Modern Day Worship Service Compared to 1 Corinthians 14
Check out this parody video of a modern day “contemporary” service:
What stood out to me in the video was the part that says, “And only one man has the answers.” Many churches operate this way. Only one person speaks to the congregation. Only one person has the answers. There isn’t time during the gathering to question that man, either in questioning for clarification or any confusion you have about what he is teaching or to question if what he is saying is in accord with God’s Word. When he is finished speaking, there is no confirmation or affirmation of the message by those who heard it built into the service agenda/outline.
How does this common service outline of a “contemporary” service match what is found in 1 Corinthians 14? How does a common “liturgical” or “traditional” service match what is found in 1 Corinthians 14?
I think we all need to read 1 Cor. 14 and pray over that chapter and the type of worship order that Paul describes. A lot of churches hold strong and firm to the part about not speaking in tongues unless there is an interpreter, and if there is speaking in tongues to not have more than 2-3 people do it, but completely skip the part about having more than one speaker (prophet) or the time for others to share revelations and other Scripture passages that affirm the message or correct it, as this video pointed out, in our modern day services, “One man alone has the answers.” It creates a be fed mentality and not a learn to feed yourself and feed others congregation. We often times call our services fellowship, but is there much fellowship in them if everyone is facing forward and singing only what is told for them to sing, standing and sitting when told to do so, and communicating with one another only when told to shake hands and greet people, and only interacting briefly or none at all with the person who was up front teaching, while not knowing the individual needs of those around us, or being able to use our gifts of encouragement, prayer, teaching, generosity, prophecy, healing, and etc. unless we’re on the stage?
Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah – Clash with John 14:6.
I received the following comment on a blog post:
Did you know that Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah? Where does that fit into John 14:6?
Someone else responded to that by saying:
See you can’t speak for all Muslims. Some do believe Jesus is the Messiah, others believe he was just a prophet who died, etc. What does the word Messiah mean to Muslims?
I think that was a pretty good response. Ask the guy for more clarity. Do all Muslims believe Jesus was the Messiah? They likely refer to him as the Christ, but do they know that Christ means Messiah, and if they do know this, what exactly does the word Messiah mean to Muslims? Do they have Messianic expectations that are the same as the Jews? Do they understand Jesus’ role as the Messiah in the same way as Christians?
The original commenter responded saying:
It’s part of their doctrine. Mainstream Muslims say to not believe Jesus sits even now at the right hand of God and will come again is not to be Muslim. They believe Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Look it up. It’s in the fundamentals of Islamic doctrin
This reply doesn’t exactly address the meaning of Messiah and doesn’t show that Muslims believe everything Christians believe about John 14:6 and the personhood of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Here’s the comment I left after this string of comments:
I know that you are right that Muslims believe that Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary.
I also know that they don’t believe he died. That is clearly stated in the Qur’an. If he did not die, then the doctrine of his atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind is not within Islam, which means that Muslims reject the prophesies of Isaiah 53. Muslims believe that each man must pay for his own sin, that they cannot stick their sins to someone else. This means Christians have quite a different understanding of who Jesus is and what he did for mankind than Muslims do.
The following page shows the verses from the Qur’an that support that Jesus was born of a virgin, did not have an earthly Father just as Adam, and did not die:http://www.islam-guide.com/ch3-10.htm.
Help me out, please. Where do you find that Muslims believe that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father and that he is the Messiah. Also show me what Muslims believe concerning the Messiah. I know that Christians recognize that Messiah means “anointed one” and that prophets, priests, and kings were anointed in ancient Israel. Christians believe that Jesus as the Messiah fulfills all three offices in such a way that no other person possibly can because Jesus is fully God and fully man (another Doctrine that Muslims reject).
Any feedback or additional thoughts or answers to the questions I left in my post on this topic would be appreciated.
Related articles
- Did you know that the Qur’an has a lot to say about Jesus? (andywrasman.com)
- Qur’an and the Injeel #4 (andywrasman.com)
- Qur’an and the Injeel #5 (andywrasman.com)
- Did the Resurrection Really Happen? (andywrasman.com)
One Nation Under God #1
One nation under God. Which God? I’ve heard a lot of people make the argument that a majority of the founding fathers were deists and not Christians. I however was taught that America was founded as a Christian nation. Here are some quotes from some very influential founding fathers:
From John Hancock – Signer of the Declaration of Independence:
Principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it; and my body I recommend to the earth… nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mercy and power of God.
The doctrine of a general resurrection would have come from a Biblical, Christian worldview for Mr. Hancock.
Patrick Henry – Governor of Virgina:
It cannot be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Wow! Partrick Henry claims that America was founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ! That isn’t generic deism by any stretch of the imagination. If Patrick Henry was wrong in this statement, other early prominent American leaders would have corrected him. Do we have any such corrections?
Benjamin Rush – Signer of the Declaration of Independence:
My only hope of salvation is the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
Benjamin Rush definitely wasn’t Jewish or Islamic, or simply believing that there was some unknown Creator directing the course of history from afar without any direct revelation of himself to mankind.
John Adams – Second President:
The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
John Hancock and John Adams:
We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!
All quotes were pulled from In God We Still Trust by Dr. Richard G. Lee.
Key Points of Chapter 20 of Without a Doubt Part 1
I apologize for any spacing, numbering, and alignment errors that occurred from copying from Word into WordPress for this blog post, but here is the first part of an outline of Kenneth Samples’ book, Without a Doubt:
Key Points from Chapter 7 Part 1: Historical Reliability of The Gospels
The Christian faith depends on the historical nature and accuracy of the unique claims, character, and credentials of Jesus Christ! – Page 91
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12-18. Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Christ.
Support for the Historical Reliability of the Gospels
- 1. The New Testament documents are the best attested documents of antiquity in terms of total number of manuscripts.
- Check out this website: http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/bib-docu.html
- 5,000 individual Greek Manuscripts
- 8,000 copies of the Latin vulgate
- Without these there are still thousands of manuscripts from commentaries and sermons that can be used to piece together the entire New Testament and these are from the early church fathers in the second to fifth centuries. – Page 92
- Textual criticism exists because of the Bible.
- 2. The interval of time between the date of the original authorship and the date of the earliest New Testament manuscript copies is extremely short.
- 3. The historic statements made about Jesus by ancient non-Christian authors for the most part matches well with the Gospel record.
- He was a provocative teacher, a wise and virtuous man from the region of Judea.
- He reportedly performed miracles and made prophetic claims.
- The Jewish leaders condemned him for acts of sorcery and apostasy.
- He was crucified by Pontius Pilate at the time of the Jewish Passover, and during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius.
- Jesus’ followers reported that he had risen from the dead.
- The Christian faith spread to Rome were the Christians were persecuted and tried for crimes.
- First-century Christians worshiped Jesus Christ as God and celebrated the Eucharist in their services.
- Even though these Romans ridiculed the Christians as being morally weak, they were often times known for their courage and virtue.
- 4. The authors of the four Gospels were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life themselves, or were closely associated with the eyewitnesses.
John 19:1-4
1 John 1:1-2
Luke 1:1-4
Galatians 1:11-12
2 Peter 1:16
- 5. The Gospel writers intended to convey factual and historical information and the writings of their historical content have been confirmed to a significant degree.
- 6. The apostles’ testimony becomes more credible when it is considered that they had nothing to gain from it and everything to lose.
- They received no monetary reward or power from their message.
- They received only beatings, imprisonment, and death.
- Adversaries could have exposed their message as a lie, but they couldn’t.
- We can trust their message because they had no motif to lie or deceive.
- If they did lie and deceive they violated everything Jesus taught about honesty and truth.
Andy Wrasman 