Is this a church

[qwerty guy]

Biblically, a church is a called out assembly of believers... so would this forum qualify?

[LindaR]

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR A CHURCH TO BE PROPERLY CONSTITUTED? The book of Titus was written to instruct in the proper organization of churches. There were believers in Crete, but there was still something lacking: They needed to be organized into N.T. churches (Titus 1:5). According to Titus, the following are necessary for a proper church:

(1) A proper Gospel (Titus 1:1-3). The one true Gospel is eternal life through faith in the grace of Jesus Christ.

(2) Proper leadership (Titus 1:5-9). The only proper leaders for a N.T. church are the pastors, also called "elders" (Titus 1:5) and "bishops" (Titus 1:7). A church is not to be run by a deacon board, or trustees, or a denominational hierarchy.

(3) Proper doctrine (Titus 2:1). A N.T. church is grounded in the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27; Matthew 28:20), in sound doctrine pertaining to Christ, God, Man, Sin, Death, Heaven, Hell, Angels, Prophecy, the Church, and every other Bible truth.

(4) Proper living (Tit 2:2-12). A N.T. church will manifest godliness in Christian life and service.

(5) Proper discipline (Titus 3:10-11). A N.T. church will exercise discipline pertaining to morals (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) and doctrine.

WHAT THE CHURCH IS NOT

(1) The church is not a man-made organization, but is a divinely given and designed institution.

(2) The church is not a Bible study or merely an unorganized group of believers, but is a body properly organized according to the N.T. pattern (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus).

(3) The church is not Christendom or some ecumenical body. True churches are composed of "faithful brethren in Christ" (Colossians 1:2). Christendom is more properly identified as the Harlot of Revelation 17, and her daughters.

Way of Life Encyclopedia

According to the above definition of "church", Online Baptist is NOT church. An unorganized group of believers would include a forum board. A forum board is not a body properly organized according to the N.T. pattern as laid out in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. If you want to call Online Baptist a church, who is the Pastor here, and is that Pastor preaching sound doctrine?

[Pastor Matt]

Yes, and you all owe 10% of last years income. :lol Just Kidding!!!!


I will give the official response, no this is not a church and never will be.

[qwerty guy]

You couldn't of said it any better LindaR.

So then my question becomes "Why do so many people act like it is?"

[kevinmiller]

It's not a local church, though we are all members of the Church.
So my vote would be no, it's not a church by local church definition.

[Guest Guest]

Yes, and you all owe 10% of last years income. :lol Just Kidding!!!!


I will give the official response, no this is not a church and never will be.

lol good point... if every Bible forum I've joined was a "church", I'd be in trouble!! :Bleh

[Anon]

Definitely not a church.

[JAHinton]

You couldn't of said it any better LindaR.

So then my question becomes "Why do so many people act like it is?"

Please explain your question. I don't understand it.

[John81]

What prompted you to ask this question?

My answer: No.

[JerryNumbers]

No, it is not a church. I have not noticed anyone acting like it was a church.

But we do discuss issues that probably would come up in Bible study at church.

[qwerty guy]

The prompting, and the "people who act like it's a church" is simple.

How fast anyone who asks a question or voices an opinion that is not "normal" by IFB standards... Get a biblical smack down jammed in their breathing hole.

People act like a priest walked into their home town church trying to sprinkle babies at times.

I"m guilty too, don't get me wrong... but the things we post are there for the ages... and we have all the "e-time" in the world to get points across. I have just seen in the last couple weeks a couple "newbies" get BLASTED.

When I was new, I put a couple questions around that I wanted to see what people had to say, and I would of left this board kicking the soil from my shoes from the posts, except I had PMs from people answering correctly and without that "WOAH YOU ARE SO STUPID", arrogant way some people post.

I'm sure they don't mean to come off that way, TEXT is a form of communication that doesn't reflect tone of voice, and I type stuff in love that comes off wrong...

I guess it boils down too... what's the huge hurry and alarm in "setting people right" when it's even a stupid topic like how many times the letter A shows up in the KJV... I've seen people get blasted for stuff that isn't even dogmatic....

By no means am I taking this out of context, many people learn a lot here... but in my short time here I've seen a couple people "scared off" because they ask a question and get some overly read wanna be scholar trying to "tell it like it is" without anything but "I SAY IT SO ACCEPT IT" coupled with some teenage sudo rebel who's got everything figured out posting about how wrong they are without giving any bible verses or examples other then their amazing 18 years of experience in thinking they are smart and spiritual.

Honestly, 90% of people reading this are kinda laughing, and the other 10% should reflect on themselves. I've had enough PMs to know where this stands.

Don't come to my church talking about works salvation....

This ain't my church... I'll give you some time, I'll give you answers, and you can leave because you can't change me, or you will change.

I'm correcting myself more then anything with this posting..........

[Guest Guest]

No this is not a church, we just study Bible doctrine and principles and fellowship with each other. :amen:

[JAHinton]

No this is not a church' date=' we just study Bible doctrine and principles and fellowship with each other. [/quote']

True we do study Bible doctrine and fellowship. How do we study Bible doctrine apart from the Bible. My opinion means nothing. I can tell you that in my opinion Christ was born of a virgin. But thats just my opinion. No it is not. It is what the Bible teaches.

As an IFB I believe the Bible to be the only rule of faith and practice. If you ask a question, I hope to give you a Bible answer. I am not calling you dumb or stupid. I recognize your intelligent ability to weigh what I have given you from the Bible. You may not agree with my position, but, you have the basis for my opinion and you can weigh it for yourself.

None of us are going to agree on everything. I sometimes get in arguments with myself :smile Yesterday an evangelist speaking in our church took a position different than mine about the water of John 3. That was not a test of our fellowship. We are both equally bull headed so that neither one will change the other. Naturally I'm right and he's wrong :Bleh

No this is not a church. Sometimes I am on line in my pajamas. I never would go to church in them.

We can continue to disagree but lets not be disagreeable.(sp?) Just because we disagree doesn't mean its "my way or the highway."

[John81]

I do agree that I don't like to see posts filled with personal attacks, snide remarks, questions about ones intelligence or seriousness as a Christian, etc.

Like has been pointed out, we have plenty of time to post our responses so we should all be able to take the time to post in Christian kindness and humility.

Most of us here are indeed brothers and sisters in Christ and Scripture says the world should know us by our love for one another. We should keep this in mind as we reply to our "loved ones" in Christ.

[JerryNumbers]

Do you think we treat this as church because we hang to the same values, what is right & or wrong, here as we do in church?

I try my best to keep the same values on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as I do when attending church on Sunday.

I know some who check their earthly values in as they enter church, when they leave church they pick them right back up and hold to them until the enter church once again.