I used to be a member of a Harvest Bible Chapel where I live in York Region. I had grown up Catholic, and became a born again Christian outside the Catholic church in 1995. I continued to attend the Catholic church, because I felt that my "conversion" was authentic and I didn't know enough about Bible doctrine, however I understood who Jesus was and for the first time in my life, I knew I had a real faith in the risen Lord. I understood that Jesus is God, and I understood that I had became alive spiritually. On my faith journey, I have come to understand that righteousness is given to us by God, but as a born again Christian I also came to understand eventually that my faith alone is not enough for justification and that is not what I believe now. I do believe that the bible is God's instructions for salvation, but I do believe that all humans will be judged by their works on the Last Day. I have come to distrust the evangelical doctrine that our justification "covers" our sin, and I believe that our choices now and our character reflect or deflect the image of God within us as humans, (even after our initial faith). I do not believe all Christians have a free pass to go to Heaven or to sin. I believe the bible warnings about pride, spiritual pride and a lack of faith, love and charity will determine if a Christian will go to Heaven or to Hell even after they have been regenerated, either through the waters of Baptism or the doctrine of "conversion."
Being a part of an evangelical church in the past was extremely helpful as it taught me what it means to be a servant of Christ. I love that the bible is opened and taught in these churches and doctrine is insisted upon. In the Catholic Church I love the liturgy and the traditional mass, because like some reformed churches, I believe that the post modern church needs some growing up to do. As a Catholic, I consider my evangelical brothers my friends, and as friends I would love to see Jesus' prayer for Unity realized. Where I can't compromise is with all the infighting and division being caused by spiritually abusive Pastors and leaders within our church.
Church growth methods and schemes, (I have learned) fall outside the pale of orthodoxy and they should be resisted by all true believers in Jesus Christ, wither Protestant or Catholic. I am not writing this to be a cause of stumbling or division, but with my past at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region, I was surprised to hear in a online steaming of a church service "family chat" that my former Pastor talk about James MacDonald stepping down from Harvest Bible Fellowship. He did mention that Pastor James would not be leaving his post as the Pastor or his church in Chicago. HBCYR's family chat vimeo video was online last I checked.
Being a part of an evangelical church in the past was extremely helpful as it taught me what it means to be a servant of Christ. I love that the bible is opened and taught in these churches and doctrine is insisted upon. In the Catholic Church I love the liturgy and the traditional mass, because like some reformed churches, I believe that the post modern church needs some growing up to do. As a Catholic, I consider my evangelical brothers my friends, and as friends I would love to see Jesus' prayer for Unity realized. Where I can't compromise is with all the infighting and division being caused by spiritually abusive Pastors and leaders within our church.
Church growth methods and schemes, (I have learned) fall outside the pale of orthodoxy and they should be resisted by all true believers in Jesus Christ, wither Protestant or Catholic. I am not writing this to be a cause of stumbling or division, but with my past at Harvest Bible Chapel York Region, I was surprised to hear in a online steaming of a church service "family chat" that my former Pastor talk about James MacDonald stepping down from Harvest Bible Fellowship. He did mention that Pastor James would not be leaving his post as the Pastor or his church in Chicago. HBCYR's family chat vimeo video was online last I checked.
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