Closed Brethren
I sat next to this guy in the plane on my way back to Melbourne 3 weeks ago. Had a pretty interesting conversation with him regarding God and brethren stuffs. Guess the world is pretty small after all, he attends a church at South Okleigh runs by uncle Oh Boon Lian's son (those of u from Elim should know who I am talking about). It's a closed brethren church, pretty much like Paramount Gospel Hall in Msia.
Here are some interesting issues we talked about:
1. U must be baptized before u are accepted into their church (though he agrees that baptism does not save u)
2. Newcomers who attend their church must sit at the back rows-separate from the other believers
3. Women cannot participate in worship
4. The use of musical instruments are seen as bringing worldly influence into the worship-which makes it unnecessary (though he says its not absolutely wrong).
5. We'll have the same physical body in heaven as on earth (He wasnt sure of this though)
6. That all supernatural gifts (ie tongues, prophesies) have seized since perfection came: which he claims is the bible, not the 2nd coming of Christ. Reason for this is because the greek word refers perfection to an inanimate object (Pls enlighten me those of u who study greek!)
What I gathered out of this chat with him is this:
1. Firstly, he is very knowledgeable in the Word (he just quoted scriptures offhand)and he basically knew every passage of the Bible that I refered to, considering that he is a pretty new Christian (bout 2 years old I think)
2. He is very firm with the closed brethren's teachings, some of which were mentioned above, and he regarded their interpretation of the bible as the right one (claiming that they read in context, and studied the original language).
While I admire his knowledge, but I also disagree with several teachings that their church holds fast to (albeit being a brethren myself). Are those issues merely human's interpretation, tradition or really the truth? Something for us to think about...
We exchanged contacts, and he invited me to his church. Oh well, we havent been in contact since then.
4 Comments:
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Yo bro.
Just went to the Perak Assembly Fellowship in KCC today. Oh well, heard ALOT of stuff bout all these brethren movement and stuff. What a coincidence that when I came to your blog, I encounter these brethren stuff again. Maybe God is hinting something huh?
Sometimes, I do wonder whether some of these brethren people has their objectives gone wrong. They keep talking about revival in the brethren assemblies and stuff like that which, no offence to anyone, really bores me.
I mean, isn't being in a close relationship with God, studying His Word, and reaching out to non-believers the most important thing? Why do they care so much about revival and stuff?
These thoughts crossed my mind when I was listening to Mr.Yap Kok Keong. Well, come to think of it, maybe the closed-mindedness and several teachings which the brethren holds fast to contributes as a factor in why our assemblies are not growing in numbers. People of the Word? Not anymore.
Oh, I'm a brethren.
12:28 AM
Hey bros!
I'm all for revival for the Sisthren church hehehe..
In the essentials unity, In the non essentials, diversity le...
I'm bored too if revival means speaking in tongues or throwing away musical instruments... but talk abt revival in terms of connecting people w God's word, making it relevant to all spheres of life, that perks me up! :D
I was really stunt when uncle Daniel raised the issue of veiling few years back. I think veiling, i agree..BUT we don't need to make it a big issue. em..it's actually an act of obedience. There was a day uncle Wai keong chatted with me. He talked a lot a lot till i couldn't digest. Em..but i agreed with some of the things he said. For us ladies, if God asks us to veil also we can't do then how are we going to respond to a greater command. Something like this lar. And i lost my veil during Sunday school closing. Still looking for suitable one. Haiz...
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