"How do I find a church?" part one

I have had several Christians who have left cult groups ask me this question, so I decided to dedicate a section of my blog to trying to answer.

I chose my church based on the gospel. There are churches that don't preach the gospel consistently, that seem to preach good morals and such, but not make the gospel clear. I didn't want my children to grow up in a church and mistake Christianity for being a good person. Read this article, maybe you will know what I mean: http://beliefsoftheheart.com/2013/07/23/i-wonder-if-sunday-school-is-destroying-our-kids-2/

So... my choice of church was based on the distinction of law and gospel. This is how we make the gospel clear. Obviously, both God’s law and God’s gospel come from God which means both are good. But, both do very different things. Serious life confusion happens when we fail to understand their distinct “job descriptions.”


"Whoever can't properly distinguish law and gospel is no better than a heathen or a Turk."-- Martin Luther was saying that nothing distinguishes Christianity from Islam or Judaism once you confuse the law and the gospel.

And Saint Paul writes about this quite a bit in the book of Galatians:

"Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?

I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ." (3:1-5)

After I listened to a radio program on understanding law and gospel, I knew which church I belonged to. Here is a link to the radio program: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhiteHorseInn/~3/mGOg1ZeyGzI/wi20120902.mp3