Originally Posted by Peace Seeker

Hi, jiggyfly

For many years I did not attend church because I agreed with your take on the institutionalized churches, and I wanted to be free from some of the negativity I saw in most of them. However, I have recently started regularly attending church and have enjoyed praising the Lord in song, the fellowship, etc.

So are you saying that now that I'm back in church, it could be harming my spiritual growth???

I always felt guilty when I wasn't attending church, like I was disobeying the admonishment in Hebrews 10:25 about assembling together, and I felt that I wasn't being a good Christian by staying at home. (I'm not saying that's why I started going to church again).

So what should I be doing at home if I am not attending church? There are no home churches around my area that I know of, and how do I remember the sabbath day to keep it holy? Does keeping that day holy entail nothing more than not working on it? Or does worshiping Him on that day constitute "remembering the sabbath"?

In summary, if I am not pleasing the Lord by being involved with a "carnal Christian religious institution", am I to leave the church? If so, then what?

Respectfully, in Christ

Just do your best to be led by HolySpirit.

Originally Posted by jiggyfly

Just do your best to be led by HolySpirit.

Yeah, that's all I can do, and if He wants me to do something I'm sure He'll tell me.

Originally Posted by Peace Seeker

In summary, if I am not pleasing the Lord by being involved with a "carnal Christian religious institution", am I to leave the church? If so, then what?

I think it depends on how you define "the institutional church". If you see it as the old line denominational churches steeped in rituals, ceremony and man-made tradition, I agree. I believe that God led me out of one such denomination twenty plus years ago and planted me in a non-denominational setting where I have grown and prospered as a believer. Yes, we have a church staff and yes we own and meet in a church facility, but, the comparison pretty much ends there.

SLE

Originally Posted by SpiritLedEd

I think it depends on how you define "the institutional church". If you see it as the old line denominational churches steeped in rituals, ceremony and man-made tradition, I agree. I believe that God led me out of one such denomination twenty plus years ago and planted me in a non-denominational setting where I have grown and prospered as a believer. Yes, we have a church staff and yes we own and meet in a church facility, but, the comparison pretty much ends there.

SLE

I'm currently in a non-denominational church, no rituals or ceremony that I've noticed. Just your basic church that sings some songs, passes the collection plate, pastor does a sermon, we go home kind of thing. I checked out several denominational churches before settling on this one, as the others seemed more like places where one goes to feel good, rather than learn anything.