Family of God: [Church_of_Christ] Re: Are we misunderstanding the scriptures?

Norman to Maddie

Maddie wrote: I honestly must say I don't understand the first statement...doesn't it command in the Bible that we are to worship together every first day of the week? Wouldn't that be Sunday?

And when God commands us to "sing and make melody in our hearts" that most likely means NO instruments. Because God also commands to not put anything in the Bible that is not already written, and do not take out anything in the Bible that is necessary to be obeyed. Since there is no proof we cannot use instruments, we cannot put that in the Bible that we are able to.

I don't know if this answers any questions but this is my reply to the subject.

Hi Maddie,

Clay is very capable of answering these questions and I am sure he will. 30 years ago I would have asked the same questions that you asked. That is because of the teaching of the church for many years and many churches still teach the same today.

Maddie wrote: I honestly must say I don't understand the first statement...doesn't it command in the Bible that we are to worship together every first day of the week? Wouldn't that be Sunday?

Norman: The answer to your question is *no* we do not have a command to worship together every first day of the week.

The only example of the disciples meeting on the first day of the week is found in Acts 20:7 and the subject of that text is not disciples meeting on Sunday. The subject is the travels of Paul. Paul was on a missionary journey and if he had decided to go some other direction we would not have an example of meeting on the first day of the week. Is there a possibility that the church met every first day of the week, yes that is a possibility; however, that does not create a command to meet every first day.

Maddie wrote: Wouldn't that be Sunday?

Most people in the church who teach this as a command also teach that the first day of the week starts when their calendar says it is Sunday. That is 12-midnight Saturday to 12-midnight on Sunday. Those in Troas may have used this method to calculate the first day of the week; however, we know that the Jewish Christians started their first day of the week at sunset on Saturday. If the disciples in Troas use this method to calculate the first day of the week they would have been taking the Lord's Supper on Saturday.

Maddie wrote: And when God commands us to "sing and make melody in our hearts" that most likely means NO instruments. Because God also commands to not put anything in the Bible that is not already written, and do not take out anything in the Bible that is necessary to be obeyed.

Norman: This brings us back to the created tools of interpretation and that is command, example and necessary inference. If we do not have a command or an example we must infer that everything else is condemned.

You have already added to the scripture. You may not realize it; however, your interpretation comes from command, example and necessary inference (CENI). You do not have a command to meet every first day; however, you do have ONE example and you must necessarily infer that they did it every first day of the week and you have created a command.

I am not condemning you there are many members of the church that do the same. I did it for many years.

Since there is no proof we cannot use instruments, we cannot put that in the Bible that we are able to. I don't know if this answers any questions but this is my reply to the subject.

Norman: You are saying if it is not in the Bible we must infer that it is forbidden by God and if it is written in the NT we must not go over or below it.

I am reminded of a person commenting before the Lord's Supper; he was condemning the singing during the LS and he used 1 Cor. 11 to say singing is not mentioned; therefore, we must not sing. The same scripture says that *after they had eaten their supper* Jesus offered the LS. We did not have a supper; therefore, we went beyond what was written (singing), but we also left of what was written (eating a supper) before the LS. Examples are not legalistic laws that are mandatory for us to follow. This is what Clay is saying, we are free to sing or not to sing and we are free to have a supper (at night) with the LS or we are free to take it in the morning without a meal.

I also heard a story that a man had determined that the first day meeting must be on the second floor of a building; therefore, he built a two story building and as long as he lived, the church in that town met in the upper room. He was only going by what the NT said in Acts 20:7. He was using one verse as a proof text to prove a doctrine. To be sure, he did not go beyond what was written; however, he left out the examples of the church meet daily in the temple court and in the houses of Christians. The NT is a book of principles and some apply to us and some do not. We have freedom to determine which do apply and which do not apply.

We always greet one another with a handshake (NT says Holy Kiss) and we always pray with our arms folded (the NT says to lift Holy hands while praying). We take the Lord's Supper every Sunday morning (they took it at night <acts 20:7-8, 1 Cor. 11:21>) with multiple cups. We meet twice on Sunday and we meet every Wednesday night for Bible study. We have Bible study separate and apart from the worship service on Sunday. We support orphans homes, build and support a building, pay a full time preacher, a youth minister, a secretary, and sometimes elders and song leaders from the church treasury (they did not have a treasury) . We have a P.A. system and a baptistery. We have a one week vacation Bible school every year and a gospel meeting once a year. We have four part music, a song leader, an invitation song, we sing from a song book and many of the songs we sing are unscriptural. None of these are authorized or condemned by the NT.

Paul also preached until mid-night; that would go over big today, wouldn't it? :~)

Thanks for listening,

Norman

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