In the Roman Catholic Church, both the tradition of the church and the scriptures carry equal weight. In other words, the traditions of the church are as sacred as the words of scripture. In the early 1500's Martin Luther taught that the source of authority is "sola scriptura" (scripture alone). The reformation championed that phrase in the subsequent years.
Today evangelical churches still profess to hold to the concept of "sola scriptura". While the evangelicals declare that they are differant from the Roman Catholics when it comes to the sacredness of church tradition, their actions indicate otherwise. I am becoming more convinced that even though there has been almost 500 years of declaration that they stand on, evangelicals hold the same beliefs as the Roman Catholics. If you do not believe me, dare to challenge any of their extra-biblical beliefs.
Let me illustrate. Bev and I had a conversation with a group of leaders recently. During the conversation we were asked about where we attend church. Since we do not attend church, the answer was simple - we don't. Their consternation was almost amusing. I then asked if I could stretch their theology a bit. My question to them was "where in scripture do you find that we are to go to church". After a bit of fumbling, one person responded with the scripture in Hebrews encouraging us to not forsake gathering together. I replied that we do gather together with other believers to be encouraged. We just don't go to church on Sunday morning. While it was a good conversation, their discomfort with "sola scriptura" was obvious.
Why do evangelicals associate going to church with spirituality? It is because they believe that the traditions of the church are equal to scripture. To question "going to church" (which isn't even a biblical concept) is seen as questioning God Himself. Our church tradition has so affected us that despite our claims of sola scriptura, our actions show that we really believe otherwise.
Monday, May 23, 2011
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2 comments:
i agree. church has become a system and many are not finding their answer in the church. we will only find our answers within our spirits.
Problem is we make church way to complicated. We take a good idea and pervert it. The "church" is suppossed to be the body of beleviers, united under christ. Meeting on Sunday at a specified time and a specified location is not a bad idea, it helps give people structure, and its an efficient way to have many beleviers congregate together to share concerns, teach, and encourage eachother among other things. But people take a good idea like that and make it a law. The Lord talks to me in my car Monday through Friday better than I hear on Sundays sometimes, but I like to go to church so I can speak with many believers at one time and share ideas and help people I see struggling. It doesn't mean Sunday is more holier than any other day or that one church is better than the other. For example, the Catholic church. The word mentions about how you can give more time to the Lord by being single. He didn't mean that the only way you can become leader in the church is to be single, He even says it is better for some people to be married rather than burn with lust. There you go, something simple that got messed up. Going to a place every Sunday to meet with fellow christians is not a law, but it many ways it is a good idea.
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