Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Do Not Neglect Gathering Together

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing." Hebrews 10:24-25

Hebrews 10:25 only means that Christians should meet together regularly (specifically for encouragement and spurring on to good deeds)—not that the meeting together has to be convenient for large numbers, or that it has to be in a building designated for that purpose.

The government is not causing us to ignore the preaching of the Gospel by their unlawful restrictions. You do realize that many countries do not allow you to build such buildings (which should not exist in the first place; Jesus did not give His Bride a temple to worship in because we are that temple)? Believers in these countries do the same as in Scripture and meet from house to house. "Traditional" does not equal "biblical". Your experience of "church" does not translate to the biblical standard. Your creed, confession, catechism, constitution, statement of faith, system of theology, etc., must be filtered through the Bible—not the other way around. The Bible must be your absolute authority!

If Paul taught the same things in every congregation (assembly; gathering), then why is there such a huge disconnect between what we read in the Scripture and what we have experienced in our various denominations?

If you bother to look into this, you will discover that these departures began with the Early Church Fathers. Let's look at a few:
  • The "fellowship" was "the breaking of bread." They came together over a full meal. How'd we get to tiny cups and wafers/crackers/pieces of bread, etc.? The meal was the focal point of their gathering; not a sermon.
  • Baptism was done immediately on the spot (not by immersion; circumstantial evidence obliterates this imposition upon Scripture from an eisegetical reading of Romans 6:3-4), regardless of whether their profession was genuine of false. Why? Because baptism, like circumcision, is a sign/seal of being in covenant with God; it is a witness/testimony for or against us. The Early Fathers created longer and longer delays as well as ridiculous reasons as to why it should be postponed, such as whether or not you were married.
  • Membership required only one thing: the indwelling Holy Spirit. This has changed over the centuries to the point where joining a "church" (a building, which is often nothing more than a corporation) is like joining a club. Jump through these hoops, agree to this nonsense, and you are in.

Stop ripping random, isolated verses of Scripture out of their immediate context and forcing your ideological beliefs and subjective experiences upon them! You are to conform yourself and your beliefs entirely to the Word of God. The Bible never conforms to you or your perverse desires!