Church: Freedom to Choose!
- notpopular110
- Jan 23, 2018
- 5 min read
You need to KNOW what your church believes. Americans and so many other countries have the privilege of having RELIGIOUS FREEDOM! Religious freedom does not just mean that you are free to worship any god you want. It also means that you are free to worship our God in anyway you want. Why did people come to America? Because they did not agree with the church. They believed in the same God but they did not want to worship in the same way. We have that same freedom!
There are many different Christian churches and denominations because each one slightly differs in their beliefs than the other. No one Christian denomination is "right." Why? Because we are human we cannot know exactly what God is saying in the Bible, we can only study and try to know as best we can. We can argue and discuss the differences all we want but when it comes down to it the only thing that matters is that we believe Jesus Christ is our savior and that we did nothing to earn our salvation. That is the only thing that makes someone a Christian. Simple. That they believe in Jesus Christ as their savior, that He came to earth, died on the cross, rose again from the dead to defeat sin, death, and the devil. That we deserve nothing but death and punishment, but by solely the grace of God we have received eternal life, not by anything we do; not our belief on when to be baptized, or what type of music to sing, or if dragons ever existed.
So why do we have denominations? Because it is important to read the Bible, it is important for a human to honestly believe what they are learning. I think sometimes people feel trapped by a certain denomination or church. They think that since they have grown up there or that their parents, friends, or children go there they cannot venture off. The most important thing about a church is that they are feeding YOU spiritually. If that is not the case, maybe look into finding a new church. I'm not saying this should be taken lightly, you should pray long and hard, talk to your pastor, and talk to friends who have your best interest at heart. If you do not agree with what your church believes, even if it's something others don't consider to be super important, you need to find out why your church believes that. First you should pray about it, ask God to give you guidance and clarity into His word. Second you should read your Bible and see what it says, make sure you are reading what it says rather than letting your sinful nature contaminate what God is saying. Third talk to your pastor about what your church believes, ask him to explain the reasoning to you. I want to remind you though that while you may disagree with your church on one thing you may disagree with another church on two things and yet another church on three things. It is important for you to consider how much these things mean to you. If you don't necessarily agree with your church on baptism but definitely do not agree with a different church on communion, maybe the best thing for you is to stay at your church.
I'm not here to tell you, "You need to leave your church." I'm just wanting to remind you that if you are being distracted by something that is taking away from God's message each week, you have every right to find somewhere that is going to help you strengthen your relationship with Christ.
I worked at a Lutheran summer camp and a camper asked the pastor, "How do we know Lutherans are the right denomination?" and his answer was not, "Because we are!" No. It was along the lines of this, "I've read the Bible and I've studied various denominations' beliefs and to me the Lutheran belief and how we interpret the Bible is closest to what the Bible says." But he didn't stop there! He said, "If I ever find a denomination that I think more closely follows the Bible I would not hesitate to worship there." And to me that is the attitude we should all have. I'm not saying at every disagreement or question we should just walk out. I'm saying if that church is not feeding you spiritually, if it is not challenging you, and making you want to dedicate your life to Christ more and more everyday, then that church is not for you. That church may not be doing anything wrong, maybe your worship style is different, maybe you learn in a different way, but never think it is wrong to change churches.
I'm Lutheran (LCMS) and I'm proud of it. I know what my church believes and I know what my church thinks is wrong and I believe the same things. I get frustrated when people get mad at the pastor because of what he is preaching. Because 10/10 times the sermon is on something that the LCMS clearly states we believe or don't believe in. The pastor is not doing anything wrong, he along with the rest of the denomination are trying to preach what God says in the Bible; the same goes for every other denomination and church. The pastor or the church is not to blame if you disagree, you are free to change churches. It is both the churches job and your job to know what it is that you believe. So rather than get mad at the church or the pastor, find a church that believes the same things as you. There are so many Christian denominations and churches, I am sure you can find whatever it is that you believe in at one of those churches. But I also want to remind you, that the world sinks into our skin. It tells us this is okay, its not wrong. It says the Bible is wrong, God is wrong. Well I'm sorry hun, but God is not wrong. We have to pray that God will give us clarity to see what he means and not what the world wants us to think He means.
So basically, what I'm trying to get at here is this, find a church that is preaching what God says in the Bible. Find a church that believes Jesus died on the cross for your sins. That is the most important thing. Everything else is important and it should be looked at and studied but it pales in comparison to the message of God's gift to us. It is never wrong to leave a Christian church for another one. No Christian denomination is the right one. No Christian church is the best one. The true Christian church is not a denomination or a building, it is the collection of all believers. Our goal on this earth is to strengthen our relationship with God and to tell others about Him. But if our earthly church is not helping us strengthening our relationship with Christ it is going to be a lot harder for us to share His word with others.
Ephesians 4:11-15
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.