presented itself. Does that mean the church "universal" was organized to do that? No!

 

   The burden of proof lies with those Christians who presumptuously choose to build and work through "human" religious organizations. One supposed "proof" is the "family". The argument often goes something like this:  To argue that the local church is the only religious organization is not true. The home or family is as well. The family is mandated to teach the Gospel,  Eph. 6:1-4. Mandated to do benevolent work, I Tim. 5:16. It is by divine definition a corporate unit, Matt. 19:5-6. So look! There is another organization besides the local church for evangelism. If we have the "family" and the family is not a challenge to the all-sufficiency of the local church then why can't we have the "College" and it not be a challenge as well? Or why can't we have the "Foundation" and it not be a challenge either?

 

   According to Ephesians 6:1-4 which do we have here? 1. Do we have instruction given to fathers who are Christians? 2. Do we have instruction given to a "human" organization formed by Christians  to provide teaching and worship for our children? Note also that the mandate in I Tim. 5:16 is "any man or woman that believeth." 

 

   One would be "bats" to say that we have #2 above, i.e. "instruction given to a 'human organization' formed by Christians." The truth is we have instruction here to "individuals" (fathers) to train their children. The truth is that the mandate in I Tim. 5:16 is "any man or woman that believeth." With regards to a passage addressing the "individual" one would certainly be "twisting" the scriptures to use such that pertains to the "individual" Christian as authorizing Christians to build a human organization. If  the "individual" teaching authorizes Christians to build a "human organization" (individually supported)  for teaching and worship, and it is simply  to be construed as individuals teaching, then why doesn't the "local church" teaching authorize the building of a "human organization" (church supported) which is to be construed as just local churches teaching?

 

   We can go even further. It would be presumptuous to say that either of these (the family or the local church) authorizes or corresponds to a "human organization." Why? For the simple reason that the "family" unit is Go to next page