Skip I'd like to answer your questions....
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]How do you choose where to worship when you travel?[/quote]
My wife and I worship together wherever we are staying, we worship at any number of denominations, or we worship at a denomination with the same name of our own \"home\" Church. (Skip I'm not perfect, I'm guilty of many of the things that my diatribe was against, hence the \"we\", but I am trying to change, hence the diatribe!)
Plus I am realizing that the end all be all of worship is not Sunday morning. Do I think you can be a Christian and not attend all services of your congregation..... absolutely (and if you doubt that I can give you ample reason why, and on a sidenote I'm definitely not condoning not attending for the sake of not attending, we should have every desire to be together).
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Do you send your kids / youth group to all available VBS and church camps regardless of the \"brand\" of Christianity?[/quote]
Yes I will when my first is born in July, unless they deny that Jesus is the Christ, or teach something for the sake of division, personal glory, etc....
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Are there any groups under the umbrella of Christianity that you recommend against associating with?[/quote]
I don't recommend against associating with anyone, unless they are a false teacher who comes to your door and denies Christ..... I do recognize that many people who call themselves Christians don't have the love of Christ, don't do things as good as they could, but did Paul disassociate with the Corinthians, Ephesians, etc., that had tons of problems? no, why should we?
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]How do you distinguish Christians from non-Christians so that you can minister and fellowship with the Christians and preach and teach to the lost?[/quote]
I don't distinguish, I live my life the same to whomever I am around. If they are Christians they will instantly be among edification and fellowship, if they are not they may learn something about a savior whom they have never met.
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Could I walk into your assembly and be permitted to teach your class without regard to my doctrinal background?[/quote]
Absolutely, my wife and I have been part of a congregation for about a month now. The only thing they ask \"members\" (which I realize is a formality and they do too) is if they are immersed believers, they do not turn away un-immersed believers (they would try to bring the un-immersed to a point where they would want to be immersed). They have asked me to teach classes and I have never taught in their midst before, and they haven't given me a quiz on what my background is or what I believe. \"They will know you by your love\"
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]1 John 39No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. [/quote]
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]1 John 41Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. [/quote]
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]1 John 419We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, \"I love God,\" yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. [/quote]
And remember to Christ love was much more than saying.... love was doing.
My children are going to learn in a free manner, as God lets me learn.... To enforce rules bound to titles and doctrine is what the law did. The law showed us what sin was but it didn't change us. Christ on the other hand shows us and changes us.
Its time we open our eyes....
thanks for asking Skip, glad to share it
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And as for this....
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I also seem to recall that the little fish symbol was (in the early church) a coded SOF by which Christians knew where Christians met to worship.[/quote]
Don't forget this was a matter of circumstance... in context this was used during a time that Christians were persecuted to the point of death. I don't think this is justification for continuing the exclusive practices of the present.