House Church Talk - Re: hc, women JL et.al

[DanG]

> The "willingness principle" of John 7:17 and Mark 11:27-33 is a real test
> for all of our hearts!  i.e. IF I found out that that the position which I
> presently hold was actually wrong, AM I WILLING to acknowledge that,
change
> my practice and teaching to exemplify and explain to others how I was
wrong
> and what I understand now is actually the truth of scripture??
>
> This is a test that I continually seek to apply to whatever I believe and
> teach to others. IF I am NOT willing to change when I find that I have
been
> wrong (I have discovered I was wrong many many times in the past, and so
> will most likely make many more such discoveries!), I cannot expect the
Lord
> to teach me anything more!
>
> Your brother in Christ,
> Bruce

Thank you Bruce, Jonathan, David for the continuing discussion in depth that
I have been skimming.

I like what you express here, Bruce about the willingness principle.  It is
a similar manner in which I desire to see things.  But as any man, I am
prone to want to stay in the vein of tradition - it is comfortable.  And,
even moreso when a comfortable position has been hard to gain and has been
held for some time.  I mean - I am much like Jonathan in home style - we
both home school and home church.  (As a matter of fact, Jonathan and I are
related as his grampa and mine were brothers.)  At any rate, on willingness,
I would be hard pressed to leave home school and home church even with
convincing proof or argument.  Willingness is a matter of learning.  Hence,
for instance, regarding homeschool, I would be hard pressed to be willing to
drop the arguments for homeschool, even given scripture.  The same is true
for most areas of life I suspect with regard to willingness.

But, I like the willingness principle, nonetheless.

As to the topic in hand, it seems that you have a clear vision of what
church as spoken in the Bible comprises.  While I have skimmed repeated
posts about three church meetings, etc - I am unclear about what a church in
your clear vision comprises?  Can church be anything but what your clear
vision comprises?  Can church be a bit more fluid in terms of function?
While I appreciate the watchman character that you, Jonathan, David have
been expressing, is there a place to allow?  Allow/let God work differently
than our visions?  I thought Jonathan's initial rebuttal on this discussion
was critical and David picked up on it also - any expressed views do not
constitute control.  Expressed views can and should be just that - expressed
views which are then fit into another frame of reference.  Church in Tronna
versus church in Springville can be different things, can't they?  Indeed,
it is of interest to see what is being discussed here, but in that, can't
differences be allowed?  While I agree that any attempt or seeking for
conformity to Truth is certainly the goal for each of us, God has us in
different places and different growth positions.

It just seems to me that in conveying ideas about a city church meeting,
etc, the picture I see is typical instutional church again, perhaps not as
well developed denominationally as we know today, but institutional church
nonetheless.  I dunno, that was the sense I took from some of what you
wrote - and I don't know that I like it, that's all.  Besides, in this
corrupt generation, how and where is there any opportunity for this to flesh
itself out?  I dunno about anyone else, but this world is not my home.
There is waaaaay toooo much here that is just impossible to deal with
anymore.
DanG ChicagoArea