I'll address your post later, after I finish a small project I'm on.
Doug, let me ask you these questions: Would you go to a local body of believers who teach premill and live and die by those teachings and "silence you" on what you believe to be the truth? Or to a church where they teach full preterism? How about a church who teach election of grace over works like I believe and teach? Or, simply put ~ who teach a few things you do not believe in and tell you you are welcome to come and support us, but kept your doctrine to yourself and accept what we teach, or go somewhere else.
Trust me, I know I'm a sinner with many shortcomings, yet we are commanded to be faithful with what God has been pleased to allow us to have, and not to hide our talents under a bushel, fearing of not having a place to worship at. Doug, it is very easy to keep silence and say nothing to just get along and be accepted. No one likes to be alone, we loved having flesh and blood around us and to accept us as their friend, yet we as Christians cannot have both in many cases, it would be rare, since most do not love the truth, only a few do and they are rare to find.
This is Dwight speaking. Agreed, that a good church is hard to find, but we must keep looking, if for some reason we can't start one ourselves. Have you tried any homechurches? We live in Denver and we have been in the same homechurch for 24 years.
We meet in the pastor's home. The pastor's wife plays the guitar and leads us in worship, and she really does a good job. Many of our worship times have literally been glorious, lifting up our hearts in worship. Many times I have led a song that I wanted to share with everyone, and the pastor and his wife are very gracious and always allow me to do that. Others are welcome to do the same. I do not play an instrument, so we sing it acapella.
Then after about 20-30 minutes of worship, our pastor has a sermon, which usually also lasts about 30 minutes, give or take 5-10 minutes. He usually brings a different Bible topic or a different theme each week. We are allowed to raise our hand and either make a comment that relates to the message, or ask a question for clarification. Then again, after he is done with his message, he opens it up to comments or questions.
What I have learned here is: If I ask a question, it should not be a question that disrupts the flow of his message - or even a question that challenges his doctrinal beliefs, which could easily lead to an argument. Also some questions require a long drawn out answer, so the pastor kindly says: "Let's discuss that after our service." If I disagree with something that he said, which happened often when we first started there, I have learned to bring that up either after church or to call him or meet with him during the week. The key is NOT to shame or embarrass him or even firmly challenge him, when he is presenting his message.
Over the years, I have also brought a teaching for the church many times. I simply ask him if I could present a teaching and he asks me what my topic is, and every time I have asked, he has said 'yes'. Then he tells me which Sunday would be best for me to teach. Again, I try to NOT choose a topic that I know he and I disagree on. Keeping the love and unity of the Spirit is key, even though we disagree on some issues.
For example, along with pastoring homechurch, he has been a street preacher probably longer than he has led homechurch - and at the age of 68, he still preaches at concert venues, after football games and baseball games, both in downtown Denver and on college campus'. For years, I would go with him and another brother and we would all preach in the open air.
However, several years ago, I came to believe that open air preaching was not Biblical, so I stopped. Even though we disagree with each other on this, we remain good friends and brothers in Christ.
Each Sunday after church, we enjoy a potluck lunch in the pastor's home. That is the time when we feel free to discuss just about anything, even bringing up questions about the sermon in a gracious way, always trying to avoid angry arguments, etc. Some people have to leave, but many will stay and we will discuss ANY topic, political, Bible, current events, doctrines, etc. We have been known to talk for over 3 hours. Almost always there are some who have Bible questions, so at least three of us, sometimes four, have been able to answer most questions.
The bottom line is that we have discussed just about every Bible topic and/or Christian life topic you can think of, with the freedom to disagree, as long as we do it agreeably, and remain friends and brothers and sisters afterwards. In all those 24 years, we have had to ask one single man to leave and not return, which he has not. He had some outbursts of anger and condemnation, particularly toward the pastor, even though the pastor made every effort to help him over several years.
All in all, homechurch has been one of the greatest blessings in our lives. May God lead you to the same!
