Who else believes this

Media is the only church my bedridden mother has. If you told her she didn't go to church, when she listened to the radio, TV or even the internet, she'd give you a swift... reply!

 

The internet is not church, the tv is not the church, and oh yes... the radio is not church either.

 

Brother Bob said:

There are different kind of "dead".

Yeah, as the Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism says, to be "dead in sins" means only to be sick or injured in sins.

 

Maybe, but the Lord told his diciple to let the dead bury the dead.

"59": And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

"60": Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
The following is in the eyes of God:

There is dead in sin
There is dead to sin
There is natural dead
There is spiritual dead
There is second death
I preach sermons on it from time to time.

Ransom I would like you to comment on my post of "who is the saved and who is the lost"

 

If technology allowed many people to gather together and worship God collectively through video conferencing and be able to see and hear each other as if they were all together, would that be considered "church"?

Is it not "church" unless you have a congregation sitting in a bunch of pews and watching while a select few (or one) sing to them and then one speak to them all while they just sit there and give no input?

Is it not "church" unless you have a "Sunday School" program (which in many assemblies amounts to just another sermon lecture)?

Can a gathering of believers having a Bible study with one or a few spiritual leaders moderating be considered "church", or is it not church unless you have
1. opening prayer
2. congregational hymns
3. announcements
4. special music
5. sermon lecture with passive audience
6. come-forward invitation (often ambiguous enough so that everyone would really be a hypocrite if he didn't come forward).

 

Sitting in front of a computer or tv or radio is not church.

David said in the Psalms 'I was glad when they said unto me, let us go up to the house of the Lord'.

Paul wrote in Hebrews for us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. One is not assembled with others through media.

 

SuperBaptist said:

This BB is a church

The BB is a Web-based discussion forum. It is no more a "church" than a donut shop patronized by Baptists is a "church."

A church, at the very least, has leadership consisting of elders and deacons, practices baptism of believers, and serves the Lord's Supper. The BaptistBoard does none of these things.

Nor are radio or the media "church." A church is a community; its members interact with each other. Television images of a polyester-clad prophet with a bad accent and a worse toupee are strictly one-way.

 

Amen, Ransom!

Now, that'll preach for sure.

 

we have gotten a long way from the Commandments and The Law and I think I will go for a hair transplant .

 

I guess poor Jesus didn't have a church then; who were his elders? If Jesus were alive today, he might be spreading the Word via the internet. Call it a church, cyberspirituality or call it the Beast. These are words of men, not the Word which comes from the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus had a church. It started from the day He began calling His disciples saying, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.'

It was a gathering. Not people sitting at keyboards, not in front of TV's, radios, or even telephones.

 

And this is not a gathering?

 

no, the BB is not a gathering.

 

SuperBaptist, perhaps the point is more that we are not joining together here for worship and praise, but rather for debating. That is not, I don't think, the sort of thing that Paul had in mind...

However, it also does not have to be at a church. A gathering in a home can be a wonderful time of praise, fellowship, and worship and study of the Word.

We do have some close friends, though, who miss their old church in Hawaii so much that they 'attend' on the internet every Sunday!

 

SuperBaptist said:

I guess poor Jesus didn't have a church then; who were his elders?

Are you really this ignorant? It's his church. He is the elder.

 

That's right, exactly my point. We don't need elders nor a building to worship. This is the Baptist Board, where we gather in HIS name, sometimes to disagree; often this occurs inside the buildings I grew up in, called churches. For some this IS a church. It is just not a church that costs a lot and uses land and collects a tithe. As far as I could tell, Jesus wasn't much for all of the above; as for Paul, well, he was a man with motives we may never truly understand.

Th great commission says nothing about building Christians Ghettos where everyone agrees. Jesus went out to the sinners and converted them. You might do the same.

 

BB is not a church.

 

So THAT'S why you guys haven't been paying me a salary!!