Is Failure to Attend "Church" a Sin?

[Guest]

When I grew up I was taught that failure to attend church was a sin, unless you were unable to do so. This teaching was based on the following passage:

Hebrews 10:19-25 (New King James Version)

19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20. by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21. and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22. let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25. not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.


Here we see in the bolded portion what appears to be a command, followed by an ominous warning of potential result of the failure to gather together:


26. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27. but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30. For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.


Is attending "Church" mandatory for the Christian? What say you?

[Guest]

I don't think assembly has to mean: 'In a church building'. But since there are many members of the body each having a different function for the purpose of edification (among other things) it would seem desirous to assemble.

Fear of persecution seems like it might be the point Hebrews 10 is making. Jewish Christians fearing persecution from unconverted Jews, trying to bring them back to the Law where "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins". In that sense I guess todays counterpart would be people who fear assembling because they really love something more than Christ, they may really love the world more. But more churches today seem to be ok with that kind of attitude.

Good topic. I look forward to others responses.

[Guest]

We have some friends who are church planting in Africa in a very unreached area. There are four of them on the team (two couples) and they do try to meet together on the weekends (they live a few miles apart) in some fashion for encouragement. Most in the "church" would say that they are not in sin for doing so. Why then would the same scenario be wrong in America? Why is it not sinful for them to meet in a small group for mutual encouragement and edification, but yet it would be wrong for someone here to meet in just a small group for mutual edification and encouragement (weekly, daily, whatever)?

Yes, we do not need to forsake assembling together. But how many people have to be there/where/when/how often doesn't seem to be an issue.

[Guest]

I don't think assembly has to mean: 'In a church building'. But since there are many members of the body each having a different function for the purpose of edification (among other things) it would seem desirous to assemble.

Fear of persecution seems like it might be the point Hebrews 10 is making. Jewish Christians fearing persecution from unconverted Jews, trying to bring them back to the Law where "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins". In that sense I guess todays counterpart would be people who fear assembling because they really love something more than Christ, they may really love the world more. But more churches today seem to be ok with that kind of attitude.

Good topic. I look forward to others responses.

I wonder if the fear of persecution may have had to do with Jews, many of which were Pharisees and priests of high standing in Judaism, being afraid to be seen hanging out with the "Nazarenes" as they would lose their social, financial or religious standing.

I also echo your thoughts that many primarily align this passage in Hebrews with going to a Sunday morning service. However, vss 24 and 25 describe interactive encouragement among all believers that is often not really present at the Sunday morning show....er, I mean service.

I don't know that a Christian would be motivated to meet with brothers and sisters in Christ because its something they ought to do. This would not result in the fellowship that Jesus would want.

In my estimation, a disciple of Christ is desperate to meet and interact with fellow believers. He or she seeks out fellowship like a hungry person seeks food because they desire to love others and be loved.

my 2 cents

Dave

[Guest]

I think this exhortation has it's parrallel in small groups, where the believers all know one another. Remember that the early ekklesia were just 10-30 people gathering in homes. You can't compare a situation like that to attending a modern church service. It's beyond apples and oranges.

Attending church in the modern west is simply going to a small concert that's followed by a man in a business suit delivering a pep talk. Attending church in the biblical sense meant you got together with other believers and built one another up using various spiritual giftings.

The house church movement in China gives us a better snapshot of what the biblical ekklesia refers to.

[Guest]

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral:
~Scripture
~Tradition
~Reason
~Experience

The first three I can study online and post about till the cows come home (I get a lot of satisfaction doing web stuff). To a degree I/we "experience" fellowship on the web.

But a few years ago I got to thinking:
What if I lead someone to the Lord?
What about if they have a family?
Should I tell them to meet me @ FBFF?
Possibly, yes, sure. But would this meet all their needs?
(What if they don't like the internet, etc.)

At which point I started going to a local-church, though I still don't go every week....
I know need I more Wesleyan-Experience {with the whole Quad-at-once, in Community} with real people in this real world, if you see what I'm sayin' (not quite sure I do),

JC, The church I've been going to just had to expand. They built-in a few more rows of pews, about 20, I think. Thing is, they did it oblong...only more the backs of their heads to look at (many churches are going in-the-round nowadays; that idea, I like). I read where some emergent-folks did away with the pews altogether and replaced them with sofas and comfy chairs...facing one another (don't fall asleep, they will see you)!!!

[Guest]

Failure to enter the Holiest by his flesh is a sin. His flesh is the body. The body lives, breathes, and moves its assembled members. The body does not amputate the arm or leg as I read 1 Cor. 12. If the body is never disassembled, then assembling is mandatory. However, attending does not appear to be a concept taught by these particular scriptures. It is a concept that just seems foreign to the teaching about the body and its characteristics.

livingink

[Guest]

I would like to chime in with my "1" cents. I didn't want to say "2" because it is just a short "chime-in" without any book, chapter, and verse.

I believe that it is to say that we should not try to "avoid" gathering with other Christians. As we are the body, (We being all Christians) we gather in many places and at many times and it would be impossible for us to be at all gatherings unless we had the gift of "omnipresence". If I read the spiritual gifts part that was not in there so I'm sure none of us have that. At any rate, we should not try to avoid meeting with Christians as a rule or when we are aware of a meeting and do not have something that is standing in the way of us getting there. What could be standing in our way will probably stimulate another topic or discussion.

Dan
Bonney Lake, WA

[Guest]

Hello Dan, good post.

"Am I intentionally avoiding meeting with other Christians?" is a great question. The next one is: "Why?" And as we search for the answer to that (if we are doing that) the reasons should become apparent if we are prayerfully seeking to do God's will.

In the past, I avoided Christians on purpose because of a certain sin in my life that I wasn't ready to give up (not wanting it to be publicly exposed, I was both ashamed, and not ready to stop this sin). Thanks for a reminder of those days...(days that I surely don't wanna go back to).

Eventually, I got around Christians more & more anyway ("in spite of my sin") and God took this particular sin-problem away. Or maybe I should say: He helped me to stop sinning and took it away at the same time(?). The fellowship helped for sure!

In fact, I finally decided to get some counseling on it from the pastor who was teaching a Bible study at his church (I was visiting)...Amen, Praise the Lord,