RX for the Ailing Bride. A Biblical Template for the Ideal Christian 12+

📖 Today’s church has shackled itself to many Reformation doctrines not supported in scripture. Regarding salvation, two of those doctrines that have been particularly detrimental are Calvinism and Arminianism. Both of these have selectively filtered Biblical passages through their man-made theological construct, effectively rejecting the whole council of God. Baptist churches in particular have widely subscribed to either the doctrines or mission of Arminianism, which essentially requires that every believer’s primary responsibility is to be an evangelist. Preaching this man-made doctrine from pulpits every Sunday has played a significant role in stunting the spiritual growth of most members, as they are crammed into a role outside of their spiritual gifting. At the same time, the real work associated with a believer’s true spiritual giftedness is going unused, failing to minister to the body of Christ as God designed. The cumulative effect is that the local church is focused on enticing those outside the church to join an assembly that essentially ignores the needs of those within. The key marker that Jesus said would show the outside world who we belong to is our love for one another. The early church understood this clearly, as they shared all things in common with their fellow believers. They sacrificially gave of their physical possessions to meet the tangible needs of the saints and used their spiritual gifts to edify and strengthen one another spiritually. So, if the Arm...