Dear Mr. Hamilton,<\/p>\n
I’ve been emphasizing how important truth is in the Bible to one of my friends. She has been very receptive to the truths I’ve shown her in God’s Word. I’ve taken her to the church I attend and she enjoys it but she says it’s not her thing. Now I tell her it’s about pleasing God, not man. She says she thinks the church of Christ has the whole “fellowship” thing down but that in terms of going out into the world and making disciples they are lacking. She says she’s talked to many people at the church of Christ she visited and asked me about mine. She said most of the people were brought up in it, not converted. She also says that when we worship we don’t lift our hands and a lot of people in the room just look like they’re reading off the screen.<\/p>\n
Obviously, these words were hard for me to hear but I guess her points may have some weight. I told her that only God knows the heart of the worshiper, but she said that she thinks if you’re into it then lifting hands should come naturally. I’ve always wondered about that. Doesn’t I Corinthians say to lift up holy hands to God? Why don’t more churches do that? Is it optional?<\/p>\n
I just don’t know what to say. I’ve been studying and working so hard with this person but I’m losing hope. Any advice?<\/p>\n\t
It would depend on the congregation. Here I would guess about half the members were not raised by Christians but were converted to Christianity at some point in their life. But it is a foolish argument in the first place. I would argue that there is something wrong with a group that cannot retain the children raised by Christian parents. See:\u00a0Saving Our Own<\/a>.\u00a0 Parents bringing up faithful children are also a part of evangelism.<\/p>\n Regarding lifting up hands, see:\u00a0Shouldn’t we lift hands in prayer and greet with a holy kiss?<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Who is Closer to God?<\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I’ve been emphasizing how important truth is in the Bible to one of my friends. She has been very receptive to the truths I’ve shown her in God’s Word. I’ve taken her to the church I attend and she enjoys it but she says it’s not her thing. Now I tell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,727,544,536,451],"class_list":["post-42574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-emotionalism","tag-membership","tag-preaching","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-baptist-be-rebaptized-even-though-he-says-he-was-baptized-for-the-right-reason\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":0},"title":"Must a Baptist be rebaptized even though he says he was baptized for the right reason?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was raised in the church of Christ. I am married to someone who was raised in the Baptist church. She has no problem with going to church with me. But she doesn't think that she should be baptized again. She says that she was baptized for the same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25431,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-a-baptism-valid\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":1},"title":"When Is a Baptism Valid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Bassford Seven or eight years ago, I got a call from a brother in St. Louis who asked me to study with his mother.\u00a0 I set up the study and began, as I usually do, by asking her questions about her religious background.\u00a0 She explained that she had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Baptism5.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":50275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-leave-this-church-where-the-pastor-drives-a-luxury-car\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":2},"title":"Should I leave this church where the pastor drives a luxury car?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello. Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my question. I've struggled with the decision of whether to leave my church. The congregation is very loving and over the past two years, I have developed several good friendships. My dilemma is with the pastor. She is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26160,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-been-thinking-about-switching-congregations-but-dont-know-if-it-is-a-good-idea\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":3},"title":"I’ve been thinking about switching congregations but don’t know if it is a good idea","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hey, I have a question.\u00a0I\u2019ve been thinking of switching congregations. My reasons for wanting to leave are: My wife mentioned to me, she isn\u2019t learning there anymore. I haven't been learning there for the past year in a half, but I do a lot of studying on my own.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-help-my-niece-who-is-coming-out-as-agnostic-and-gay\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":4},"title":"How do I help my niece who is coming out as agnostic and gay?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Today, my niece confided in me about coming out as an agnostic and a gay to her parents. As most coming-out stories are, she was met with disapproval from her parents as they were members of a conservative denominational church. She is distressed by this, causing her to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8111,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-church-or-israel-the-bride-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":42574,"position":5},"title":"Is the church or Israel the bride of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the church or Israel the bride of Christ? Answer: In the Old Testament, Israel was depicted as God's bride in several prophecies. But she was declared to be a faithless wife. God declared that He was a husband to Israel (Jeremiah 31:32), but Israel broke the marriage covenant.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}