There's No Place Like HOME

Today was another Sunday for me to visit a different church.

I gotta tell ya...this experience was the most "interesting" of them all thus far.

As I have mentioned before, I have certain criteria that I look for in a church before I visit.

It MUST be a Bible believing, preaching, teaching church.

The church's beliefs about Christ must be the same as mine -- that He is God, He is the Son of God, He lived, was crucified, buried, rose again on the third day, and is coming back.

The church must believe that Jesus is Lord and that He is the ONLY way to salvation.

Those are all pretty standard as far as Christianity goes so in every church I've visited thus far, and even the one I visited today, the criteria has been met.

So...what made today's visit "interesting?"

1. There were no instruments. No piano. No organ. No drums. Nada.
2. There was no choir. There was a "song leader" who directed us to which songs in the hymnal, (yes HYMNAL) we would be singing.
3. Communion was served (today...4th Sunday).

Ok...so even though those things were "interesting," they didn't negate any of the criteria that I look for when visiting...so I was good with the service.

After service though, things became "more interesting."

One of the ministers spoke with me and asked what I though about the service. I pointed out that things were done a bit "different" that what I am accustomed to, but overall, I enjoyed service.

He then proceeded to ask me what was "different."

So I mentioned the fact that there were no instruments or choir. He didn't really address that, and then proceeded to ask me about anything else.

I told him that I wasn't used to having Communion on 4th Sunday. He then asked how often we have it at my church. I told him once a month, on 1st Sunday.

He asked me why.

I told him that that is just how often we do it, and told him that it didn't matter how often we did it as long as we did it in remembrance of Christ.

He then sat me down, opened his Bible and showed me that I was wrong.

We took a look at 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 which he explained to me just tells us WHAT Communion is and WHY we take it. He said that it does not state there WHEN or HOW OFTEN we are to take it.

In order to determine that, we went to Acts 20:7.

Based on that passage of Scripture, he told me that we are to take Communion EVERY "first day of the week," which is Sunday. So instead of just ONE Sunday a month, we are to be taking it EVERY Sunday.

He told me that there are five parts to WORSHIP:

• Praying
• Preaching
• Giving
• Singing

and

• Communion

Then he said, "If we only do 4 of the 5 each Sunday then WORSHIP is not complete."

Hmmm...

Then he moved on to the subject of baptism.

This got even "more interesting-er."

I noticed during service that the baptismal pool was ready, and that the ministers were ready to baptize anyone who came to receive Christ TODAY...as in before they left to go home, they could (and should be) baptized right then and there.

He proceeded to tell me that this is what they also believed (based on a Scripture that he pointed out, but I didn't get a chance to jot down.)

In a nutshell, he told me that believing, confessing Jesus as Lord, and repentance does not provide salvation. He said that unless one is baptized (after doing the above mentioned of course), only THEN are they saved.

So I asked, "So you're telling me that if someone believes, confesses Jesus as Lord, and repents of their sins, but does not get baptized...and dies...then they won't go to Heaven?"

He said that's correct.

Well that floored me.

As far as I understood (and still believe), baptism is simply an outward confession of an inward faith. If someone does everything I listed above (yet doesn't get baptized), they are still saved.

The minister told me that that was wrong because unless one "dies" (as in goes under the water), and is "resurrected" (as in comes back up out of the water) as Jesus did, then that person is not "like Him" and is not a new creature...therefore, NOT saved.

I don't really know what to say about all of that except that it has made me really want to dig deeper into God's word...to find out which is correct.

I am tempted to ask my pastor about it, but he doesn't think I should be "visiting" other churches for this very reason, because it may cause confusion.

Interestingly, I really thought that this church I visited today was one of the same belief as mine. Once I got there though and followed along with the service I realized that "denominationally speaking" it's a bit different. The PRIMARY principle (or doctrine) is the same, but other things are not. Had I known that, I may not have gone.

So...we'll have to see what my study and research uncovers...and most importantly, what God says about the issues of baptism, salvation, and Communion.

Normally I list the name of the church that I attended but today I'm gonna leave that out.

I will say this though...so that I could adhere to my "two visits per church" rule, I did go to their evening service today as well, so I won't be going back.

The message came from Deuteronomy 30:6-11 and was about making up one's mind to obey God.

I enjoyed the message, just as I enjoyed the one this morning. Both were "Scripturally sound."

It's just those parts about needing to be baptized (and I'm not talking about being "sprinkled"...I'm talking about "full immersion") as a REQUIREMENT, and Communion EVERY SUNDAY that I need to look further into.

Anywhoo...

Let the DIALOGUE begin: What's on YOUR mind today? Doesn't have to be church related. It can be ANYTHING.

Talk to me!

Til next time...