Your point is well taken.
However you are looking at it from the point of view of an intellectual.
My point is that God can reach a sincere heart.
There are many many Christians who have no concept of any of the stuff that we discuss on this forum.
Do they follow the main rules?
Yes, probably better than you or I. Loving God and loving their brother.
Is salvation denied to the mentally retarded?
I go to a sola scriptura Bible study group even though I don't think they can understand the message without tradition.
Am I denied heaven because I see it differently than my fellow men in the group?
Are they?
Immersion baptisms. Priest baptisms. Baptisms of Holy Spirit. Look at all these things that each church thinks is necessary.
What about being born again? Many churches think that unless you are willfully and consciously born again, you cannot be saved.
Yet many of these people who are sure they are saved do not celebrate the Lord's Supper in their services while the Catholics, who they see as idolaters and near devil worshipers do.
Is one of these practices more relevant than the other? Is it based on this kind of legalism, or is it based on loving God and your neighbor.
It is not the intellectuals that are leading this charge and there are people who have never been 'born again' consciously whose lives have changed so much that in spirit, they have. And there are people who are so reverent and thankful that every action is a Lord's supper.
I appreciate your intense desire to get things right, and to get to the bottom of things, and to avoid being misled.
I just think you aren't giving God enough credit.
He can work with anything.
The old promise of the Old Testament still stands. Seek God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and you will find him, even in a gender neutral church.
(Though it might lead you to leave that church. Heh.)
God is big picture, and if you are sincerely giving it a go he won't let you be misled fatally or permanently.
These people who try to mislead are like the Appointment in Samarra guy. They think they are so clever.
God's got this.
However you are looking at it from the point of view of an intellectual.
My point is that God can reach a sincere heart.
There are many many Christians who have no concept of any of the stuff that we discuss on this forum.
Do they follow the main rules?
Yes, probably better than you or I. Loving God and loving their brother.
Is salvation denied to the mentally retarded?
I go to a sola scriptura Bible study group even though I don't think they can understand the message without tradition.
Am I denied heaven because I see it differently than my fellow men in the group?
Are they?
Immersion baptisms. Priest baptisms. Baptisms of Holy Spirit. Look at all these things that each church thinks is necessary.
What about being born again? Many churches think that unless you are willfully and consciously born again, you cannot be saved.
Yet many of these people who are sure they are saved do not celebrate the Lord's Supper in their services while the Catholics, who they see as idolaters and near devil worshipers do.
Is one of these practices more relevant than the other? Is it based on this kind of legalism, or is it based on loving God and your neighbor.
It is not the intellectuals that are leading this charge and there are people who have never been 'born again' consciously whose lives have changed so much that in spirit, they have. And there are people who are so reverent and thankful that every action is a Lord's supper.
I appreciate your intense desire to get things right, and to get to the bottom of things, and to avoid being misled.
I just think you aren't giving God enough credit.
He can work with anything.
The old promise of the Old Testament still stands. Seek God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and you will find him, even in a gender neutral church.
(Though it might lead you to leave that church. Heh.)
God is big picture, and if you are sincerely giving it a go he won't let you be misled fatally or permanently.
These people who try to mislead are like the Appointment in Samarra guy. They think they are so clever.
God's got this.
“The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of its parents.”
Carl Jung