Question for nominal Christians

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes, but it is a term that has been subject to bastardization, so that what it originally
was intended to portray has been lost in its present state. I was not chastising your
etymological research nor the validity of the statement, merely pointing out its
divergence from the original.

Increasing layers of organization and centralization of authority are commonly seen in growing organizations. I would wait for several hundred years to see if your church becomes as successful, while remaining free of such divergence from the original.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes, but it is a term that has been subject to bastardization, so that what it originally
was intended to portray has been lost in its present state. I was not chastising your
etymological research nor the validity of the statement, merely pointing out its
divergence from the original.

Why don't you try to broaden understand of why other Christian groups
believe what the do by joining some of there study groups. You might
learn some things about the Holy Bible that you would never learn from
the study with only one group. Try it you might like it.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
why would you call yourself a Christian if you dont advocate nor belief the teachings of
the Christ, why stop at nominal?

I wouldn't call myself a Christian, but officially I would be considered one because I am a member of the Norwegian church. I became a member for practical reasons, and I didn't bother leaving again because the church is doing a lot of good social work that I don't mind to support.

A lot of Norwegians are probably nominal Christians without even knowing it. For a long time, Norwegian children automatically became members of the Norwegian church.

Originally posted by JS357
Increasing layers of organization and centralization of authority are commonly seen in growing organizations. I would wait for several hundred years to see if your church becomes as successful, while remaining free of such divergence from the original.

what has my organisation got to do with the etymology of the word bishop and its
misuse in translation? If the overseers continue to shepherd then that is not a
problem, but as it stands, it refers not to an action, but a position.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Why don't you try to broaden understand of why other Christian groups
believe what the do by joining some of there study groups. You might
learn some things about the Holy Bible that you would never learn from
the study with only one group. Try it you might like it.

why would i want to do that, i learn of a broader range of persons beliefs going from
house to house than i ever would from a study group. You should try it, you might like
it.

Originally posted by Nordlys
I wouldn't call myself a Christian, but officially I would be considered one because I am a member of the Norwegian church. I became a member for practical reasons, and I didn't bother leaving again because the church is doing a lot of good social work that I don't mind to support.

A lot of Norwegians are probably nominal Christians without even knowing it. For a long time, Norwegian children automatically became members of the Norwegian church.

yes so do we as soon as we are baptised, we automatically become members of the
church of Scotland as infants.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
what has my organisation got to do with the etymology of the word bishop and its
misuse in translation? If the overseers continue to shepherd then that is not a
problem, but as it stands, it refers not to an action, but a position.

Your organization has nothing to do with the WORD bishop as far as I know. I am saying that it is common for growing organizations to add layers of management and to centralize authority. Your organization is growing, and I guess it has more layers and centralization now than it did when it was getting started. The fact that people had authority over multiple congregations and there was central authority, is not uncommon, see below.

From: http://www.watchtower.org/e/jt/article_07.htm

"The overall direction comes from the Governing Body at the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. The Governing Body sends representatives each year to various regions worldwide to confer with the branch representatives in those regions. In the branch offices, there are Branch Committees of about three to seven members to oversee the work in the lands under their jurisdiction. Some of the branches have facilities for printing, some operating high-speed rotary presses. The country or area served by each branch is divided into districts, and the districts, in turn, are divided into circuits. Each circuit has in it about 20 congregations. A district overseer visits the circuits in his district in rotation. Two assemblies are held annually for each circuit. There is also a circuit overseer, and he visits each congregation in his circuit usually twice a year, assisting the Witnesses in organizing and doing the preaching work in the territory assigned to that congregation."

So, you have layers of management and centralization of authority, too, even if the titles and job descriptions are somewhat different.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
wrong????, sooo lets get this straight, you are contradicting the Christ, stand away from me, i dont want zapped as well!

Contradicting Jesus? God forbid.

I think it's you I'm contradicting. Actually robbie, I'm not looking for a fight. I just thought it would be stimulating and fun to get into a discussion about exactly what the Gospel is.

Honestly, I don't see it in your opening post.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
why dont you teach and preach in obedience to Christ's command at Matthew 28:19,20
and in view of Pauls example at Acts 20:20? dont you believe the Christ's words?

(Luke 11:23) . . .He that is not on my side is against me, and [b]he that does not gather with me scatters.[/b]

Jesus = Dubya? SIAS ...