Indeed, what does going to church have to do with being a Christian?
This is a silly question. Nominal Christians do not set out to be nominal and are therefore hardly likely to admit to it. It’s like asking, are you an idiot?
I agree with most of this but what is the point of your question?
Quite a lot actually. A person may go to church and not necessarily be a Christian. But a person cannot call themselves a Christian without connection to a church.
Christianity is a community of faith rather than a personal opinion. Connection to God and the body of Christ are essential components.
Ned
You’ve touched on a very delicate issue and people have been shot for less. Once again I will call upon the unique.individuality of Simone Weil to vivify this dilemma
Simone Weil has influenced two Popes with her writings. The only reason she is not a Catholic saint is because she refused Baptism. She is a Christian mystic who didn’t pray Yet her Christianity is not disputed. Why? Because she was so pure in her essential Christianity. There was no need for a show.
She rebelled against the Catholic church because she understood that it had become corrupt. Its original founding was to be a religion of slaves but it had become a religion of power and the church came to symbolize this power.
So if this is true, can such a church structure be considered the body of Christ? Granted there is a lot of truth hidden within this outer structure but does a person have to outwardly celebrate this outer corrupted structure to be considered part of the body? I don’t believe so.
Simone had real oil in her lamp. It is what allowed her to be found. This had nothing to do with the blind support of corruption but in the selective appreciation of Christianity from a woman of true calling.
Well said!
I know, I was expecting the worst!
It depends. If you’re asking, can a Christian disagree with authority and still be considered a Christian, I think the answer is clearly “yes”. There are many groups who have rebelled against the church leadership yet maintained a community of faith and held true to the teachings of Christ. But if you’re asking if an individual Christian can deliberately cut himself off from commune with other Christians (church) and still be considered a Christian I would say “no”. The church is the only body of Christ on the planet. If you are not connected to it, you are not connected to Christ.
This seems like an issue of authority rather than community. But I don’t know her story well enough to comment.
Really? Then how does one go about telling the difference, if it’s merely a matter of stamping a label on something? It sounds more like an appeal to the authority of The Church than anything else. Why not call it Churchianity instead?
In other words if you don’t accept it personally, and follow the crowd, and don’t truly believe what it says, then you’re saved? Wow, it sounds more like lip service to me.
My first post and hello to all!
As I see it, a person can call themselves a true Christian and not be affiliated with a church. Some examples: the publican who was overwhelmed with anxiety and despair was very likely not connected with a church and he was clearly saved at the time – ie. a true Christian (Luke 18:10-14). Also, the thief on the Cross (Luke 23:39-43) was very likely not connected with a church and he too was saved at that precise moment (i.e. a true Christian). The people of Church and the people of Christ are not necessarily the same. Passion.
Ned: A person may go to church and not necessarily be a Christian. But a person cannot call themselves a Christian without connection to a church.
You will not find any “individual Christianity” in the bible, no matter how much it may appeal to you. Authority and community are inter-related but are not the same thing.
Ned:Christianity is a community of faith rather than a personal opinion. Connection to God and the body of Christ are essential components.
Those are your words. I said that you cannot be a Christian without connection to the body of Christ. I suppose in some sense this means “following the crowd” because one cannot simply make up Christian theology from scratch. The church is the “pillar and foundation of the truth”. If you reject the church of Christ you reject the foundation of the Christian faith and therefore reject Christ.
1 Timothy 3
14Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.