Posts Tagged ‘individual vs. church’
What can the church do for widows?
Question: I am interested in knowing what can the church do for the widows? There is a lady who is a widow and a member of the Lord’s church. She has five grown children. Can the church pay for her husband’s funeral out of the treasury? What if all members quit paying their life insurance…
Read MoreAre lectureships scriptural?
Question: Tell me your thoughts about “lectureships.” Is this a scriptural term? Do we have authority for women lectureships? Answer: Let us establish a basic point. The question is not whether a particular term is found in the Bible or not. After all, language changes constantly. What might have made a good translation in say…
Read MoreCan a bake sale be held at a church?
Question: I wanted to have a bake sale at our church to raise money for my pastor’s anniversary. One of the deacons told me that I was wrong about this. I was told about how Jesus got angry at the people for using the temple for a den of thieves. I do not see that…
Read MoreCan a church consist of just one person?
Question: Can a church consist of just one person? Answer: A church is an entity separate and distinguishable from a single individual Christian. This can be seen in the separation of responsibility seen in I Timothy 5:16, “If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be…
Read MoreIs there any spiritual work that an individual Christian may do that the church may not?
Comment: The following is taken from a list of questions sent to me by my request. The author is from a more liberally-minded group who is preparing lessons on the issues that separate some churches of Christ. He was interested in the other side’s point of view and I was interested in how he would…
Read MoreCan the Greek word translated “himself” in James 1:27 also be translated “themselves”?
Question: While reading a book by Basil Overton, I ran across this argument, “Some have argued that the church cannot help orphans but the individual Christians must do this. They say James 1:27 is addressed to the ‘individual. James 1:27 is not addressed to the individual. “Himself” of the text is a third person pronoun.…
Read MoreOrphans and Their Care
I. Orphans are not mentioned often in the New Testament, once to be precise, but many have developed unusual ideas about how to care for the orphans in our midst. A. Unusual, because their teaching does not follow the plain statements of the New Testament. B. The passage we will delve into is James 1:27. II. The Bible’s…
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