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Esdra
Guest
Thank God for the internet, I don’t have to flip thru a hugh book.
LOLYes, the internet is really a blessing.
(For searching information.)I really couldn’t imagine how to get to information without it.
Esdra
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LOLYes, the internet is really a blessing.
(For searching information.)I really couldn’t imagine how to get to information without it.
Esdra
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Cat_Herder
Guest
It does matter, if the Protestants in question are thumping the Bible, shouting “Sola Scriptura!,” and yet can’t justify their Sunday worship service in a church building from the Bible alone.I guess the bottom line is this: Does it really matter why non-catholics gather on Sunday, or Wednesday, or any other day for that matter? It’s no skin off catholics’ back, or is it? That’s why I say, in many ways, it is a dumb question! Most noncatholics who have responded, have said it is to worship our God and to fellowship. That should be a sufficient answer; but then there is a discussion about eucharist, or no eucharist!
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Esdra
Guest
Please don’t generalize! There are many Protestants out there who HAVE sort of Sacred Tradition! - And not only Lutherans!
Esdra
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JustaServant
Guest
I realize this doesn’t apply to all non-Catholic churches, but here is what I observed coming out of fundamentalism, written four years ago (edited):
Fundamentalist ‘Worship’.
One of the culture shocks I received when walking with the fundamentalists was in terms of worship.
There is no sense of respect and awe of being in the house of God. I didn’t realize it at the time but this fed into my lazy nature in terms of worship. Many such churches are crippled with a laziness when it comes to worship.
Churches are filled with spectators, worship is by gawking, not participating.
The purpose of singing hymns is to ‘warm ourselves up for the preacher’, to put us ‘in the mood’. WE decide how God is to be worshipped.
People sit and stare at what was going on at the platform.
Sermons become the main event of worship in fundamentalist churches. The reason for this is that Evangelical and fundamentalist churches are pastor and preacher driven. The foundation of many churches revolve around a man. It affects how they worship, how they minister to each other and even evangelism. When this is taken to it’s logical extreme, you wind up with a cult.
One novelty of this kind of worship is the “Altar Call”. You can search 1800 years of church history and you will never find anything close to an ‘altar call’. The Methodists had a ‘mourner’s bench’ but it was nothing even close to what came later. It took Charles Finney to create the ‘altar call’ using sales techniques to get people to ‘make decisions’ for Christ in the early 19th century.
In the less extreme evangelical churches, the term ‘seeker-friendly’ worship has become popular. The seeker churches desire make worship appealing to those who are not Christians. Music becomes a major issue in these churches. They are usually split between two groups:
1st group: “We need to attract the younger crowd with contemporary music.”
2nd group: “We need the old fashioned hymns!” (which are actually no more than 100 years old).
What neither group seems to realize is that they are dictating to God how He should be worshipped.
The focus is not on God, it’s on me.
Is it the kind of music I like, I enjoy. Does it make my toe tap? Are they the kind of hymns I grew up singing? Worship is reduced to gawking at a singer on stage who looks more like he/she is on “American Idol” than in a church. Thus many people can easily say “I worship God at home, on the TV”.
If indeed you believe worship is music/preacher driven, and your participation in it is just passive listening. Then I can see how many can reach that conclusion.
The problem is, that is not what the Bible (what they claim to follow) says is worship.
Fundamentalist ‘Worship’.
One of the culture shocks I received when walking with the fundamentalists was in terms of worship.
There is no sense of respect and awe of being in the house of God. I didn’t realize it at the time but this fed into my lazy nature in terms of worship. Many such churches are crippled with a laziness when it comes to worship.
Churches are filled with spectators, worship is by gawking, not participating.
The purpose of singing hymns is to ‘warm ourselves up for the preacher’, to put us ‘in the mood’. WE decide how God is to be worshipped.
People sit and stare at what was going on at the platform.
Sermons become the main event of worship in fundamentalist churches. The reason for this is that Evangelical and fundamentalist churches are pastor and preacher driven. The foundation of many churches revolve around a man. It affects how they worship, how they minister to each other and even evangelism. When this is taken to it’s logical extreme, you wind up with a cult.
One novelty of this kind of worship is the “Altar Call”. You can search 1800 years of church history and you will never find anything close to an ‘altar call’. The Methodists had a ‘mourner’s bench’ but it was nothing even close to what came later. It took Charles Finney to create the ‘altar call’ using sales techniques to get people to ‘make decisions’ for Christ in the early 19th century.
In the less extreme evangelical churches, the term ‘seeker-friendly’ worship has become popular. The seeker churches desire make worship appealing to those who are not Christians. Music becomes a major issue in these churches. They are usually split between two groups:
1st group: “We need to attract the younger crowd with contemporary music.”
2nd group: “We need the old fashioned hymns!” (which are actually no more than 100 years old).
What neither group seems to realize is that they are dictating to God how He should be worshipped.
The focus is not on God, it’s on me.
Is it the kind of music I like, I enjoy. Does it make my toe tap? Are they the kind of hymns I grew up singing? Worship is reduced to gawking at a singer on stage who looks more like he/she is on “American Idol” than in a church. Thus many people can easily say “I worship God at home, on the TV”.
If indeed you believe worship is music/preacher driven, and your participation in it is just passive listening. Then I can see how many can reach that conclusion.
The problem is, that is not what the Bible (what they claim to follow) says is worship.
J
JustaServant
Guest
Esdra, when I was a Baptist preacher I knew how to preach, how to lead the hymn singing, annoucements, prayer time… pretty much everything but it still felt unfinished.
I would always feel, as I ended my sermon, that there was something missing, something I had to do.
It would be years before I finally figured out the reason for that.
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1beleevr
Guest
No, it doesn’t matter why we gather on Sunday, or Wednesday, or whenever!
I mean, we know that catholics gather on Sunday, and probably everyday for that matter, but it really doesn’t matter what we think, does it? You just want all of us to be catholic! And, guess what, not all non-catholic churches thump the Bible!
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Eric_Hilbert
Guest
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1beleevr
Guest
This must mean we did bad!
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