widower. I was an English teacher for 8 years, a sales manager for 3 years, and a pastor for 27 years with master's degrees in English and Theology. Then, God made me a published author in retirement from the ministry.

I was christened a Methodist, grew up in and joined a liberal church at 12 years old, became a believer at 16 in a Baptist church, attended a cult for a while, and joined the Christian Reformed Church at Calvin College. I accepted the Reformed faith as the most biblically consistent while in college.

Sadly, my wife died suddenly four years ago. Now, it's just God and me in my condo.

My heartfelt condolences to you, @Bruce-Leiter, on the loss of your wife.

Johann.

 

[Simonides]

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[Bruce-Leiter]

My heartfelt condolences to you, @Bruce-Leiter, on the loss of your wife.

Johann.

Thank you, Johann, for your condolences. However, God has given me his peace of Philippians 4:6-7. Her death has been a huge adjustment for me, through which God has guided me. He receives all the praise!

 

[Bruce-Leiter]

I reject this entire premise.

It would be more accurate to say,
that many who profess to be Christians, are abandoning the buildings pretending to be churches.

Anyone can call themselves a christian.

Call me a disciple, a believer, a follower,
a child of God, a friend of God, call me a Jesus Freak if you will.

But this word "christian", it's lost its meaning for me.

As for the "church", it's a rather poor translation to begin with. And it too, no longer means what it once did.

I am a member of the body of Christ.

For some reason that I will never understand, at least in this lifetime, He chose to take up residence in the heart of this wretched and sinful man.

And I am eternally grateful.

We don't "go", to church.
We "are" the Church.
The Temple of the Most High God.

I am part of the universal church too, and I go to church when I can, given my limitations at 82 years old. So, you don't follow Hebrews 10:25 to gather together with believers in worship? There must be some gathering of believers, part of the body of Christ, in your area, where you can worship the Triune God and obey Hebrews 10:25.

I am also a Christian with the meaning "Christ-follower." Who turned you off to the church, and how did they do that?

 

[Simonides]

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[Bruce-Leiter]

Brother Bruce, nice to meet you.

For the first couple of years after my conversion, my family attended church at every opportunity, and one or two home fellowship groups a week. I taught Sunday school, did door to door as well as street ministry, and even a little bit of preaching.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I ended up having a very bad experience with this church. Being young in Christ, headstrong, and not having the benefit of being properly discipled, I left this gathering and over the next year or so slowly slipped back into the world. Without fellowship, my already rocky marriage also began to fall apart. We eventually divorced, and I completely fell away.

While I never completely abandoned my faith, I did pretty much abandon all outward expressions of that faith, and lived in sin for most of the next three decades.

My fourth wife left me a little more than two years ago (probably the nicest thing she had ever done for me in 8 years of marriage). And over the next few months God pulled me out of the pit, and welcomed me back into the fold.

Since April of last year I have attended 5 or 6 churches in search of a home. I live very far from the next large town, which doesn't help. So far, I have yet to find a place where I feel comfortable.

There are several reasons for this. Primarily, the majority of churches I've looked into or actually attended seem to have little interest in preaching the full counsel of Gods Holy Word. They are mostly rock concerts with a bit of motivational speaking thrown in.

And then of course, there is the Covid issue. I could never trust a pastor or church leadership that went along with that charade.

There are other things that make finding a church home difficult for me, but those are the main ones.

So for the time being, this forum is as close to fellowship as I can get.

Brother Simonides, I understand your situation completely. I hope that you will eventually find a church home. You're on my daily prayer list. May the Lord bless you.

 

[Simonides]

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[Bruce-Leiter]

Brother Bruce, thank you. As I was just telling another brother in a private chat, I'm going through a challenging time in my life right now. I need all the prayers I can get. You're on my prayer list as well.
What a fine morning this is turning out to be. God be praised.

Yes, he is always good as our Father! It's really difficult to focus on God when people betray and mistreat us. I know that similar things happened to me in two of my churches. God enabled me to lament persistently those situations, the way David did in almost half of the Psalms, though it's not part of our culture. The result was God's gift of peace which enabled me to give the sins of others to God to judge (Philippians 4:6-7).

 

[Dan Clarkston]

that many who profess to be Christians, are abandoning the buildings pretending to be churches.

And then there are actual Christians that quit attending church because all the churches in their area are teaching false doctrine and are nothing more than religious social clubs void of God's Spirit.

But this word "christian", it's lost its meaning for me.

One could accept what God's Word says and quit being lost on this topic...

Acts 11:26
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

The early believers were acting like Jesus... so this is why they were called Christians since they were followers of Jesus the Christ. It doesn't matter what people say Christians are today.