September 26, 2008
Just a little something from C.S.Lewis' Mere Christianity that I hope will help you as you consider why there are so many different denominations that are all unified in their belief that Jesus Christ died to save sinners and is the only Hope for the world - yet have differing theologies. Is this a good thing? Lewis thinks so!
"I hope no reader will suppose that 'mere' Christianity is here put forward as an alternative to the creeds [confessions] of the existing communions - as if a man could adopt it in preference to Congregationalism or Greek Orthodoxy or anything else. It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable."
What am I trying to say by sharing this paragraph with you?
I'm trying to say that you need to get out of the hallway that is mere Christianity and find the room (the local church/denomination/church tradition) where God wants you to live and interact and fellowship.
This church, Christ the Shepherd, is a room in the Reformed tradition. We love our fellow Christians who are not Reformed in their thinking. Sometimes we hang out in their rooms and there's even the occasional sleepover.
But God's sovereignty, free grace bestowed on all who believe, Ephesians 1, Romans 9, etc., etc., hold sway here. Come on in and worship with us. Check out this room. Maybe it's the place where God wants you to live. I'd love to talk with you! Come, pull up a chair by the fire and enjoy a meal!
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