I have been doing a lot of reading in the New Testament and I'm thinking there are definitely some things wrong with how we're "doing church". According to what I have found, almost everything churches are doing today is opposed to what Scripture teaches. I have also done some historical research on some Jewish tradition back in the first century. One thing I find interesting is that the Jewish assemblies were actually operating in a dialogical fashion instead of the Greek and Roman way, that is, monological, just as we do it. According to the words of one pastor, they called this method of teaching by the Hebrew word for argument because people could raise any questions or doubts about what was said by whichever rabbi was teaching. Also, according to some other stuff I have found, many common church practices come from pagan origins. A few others come from later origin, but they are also of impure origin. So, what are your thoughts on how we "do church"? Do you agree or disagree with it? What parts do you agree or disagree with?

Hm. Go check out my thread in Open Discussion, the thread called 'That house church thing...'. There's a link there you might find useful.

[b]lonikelam wrote:[/b] [quote]Also, according to some other stuff I have found, many common church practices come from pagan origins. A few others come from later origin, but they are also of impure origin. So, what are your thoughts on how we "do church"? Do you agree or disagree with it? What parts do you agree or disagree with?[/quote] If you think about it, most (technically all) of the people in the church come from pagan or impure origins as well.

I know a lot of people come from impure origins as well, but that does not give any excuse for allowing pagan influences to affect the faith and institutionalize it or anything else they have done, thus rendering it useless. God never wanted religion. We don't need a temple because we are the temple. We don't need a priest class because we are all priests through Christ.