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Brother McWhorter,

The "mourner's bench"- "anxious bench" had a bit deeper history and meaning (especially for more Calvinistic system's of belief).  However, overall your answer was quite solid; and I can stand in overall agreement.

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37 minutes ago, Pastor Scott Markle said:

Brother McWhorter,

The "mourner's bench"- "anxious bench" had a bit deeper history and meaning (especially for more Calvinistic system's of belief).  However, overall your answer was quite solid; and I can stand in overall agreement.

Thank you Bro. Scott. I will look more in-depth into Finney's "anxious bench" since he was/is considered somewhat the antithesis of Calvinism.

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Alttars in churches are an invention of the Catholics.  THey are usually on the east as when you bow to them you are honouring the sun god, Baal.  They also have relics in them so you are also honouring the relic,

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17 hours ago, Invicta said:

Alttars in churches are an invention of the Catholics.  THey are usually on the east as when you bow to them you are honouring the sun god, Baal.  They also have relics in them so you are also honouring the relic,

North American churches would be unlikely to have relics, unless they're actually Catholic. But after visiting Anglican churches in England, I see exactly what you mean! There is a level of ceremony and false religion that is unmatched by anything I've seen in Canada outside Catholic buildings. I was particularly surprised by the ubiquitous shrine/chapel to Mary - never realized how tied they were to that old goddess worship!

 

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The altar in IB churches is a totally different thing to Catholic church altars, as I think most of understand (not all apparently....).

There are two streams of Anglican churches - the High Anglican Church is Catholic without the Pope - as you described; the other stream is sometimes called the low Anglican church, most often known as evangelical Anglican - they are closer to us in general form, not as ritualistic as High Anglican/Catholic. Some of them even preach the Gospel. But in general they hold to the same basic doctrines as the high Anglican - in other words, false doctrines.

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12 hours ago, DaveW said:

The altar in IB churches is a totally different thing to Catholic church altars, as I think most of understand (not all apparently....).

I don't know of any Independent Baptist church here that has an altar.  Or for that matter of any Independant Evangelical church that does,

The Anglican Church did away with altars at the reformation,and replaced it with a simple table for communion, but they began to be reintroduced by Archbishop Laud, at the time of King Charles 1st.

Altars are for offering sacrifices, which is why the RCs have to have altars for their "unbloody sacrifice."

A baptsit minister who used to preach at my church, has a son who is a minister of an Anglican church. He acts independantly and only baptises believers by immersion.  He will not "baptise" babies but cannot baptise any who were "Christened" as babies, as that would end his ministry.  Instead he arranged to have them baptised at the local baptist church.  The Bishop asked him to take over another church and offered help, but he said he would take over the church but would use his own men.

While I see that being and Anglican Church may bring  under the gospel those who would not go to a non Anglican church, I cannot see how he can opperate under the Authority of a Bishop who wears the mitre of Dagon and carries the crook of Osiiris.

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IB churches that give "altar calls" are using the words symbolically, Invicta, not literally. We do not call it that, my husband simply opens up a time for anyone who wishes to come to pray (and be prayed with, if desired). 

Romans 12:1 tells us to present ourselves a living sacrifice. Sacrifices were done on an altar. In all likelihood, that is at least partially where the idea came from - morphed from mourner's bench/anxious bench to altar call.

It's simply an invitation to come and immediately deal with whatever the Lord is dealing with someone about, whatever it might be called. Sadly, as has been mentioned, there are abuses of it. And there is no unwritten (or written, LOL) rule that a church must have one. No Nic has expressed it well - @No Nicolaitans, hubs and I would agree with you.

There are Baptist churches that do not give any kind of invitation, regardless of name, because they believe it contradicts the gospel of graces, particularly that of total depravity/inability.

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Because of our small size we do not have an "alter call" but I do say to get a hold of me after the service if they need to be dealt with on a matter. While there are abuses and misunderstandings of its purpose (as with anything) its actually not a bad practice. An alter is basically a place where you give something over to the LORD. The Levitical sacrifices for example were about: 1. Giving your whole life to God or dedicating yourself to a specific purpose (burnt offering) 2. Giving your tithes or first fruits (Meat offering) 3. Making peace with God on an issue (peace offering) 4. Giving over a sin to God and asking forgiveness for committing it (Sin offering) 5. Asking forgiveness for not reverencing something holy or for treating a holy thing in a common way (trespass offering). All of these are now dealt with at or around the "Lord's table" instead of an actual alter.

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We call it an invitation, but it is not every week. 

One thing has always bugged me is when the invitation goes on and on and you eventually get the feeling that someone has gone forward just to satisfy the preacher.

Make a call to invitation, if no one comes forward, close it. But allow the Lord to lead you - if you really feel as though the Lord would have you continue, then do so.

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7 hours ago, DaveW said:

We call it an invitation, but it is not every week. 

One thing has always bugged me is when the invitation goes on and on and you eventually get the feeling that someone has gone forward just to satisfy the preacher.

Make a call to invitation, if no one comes forward, close it. But allow the Lord to lead you - if you really feel as though the Lord would have you continue, then do so.

Hubs actually gives an invitation every week, but he keeps it short. We sing two verses and if nobody comes we're done. He has us sing more if someone does come (unless it's someone that is taken in the office to pray with).

My parents had a pastor for a time who was a good man, loved the Lord. But his invitations were horribly long. My dad would joke that the preacher "preached them into it and then preached them out of it."  But there was some seriousness in that joke.

 

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