sojourner
Annoyingly Progressive Since 2006
People today are worshipping in many diffrent ways and doing things that are not even found in the scriptures.
The Church has always done that. Remember, the Bible was not yet written when Christians began to worship apart from their jewish progenitors.
If Jesus is the Head of the CHURCH and he is (Col.1:18) and the body makes up the church (individual members),the way it is supposed to work is that the head tells the body what to do. The body should ONLY DO what the head tells it to do.
(If) the head is leading all these denominations,WHY are they worshipping in so many different ways? And who DECIDED it was OK?
Because they worship and believe according to their interptetation of what Christ is telling them...just as you do. When my head says, "Ride your bicycle," my legs interpret that in one way. My hands, in another. My lungs, in yet another. Each has to work together in order to get the bicycle ridden. Maybe each individual grouping of the Church needs to work more closely together with other groups, identifiying and celebrating our unity, instead of disparaging our differences.
On top of all that they add to the word of God with their CREEDS BOOKS, which actually opposes the word of God (1Cor.4:6) (Rev.22:18,19) (Deut.4:2),THEN they ALL claim to be the ONE TRUE CHURCH following the HEAD (JESUS). Either Jesus did not give the instructions well enough or alot of people are worshipping and teaching the way they want (Rom.10:1-3). ALL these different churches cannot even agree how to get INTO the Lords Church. How does one explain all this? (John 17:21) says that we are to all be one (UNIFIED BY TRUTH) and that by this all the world will know that God sent Jesus.
All Churches agree that it is by faith in Jesus that we are identified as followers. John 17:21 says nothing about being "unified by truth." Many, manyof your scriptural references do not say what you claim they say. Truth is not the thing by which the world will know God sent Jesus. Unity is how the world will know.
My church doesn't have a "creed book." I'd be willing to bet that we worship differently than you do. I have been a member of the Episcopal Church, which uses a "Book of Common Prayer." It does not contradict the Bible. In fact, most of its contents are lifted directly from scripture. Episcopal worship is highly "Biblical" in nature. But I'd be willing to bet that they worship differently from you.
Alot of people are worshiping in ways that are meaningful for them, and in accordance with what constitutes proper worship, as they interpret that.