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Old 04-16-2008, 09:33 PM
Leslie Leslie is offline.
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God is perfectly capable of making Himself clear in scripture. Yet He chose to leave some issues indeterminate--subject to different interpretations by those truly seeking His will--an example being baptism of infants vs believers-only. Thus, pushing the argument one step back just changes the question as to which church to affiliate with since, in western society, we are given a choice. This raises some other questions:
1. If God guides the church into all truth, what is meant by "church". The local congregation? The demonination? The church universal?
2. What is meant by "all"? It certainly cannot include baptism since there are disagreements between serious Bible scholars. Could "all" mean those essential truths on which God expects us to agree? There are other instances in which "all" doesn't really mean "all". No one would argue that "all have sinned" means that Jesus sinned.
3. Is the individual necessarily obliged to agree on something like baptism with the church with which he or she affiliates?
4. Does the church have the right to insist on agreement on issues in which God has chosen not to be clear?
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Kale Heywott Church (KHC)
Soddo, Ethiopia
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