| Author | Message | ||
| Akweavers Registered user Username: Akweavers Post Number: 170 Registered: 8-2008 |
I have a few questions that may seem too simple to worry about but I am always wondering about them. Maybe ya'll can answer some of them. 1. Do we have to end our prayers like this...In Jesus name, amen. I was taught we had to. They don't where we go to church. Now that I see the whole trinity thing differently, I am wondering if we have to or not. 2. Should you kneel in church to pray. Again, they don't where we go and now I am being told that most churches don't. 3. Why do sda stand up and kneel down so many times at the beginning of services? Seems catholic to me now. Do any other churches do that? 4. Last but not least, how long, if ever, before we see things like regular (whatever that is) Christians do? | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 5294 Registered: 9-2006  |
1. Most do. 2. Most don't. 3. Don't know. 4. A very long time, maybe never. | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 2118 Registered: 8-2004  |
1. Man looks on the outward appearance but God knows the heart and hears not only what we say but what we mean. So what place do 'form prayers' have? The closest thing to a 'form of prayer' that I can think of is the 'Lord's Prayer' and it doesn't end in 'in Jesus' name'. Nothing wrong with saying it - in fact it can be good to remind ourselves at the end of prayer just why we're able to approach God, it's all about Jesus. But prayer is conversation with God, not a magic formula that must be followed to get results. 2. Again, there is Biblical precedent for kneeling - and also for standing, sitting, laying prostrate, and walking, for lifting the eyes and for bowing the head, speaking in a loud voice and for praying without words. Prayer is communication with God. There is no Biblically imposed ritual that I know of that must be followed in public prayer. 3. The 'stand up and kneel down' of the SDA churches is very similar to a Methodist service format. It think a likely explanation for it is that many of the founding SDAs (including EGW) came from a Methodist background and brought that format along with them. 4. It can take years. (but then what is a 'regular' Christian? We are all born sinners saved by grace and just because the particular manifestation of sin we come from is different than the next guys doesn't make us more or less 'real Christians' than he is.) Thankfully God is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, not for those who worship Him perfectly. He'll correct what needs correcting as we walk with Him. He is faithful to complete the work He began in us - and we can trust Him with it! Blessings, Mary | ||
| Akweavers Registered user Username: Akweavers Post Number: 171 Registered: 8-2008 |
Thanks for your input and answers. : ) | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 10190 Registered: 12-2003  |
One more thing, Akweavers, is that when we are in Christ our prayers are going to God in Jesus' name because we have taken His name by believing and accepting salvation. Because we are saved and alive in Christ, we can enter God's presence freely because of Jesus. So our prayers ARE offered in Jesus' name because we have taken refuge in Jesus. When we find our reality and life in Jesus, the formal practice or worship rituals is less and less important. We might enjoy them, but they are not necessary for worship to occur. Colleen | ||
| Handmaiden Registered user Username: Handmaiden Post Number: 77 Registered: 7-2008 |
Mary, i genuinely loved your post and wholeheartedly agee with all of it until this part: quote: 4. ...We are all born sinners saved by grace and just because the particular manifestation of sin we come from is different than the next guys doesn't make us more or less 'real Christians' than he is..... end quote True alllll humanity are BORN sinners but ONLY genuine Christians are saved by grace. no one is born saved by grace. I'm sure you did not mean the error probably just thinking ahead of yourself but i could not let it go. Once a person is SAVED by trusting in the finshed work of Jesus on the cross, they are moved positionaly from being a sinner to being a saint; even though they are not sinless. The Scripture NEVER again refers to them as sinners but SAINTS. To the saints who are in Ephesus... To all the saints who are in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi... To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are Colosse... sinners are lost/unsaved saints are saved by grace  Reading the Scriptures is thinking God's thoughts after Him, which renews our minds and gives us the mind of Christ...that is when you will start thinking like a "regular" christian. Ask God to heal your soul (mind, will and emotions) from the lies of the enemy embedded in your thinking and to take every thought captive and placed under the blood of Jesus. Stay in the Word, it will wash away the teaching of egw and thinking God's thoughts after Him will replace your own thoughts with His thoughts renewing your mind in Christ. handmaiden | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 2120 Registered: 8-2004 |
This was my point, I'm sorry it didn't come across. My point was that everyone who has truly surrendered to God is on the same footing with Him. Just because we come from one particular error or another doesn't make us less than/greater than someone who comes from the background of a different error. There are no 'step Christians' or 'half Christians'. There is either sinner dead in trespasses or sinner saved by grace - the difference is death and life. How's this for a rewording? Perhaps it makes my point clearer: "We are all born sinners, and all of us that are saved are saved by grace to the same status with God." The "we" I was speaking of is those of us who have come to Christ. I am imphatically NOT a Universalist (though I long for the salvation of all I trust that God will do what is best for each creature he has made). | ||
| Handmaiden Registered user Username: Handmaiden Post Number: 80 Registered: 7-2008 |
AMEN Thanks Mary love handmaiden | ||
| 8thday Registered user Username: 8thday Post Number: 1109 Registered: 11-2007  |
By the grace of God, we will not be delivered from a cult to be "regular" Christians. Now that I know what that is in America, it's the last thing I want. I know I need an orthodox theology, but deliver me from lukewarm institutions! |
