Test

[xanderman]

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[Timebuilder]

That's interesting.

For post number 41, you post a "test."

Hmm.

 

[PA-44Typed]

interesting too is the fact that 41 people have viewed this "test"

 

[EagleRJ]

Well, I might as well hijack this thread

Timebuilder-

As long as your're here...

Why do you guys all put your hands up in the air at church? I'm not trying to belittle you- it's just something no other denomination does. I'm wondering what the origin of that practice is.

 

[Northern Lights]

I know that was directed at TB, but here are my $.02.

When people wave their hands, it is an expression of emotion. If your favorite sports team was in the finals, you might shout for joy or wave your hands in the air.

If you've ever been to the midwest, you might see a lot less of the expressions of emotion. The church I go to is filled with Swedes, Norwiegans and Germans. We're pretty reserved, and sometimes I wish that they would get a little more excited at church.

The most important thing though, is not how you worship, but WHO you worship.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyfull songs.....Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise." --From the 100th Psalm.

 

[EagleRJ]

The most important thing though, is not how you worship, but WHO you worship.

I agree wholeheartedly.

It's too bad TB doesn't share that view!

 

[Timebuilder]

Re: Well, I might as well hijack this thread

Timebuilder-

As long as your're here...

Why do you guys all put your hands up in the air at church? I'm not trying to belittle you- it's just something no other denomination does. I'm wondering what the origin of that practice is.

To the best of my knowlege, these hand wavers are a part of what is called the Charismatic Movement. While they don't meet all of the tests to be regarded as a cult, their specific ideas are based around a concept that I have heard called being "slain in the spirit," which is not worth going into here.

Many Biblical Christians find that this set of ideas is not supported by scripture, a least not to the point of these ideas receiving the special emphasis that is apparent in the teaching.

No one in my church waves thier hands, and we can always spot someone who is visiting from such a church, as they are the "only ones" with a hand in the air.

I see hand waving quite a bit in TV commercials for "comtemporary Christian music" CD's. Maybe the target audience for this music is the Charismatics, and maybe the hand waving just looks interesting in a TV commercial.

I don't have a clue as to how this might have started, but middle eastern people wave their hands a lot, including the Jews. Maybe that's part of it.

 

[Timebuilder]

Who you worship and how...

I agree wholeheartedly.

It's too bad TB doesn't share that view!

My view comes from the Bible because it's God's view.

The Bible is pretty specific about it's teaching. It is specific about what God considers to be an "abomination," about how we should conduct ourselves as men and women, about how to place God first in our lives, the entire package.

It doesn't tell us to drink poison or handle snakes. It doesn't tell us to pray to Christ's mother. It doesn't say to expect other doctrines, using other replacement "Christs," from other beliefs. It doesn't say we should take multiple wives, and it doesn't say to expect a book claiming to detail Christ visiting the New World and walking among native peoples of North America. It doesn't teach meditation as a means to enlightenment. It doesn't advocate yogic postures for spiritual health. It doesn't say to use crystals for healing light, or to use special breathing to remember your birth. It doesn't say to do a great many things that people do, believing they are coming closer to God.

It does warn us about all of the possibilities for false teaching and false prophets. It says that it is 100% sufficient as doctrine and guide. It says to spread it's knowlege to the entire world, that faith in Christ is the ONLY method of salvation, and that there is no other name, no other method, no other Bible, no other heaven, and no other way. None.

Think about it: if God doesn't have the right to dictate to us how we should follow His teaching, and the manner of praise and worship, then who would?

Trust me, if I was going to construct a theology on my own, it would be different, indeed. But it's not up to me, Mohammed, the pope, Buddah, nor anyone else.

It's up to God. That's why He gave us His Word.

 

[Northern Lights]

Good points TB.

The main thing that I try to remember during public worship is that we are there to worship (worth-ship -- give worth to) God for who he is and what he has done for us.

It bothers me when there is conflict in a church about what type of music is used. The young ones like the up beat stuff, and the older ones want the hymns.

What I try to always remember is that it is not for my pleasure, it is for God.

To take it a step further, worship should be a way of life, not something we do for an hour on Sunday morning. The way we treat others, how we use our time and money can all be forms of worship.

 

[TonyC]

To take it a step further, worship should be a way of life, not something we do for an hour on Sunday morning. The way we treat others, how we use our time and money can all be forms of worship.

To take it a step further would be to take it a step too far. A closer study of the Bible will reveal that worship has a beginning and an end. Among the roughly 191 times the Bible refers to worship are found clear references to "going" to or "coming" from worship. Take Abraham for example. In Genesis 22, when God commanded Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah, he told his servant on the third day, "And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you" (Genesis 22:5) Gideon "worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel" (Judges 7:15). Elkanah and his family "rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah" (I Samuel 1:19). When the infant son of David died, note the specific order of events listed: "Then David arose from the earth, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat" (II Samuel 12:20). The Ethiopian treasurer "had come to Jerusalem for to worship, [w]as returning" (Acts 8:27-28).

Therefore, since the Bible distinctively uses terms as "come to worship" (Isaiah 66:23) and "go...to worship" (Zechariah 14:16), it is not correct to say that everything one does is worship.

Worship is not entertainment. The only spectator in worship is our heavenly father (John 4:23-24). We worship God to honor and praise Him, not to honor and praise ourselves.

Worship is not to be confused with service. A close and critical study of the Bible shows that while we could consider all worship a type of service, not all of service is worship. The Hebrew writer designated distinctions between sacrifice of worship and sacrifice of service when he wrote, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (Hebrews 13:15-16). Jesus clears the distinction in his commandments to Satan in Matthew 4:10: "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship (proskuneseis) the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve (latreuseis)." Jesus did not confuse the two; neither should we.

Worship is not that which one performs continuously. Because of the confusion between worship and service, it is no wonder many would come to the false conclusion that all of life is worship. The defect is in confusing worship and service. Worship has the qualities of intention with reference to will and time--the mind involves a beginning point and an ending point. Thus, it is not something one does twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.