your answer<\/a>. It has helped to clarify those ‘ideas’ that I asked about. But, in truth, I have to say that this is just downright scary. When someone talks about ‘anti’ and ‘liberal’ and ‘sound’, it doesn’t make me think of worshiping my God, but it does make me think that there is some sort of ‘politics’ going on. This is also scary, to think that God’s commands have become nothing more to people that a political stand. And for their own agenda, as well, not God’s.<\/p>\nI was one who, as a 14-year-old child, was sent to live in one of those orphans homes you spoke of.<\/p>\n
We, the children who lived there, attended the local congregation. I was just a kid, so I have no idea of whether or not they actually supported it as a congregation, but what I do remember is that I did carry away from there, the basic ideas of the teachings of Christ. I was baptized there. And yes, it was the biblical teaching way, immersion.<\/p>\n
This children’s home was the first time in my life that I found peace. I did not want to go with my family. I was even attending school. A major thing for me. I wanted to live there forever. But it was not to be.<\/p>\n
Actually, my mother came in the middle of the night and stole me away. Due to family problems, (very severe ones actually) my father (who was also on his way from his home to steal me away), and whatever else, my teachings ended that night when Mom made me leave with her. It wasn’t until a few years later, when again, I was thrown out of the family, and searching for a home. I found one with a family in another congregation in the city where Mom lived. I was 16, and a brand new mother. So my foster family took two in, not one.<\/p>\n
I lived with my foster family and attended services with them for the next two years, and during that time, I never really knew about these particular problems. I never heard these words discussed. Anti or liberal or sound. If they did present some point of discussion, it must have been during meetings of the elders and deacons. But at this time, in this congregation, we used more than one cup for the communion, and I was not aware that this seemed to present a problem in worshiping. We also had Bible classes, age-related, and we also had a room used for a nursery, but not staffed. I used the nursery myself many times with my baby.<\/p>\n
The building itself was very old, and we were just happy to have it.<\/p>\n
My foster family concentrated on teaching me the Bible and giving me a decent and loving home. I applaud them for that. I do know this. That period of time with my foster family was one of the most peaceful, and loving times I have experienced in my life. There has been no other time like that.<\/p>\n
Now, after years of wandering in darkness, I want to be with a congregation and have a Christian family again. Soon I hope, maybe God will allow me to leave here, and go find one.<\/p>\n
I just hope with all sincerity that I will be able to find one that is acceptable to God. When I said earlier that this is scary, what this means to me is that I want to find a church home that is what God commanded to be. Not a political situation, not a place or group of people who are constantly at odds with others, not a place that becomes more or less, just like my mom and dad’s homes, where there is nothing but fighting and upset and crying and hurt. I’ve had my fair share of that already.<\/p>\n
I will keep this message you sent me, and use it to attempt to study with, and learn and understand. And thank you again, for your help.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
As I stated previously, the tendency of man to divide is not what ought to exist, but sadly it is what man was ever done. “Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). I tried to sketch out for you how things have come to be in their present situation, but by no means do I approve of it. The only way to achieve unity is to gather around God and live in accordance with His teachings. When all seek God’s approval, then division ceases.<\/p>\nThe use of orphans’ homes was a fad in world history that has faded from popularity in the United States. Today foster homes are the current method for caring for homeless children. I have nothing against orphans’ homes, though I think that individual families caring for orphans can be a better method if the home is stable and the children are not bounced from home to home. The only thing I object to is the expectation of some that the church ought to be paying for the care of orphans. The command to care for orphans and widows is given to individual Christians. “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world<\/em>” (James 1:27). It is not right for an individual to pawn his duty off on the church and then think that he is doing what God had asked. Besides such ways puts too much distance between the one who needs care and the one who should be caring. The word “visit” in this verse comes from the Greek word\u00a0episkeptomai<\/em>, which means “to go see, to inspect, to relieve.” Christians are told to see to the care of orphans and widows, not to pay some other group to do it for them. I am glad that you found Christians who did their duty and did it well.<\/p>\nI pray that you will find a group of faithful Christians to work and worship with one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Thank you for your answer. It has helped to clarify those ‘ideas’ that I asked about. But, in truth, I have to say that this is just downright scary. When someone talks about ‘anti’ and ‘liberal’ and ‘sound’, it doesn’t make me think of worshiping my God, but it does make me think that…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1508,191],"class_list":["post-9891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-institutionalism","tag-orphans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13290,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-we-take-care-of-orphans\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":0},"title":"How should we take care of orphans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Other than taking a child into our home and family to rear, how should we take care of orphans? Answer: \"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world\" (James 1:27).\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":49376,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/twice-adopted\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":1},"title":"Twice Adopted","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Those familiar with Branson, Missouri's entertainment mecca may know the musical \"Twice Adopted,\" featuring ten adopted children who share their singing talent with thousands. Their story touches the heart. Randy and Linda Koenig were childless until they adopted a child from Guatemala. One thing led to\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\/2016\/10\/adopted-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/orphans-and-their-care\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":2},"title":"Orphans and Their Care","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Orphans 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. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Unusual, because their teaching does not follow the plain statements of the New Testament. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The passage we will delve into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-benevolence-by-christians-limited-to-other-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":3},"title":"Is benevolence by Christians limited to other Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know whether sharing or any act of benevolence by Christians should be limited to the body of Christ alone. Answer: There are two standards for benevolence work.\u00a0 One concerns what the church can do and the other concerns what individuals are expected to do. The easy\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":42655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-be-lights-of-the-world-if-we-are-closeted-behind-our-doors\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":4},"title":"How can we be lights of the world if we are closeted behind our doors?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Bro. Hamilton, I would like to thank the church there for its great website. I am a Bible school teacher and I think it will be a big help to me when my students have questions about biblical things. I have read the introduction to the La Vista\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":47327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/but-it-is-a-good-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":9891,"position":5},"title":"But It Is a Good Work!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 2:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Periodically I\u2019ll get irate notes from people who are upset that I talk about the teachings of the Salvation Army and point out that they don\u2019t match the Scriptures \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rarely does anyone say I\u2019m mistaken about the teachings, rather they think it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9891","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=9891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}