institutionalism

Responsibility What does the Bible Say? “Whoever is anti-scriptural is responsible for whatever division exists” Anti-Scriptural The bible doesn’t say we can’t Un-Scriptural The bible doesn’t say we can What does the Bible Say? Jno 12:48, Col 3:17, 1Cor 4:6, Matt 7:15-23

Basic disagreement “The concept of the church. “Whether the church is an organization or a relationship?

The choices Choice 1 Organization Choice 2 Relationship “This develops into an imagined and arbitrary distinction between the church and the individual in all phases of work by the Christian.” Choice 2 Relationship “Any action required of God to the individual and to which action each Christian bears equal responsibility may be done in either individual or collective capacity” Or “What the individual can do the church can do”

Organization and Relationship Test the Premise The conjunction “or” infers choice (exclusion) Organization: A group of persons united for some purpose. The way in which a thing's parts are arranged to work together. Relationship: Of belonging to the same family. A condition that exists between people or groups that deal with one another. Which of these definitions exclude the other ? Scripture uses both descriptions Rom 8:12-17, 1Cor 12:28, Eph 4:11 Organization and Relationship

Examine his Conclusion ”… imagined and arbitrary distinction between the church and the individual” Negative terms infer (“NO DISTINCTION”) Church: a collective noun. ”...this unique class of nouns denotes a group of people, animals, objects, or ideas as a single entity”. Individual: a single person, animal, or thing. We can’t distinguish between a group and an individual in written text.

Church used in “Distributive” sense “Collective” if paid by church treasury “Distributive” if paid by individual Christians “Church” either way Distributive: (Grammar.) referring to each individual of a group being considered separately. If there is no difference between the individual and the church then: Collective = Distributive and: The conclusion of the supplement becomes: “Any action required of God to the church and to which action each church bears equal responsibility may be done in either collective or collective capacity”

“To whom does God speak?” Why Ask? Widows 1 Tim 5:16 If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows. “Paul is not teaching a distinction between the collective and the individual. He is talking about “individual” separation…of responsibilities. Why use the word “church” in the passage? If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the rest be burdened, that the rest may relieve those who are really widows.

The all Sufficiency of the Church Church + Institution = fulfillment of God’s work Did the creator build a faulty church? Did the creator, assign impossible tasks to the church? All truth was delivered by the end of the first century Jude 3, 2Tim 3:16 Can the “institution” be found in 1st century history? More widows then or now? Arrangement for “Galilean Widows Home”? More orphans then or now? Arrangement for “Old Judean Orphans Home”? Is there evidence of a “sponsoring church” arrangement? Will you on judgment day look at God and say “you built a church with a fault. In your name we added the institution, to make up for that which was lacking?” Matt 7:15-23

The End justifies the means “It does not matter who opens the envelope, but it matters who got the Money” Straw man 10 members give 5$ To Mt. Dora Christian Home 10 members give 5$ into the treasury “for” Mt. Dora Christian Home and $50.00 is sent by the church. In both cases the Home gets $50.00. What is the difference? Lev 10:1“Hey Nadab, it’s all going to burn up, go ahead flick your Bic” Num 20:10-12 “What’s the big deal we got water didn’t we”?

Conclusion Responsibility Basic disagreement To have a scriptural foundation for the things that we practice The bible doesn’t say we can’t is thin ice Basic disagreement Not over concepts Interpretation of Scripture The all Sufficiency of the Church Who will accuse God of building a defective product The End Justifies the Means Nadab and Abihu Moses