Should all those who are Christian be known as penacostal?

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Sun May 31, 2009 9:22 pm

I am not referring to the denomination of Pentecostal, rather, I'm referring to this great festival once celebrated by the nation of Israel and by many Church's....which is traditionally celebrated today, if I'm not mistaken. My question is: If one calls himself or herself Christian, are we indeed, Pentecostal? Looking at Acts 1- 2 we can see...
1) the church gathered together, prayed together...CONSTANTLY Acts 1:14
and were in one accord...Acts 2
2) church expected the arrival of the Holy Spirit..there was expectation!

in the old testament days, the Holy Spirit would come and go upon people....like the prophets and the judges... but when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Acts 2 following the death and resurrection of Christ...the church experienced the power of God through His Spirit! And 3, 000 came to salvation that day...
what would the His church look like today if we all were Pentecostal in nature?
1) always gathering together in prayer...constantly
2) having expectation of the Spirits coming...

Do we as His church ATTEND our churches as we should? And then, do we pray together constantly? Being of one accord? Oh I can only imagine the excitement of expecting the Comforter to arrive back in the day of Acts 2! Do we go to church and pray in one accord (Acts 2) with great expectation of the Spirit? And the power and energy of the Spirit is felt, as we pray in one accord? Is this happening in your church? In mine?

If so, then WE all are Pentecostal as I believe God would has us ALL to be (even though I belong to a Baptist church)....and shouldn't we all be Pentecostal??? At least, in nature? Is God's church Pentecostal in nature? Worshipping and praying in one accord? Or do we all need to re-examine how we "do church"....not just paying the preacher to preach and pray but being active as God's church, each one ministering to the needs of the other, rather than just expecting the pastor or preacher to do it.

Are we Christians Pentecostal enough? It's just a question going through my mind on this day of Pentecost. What do you think?

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:39 pm

cathar... the Word is the Word....one must not add to it or reject certain parts ....it must be accepted completely or rejected completely. Acts IS our church history..
if you reject it then you reject God...

All scripture is "God Breathed"... this is what the Bible tells us... accept it or reject it completley, your choice.

We shouldn't change the Word,
The Word should change us!

kayky · Post by **kayky** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:46 pm

Cindy wrote:Kayky...that is exactly what I mean. We should all really "awaken" from our sleep...our sleep in the Christian life...and "be" the church....full of power given to us through the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. But might it be true...that some only think they have the Spirit inside of them (because they "go to church each Sunday) or do they really have the Spirit of God living within them?

We all have the spirit of God in us. God manifests as us.

Cindy wrote:Someone (in an above response) said that we all have the indwelling, all humans do...

Umm...that would be me.

Cindy wrote: well that simply isn't the Christian faith at all. Those who know Christ have the right to be called "sons and daughters of God"...and that is a certain group,not everybody. But you hit it exactly....we all need to be awakened and "live the life"...worshipping in Spirit and in Truth.

Have you explored what is going on in Christianity today beyond the confines of your particular denomination?

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:09 pm

Cindy wrote:cathar... the Word is the Word....one must not add to it or reject certain parts ....it must be accepted completely or rejected completely. Acts IS our church history..
if you reject it then you reject God...

All scripture is "God Breathed"... this is what the Bible tells us... accept it or reject it completley, your choice.

We shouldn't change the Word,
The Word should change us!

Well I guess we disagree. At best the Word of God when meaning the Bible is a metaphor. Timothy is a forgery and Acts id Pauline propaganda that ignores the rest of the followers of Jesus including family and Jews and their demise. Acts doesn't correspond to Paul's letters. Acts is not history and it is only because you accept it as such that it is "your" church history. It is certainly not all of church history which includes the writings , transmission and selection of the writings as well as the destruction of the opposition when they became the religion of the Empire.
It says all writings are "God Breathed" and they don't give us a list, you have decided what is "God Breathed" or those you have accepted to select them for you.
I take them just like I would any other ancient religious writings except I might be bias towards them as I have Christian roots. Words are changed every time you translate not to forget what happens when you read and interpret, Your Bible is full of changes; it has evolved.
I find it almost blasphemous to claim my rejection of your belief and interpretation is rejecting God. It makes me question your humility and judgement.
But I am not sure I can say the choice is really yours as I think it is a product of your indoctrination and can't be helped unless you change or learn differently.
I suggest you might try preaching somewhere else besides a debating site.

ps
The Bird is the word. Every body knows about the bird.

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:10 pm

of course I have KayKy..... I explore whats going on in all aspects of the Christian life.... Please feel free to tell me what you may be suggesting i'm missing?

Denominations are not important to God, but knowing His Word (which is how he reveals himself to us today) is what is most important. Anyone that goes outside His Word in their teachings is someone I'm leery of... there are false teachers everywhere, as the Word tells to watch out for such. So, as long as a person is in a church that teaches God's Word, it doesn't matter what denomination there are in...

But, Generally, I don't trust the teachings of man so much as I trust the Word.

I am a youth minister at a baptist church...but most importantly, I'm a Christian.

kayky · Post by **kayky** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:13 pm

accidental double post-sorry

Cindy · Post by **Cindy** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:13 pm

Cathar...
are you someone that calls yourself a Christian? I take it that you are not, which of course, is our major difference. All Chrsitians follow the Word of God.

So state clearly, what is your belief? I state mine, so be clear about yours. Exactly what is your belief?

kayky · Post by **kayky** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:18 pm

Cindy wrote:cathar... the Word is the Word....one must not add to it or reject certain parts ....it must be accepted completely or rejected completely. Acts IS our church history..
if you reject it then you reject God...

But you have to know how to read it. It is not literal history, and it is not inerrant. You can accept God without accepting the Bible.

Cindy wrote:All scripture is "God Breathed"... this is what the Bible tells us... accept it or reject it completley, your choice.

This simply isn't true. The Bible was written by mere human beings.

Cindy wrote:We shouldn't change the Word,
The Word should change us!

Perhaps. But we must learn to read it as it was originally intended.

kayky · Post by **kayky** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:25 pm

Cindy wrote:of course I have KayKy..... I explore whats going on in all aspects of the Christian life.... Please feel free to tell me what you may be suggesting i'm missing?

I am an Episcopalian, for example. Most of us do not believe that the Bible is literally true.

Cindy wrote:Denominations are not important to God, but knowing His Word (which is how he reveals himself to us today) is what is most important. Anyone that goes outside His Word in their teachings is someone I'm leery of... there are false teachers everywhere, as the Word tells to watch out for such. So, as long as a person is in a church that teaches God's Word, it doesn't matter what denomination there are in...

The Episcopalian church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in current practice.

Cindy wrote:But, Generally, I don't trust the teachings of man so much as I trust the Word.

That would be great if you know how to interpret the Bible to any degree of correctness.

Cindy wrote:I am a youth minister at a baptist church...but most importantly, I'm a Christian.

I grew up in the Baptist church, so I know where you are coming from. It drove me to atheism by the time I was in my late twenties. After a great deal of study and meditation, I was able to return to Christianity with a very different perspective around ten years later.

Cathar1950 · Post by **Cathar1950** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:33 pm

Cindy wrote:Cathar...
are you someone that calls yourself a Christian? I take it that you are not, which of course, is our major difference. All Chrsitians follow the Word of God.

So state clearly, what is your belief? I state mine, so be clear about yours. Exactly what is your belief?

Not all Christians have the same notion you have about the word of God being identified with the Bible. You are a Bible believer. My beliefs are irrelevant to your claims. If you want to know what I believe, don't believe or don't know read some of my posts if your curious. Your ritualized use of the "Word of God" is vague esoteric and a metaphor.
Our major differences are how I view, read and interpret the Bible and other ancient writings and an understanding of how the writings were developed.
Maybe you think God wrote it just for you and put it in your motel room, I don't know but I suspect you will mature and not have such a selective literalistic view you learned from others that share your 19th century literalist view of the Bible coupled with what ever materials you might read.

Goat · Post by **Goat** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:23 pm

Cindy wrote:goat, I completely agree with you. An emotional experience is something that is often provoked due to circumstance, etc. within the church at that moment, but the real filling of the Holy Spirit into someone is...well..completely different. Maybe that is why the road is "narrow", the gate "small" that leads to life...and few are on it.

How can you tell the difference?? From the external evidence, they both seem to be the very same thing. How do you know your feeling isn't self generated?