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Back to Babylon?

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carol70:
Matt, I have no advice but I wanted to thank you for posting this topic and everyone for the responses.

I have a two year-old son and I've been trying to figure out what to do about him and Sunday school.  He hasn't started it yet but prior to a couple of months ago, it was my intention that he go to Sunday school.  Now, I'm not really sure what to do.  My mom and I had a conversation about it this past weekend.  She's going through her own church issues but she made it very clear that she feels my son needs to be in Sunday school.  I told her it's been on my mind a lot lately but since she and I have very different beliefs, I haven't shared with her my sudden reluctance to send my boy to church.

Anyway, this thread has given me a lot of food for thought.

mrsnacks:
Well I did tell my wife that I don't feel like going anymore. The few that have been reached with the truths are pulling out of the church. My wife was sad to hear that I won't go. She thinks that there may be just a chance others will be open. So I will think and pray on it. My wife wants me to go with her. So I may bite the bullet and attend because of her. She teaches the kids and she desires the worship. Plus they need help musically so we will see.

fe32k:
2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Luke 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.


Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

As others here say, not advice, but just some scripture to think about.

In Christ,
Roy

jackson:
Hey Roy, thanks for the scripture!  They fit the situation perfectly.

The first three verses (in 2Cor., Rev. and Luke) are calling for a seperation.  If we cannot distinguish ourselves from the world then we are doomed to live and die in it.

But as you quoted from John this seperation must be a spiritual one.  To physically diassosiate with all of Babylon is impossible as long as we are living here.  Besides, how would we ever know what the truth was if we were never told a lie.  This Babylon, this church, this world is serving a purpose (a good purpose) for those that have "eyes to see and ears to hear".  As long as we are in God and He in us we have nothing to fear and everything to gain.

In His Grace,
Jackson

skydreamers:
Hi Roy,

Yes, those are of course important scriptures to consider.  But if I may offer my perspective on how I understand them, or how I apply them to my life (and this is of course, only my understanding at present ;))

As you so rightly point out:

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Therefore, I can be physically in a room full of unbelievers  and yet be spiritually NOT fellowshipping with them, as I hold fast to what I believe and see as the truth, in my spirit.

In my heart and in my spirit I can come out of Babylon and not partake of her sins, though I may physically be surrounded by Babylon.  (By the way, I agree with others who have said that Babylon is not just present in the church....and I can watch TBN ministers [which I do on a rare occasion for a laugh] with no harm to my spirit, if anything it's a constant confirmation in me that these ministers are "off"....I think as you come out of Babylon, God gives you the gift of discernment where you begin to see the lies like a red light flashing...but this "coming out of Babylon" still is occuring even after you "physically" come out of the church....IMHO)

And so, if I am amongst "unbelievers" and they see that I take a different stand by the questions they ask of me, they will either kick me out of their presence, or they will ask more questions...as the Lord wills.

There are "unbelievers" everywhere!!!!  I know of 9 people (that I recently had the joy of meeting for the first time after two years) in my own HUGE city that believe the way I do.  We are few and far between....a scattered bunch.)

Now, if I were to attend church for the sake of my family (which admittedly I'm not in the position of having to do), yet all the while they become aware of where I stand through every opportunity that comes up to add comments and answer questions, am I not just "becoming as one of them so that I might save one of them"?

1 Corinthians 9:19-23
19  For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

20  To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.

21  To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

22  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

23  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.


Peace,
Diana

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