Please remember that those of us who claim Christ as our Savior are still human and make mistakes. That has been true for the entire history of the church. Many verses in the New Testament are there because correction was needed in how even the Early Church was doing things. Don’t let your frustrations with man or a particular pastor’s opinions on how sacraments should be performed or their purpose hurt your relationship with God.

I know that some denominations are touchy about the sacraments. Some are worse than others, sad to say. I believe that most A/G pastors will baptize anyone who wants to be baptized who profess an acceptance of Christ as their Savior. About the most they will ask is that the person attend a short teaching time at some point near the time of the baptism to be sure they understand what is going on. I assume some other denominations have similar open policies. On the other hand, the denomination I’m a part of doesn’t do infant baptisms since we don’t feel that is clearly taught in the Bible. That puts us at odds with some other groups.

A particular church may only do a baptism service when enough people show interest, but if you’ll give them a heads up most will try to let you know when a baptism is planned.

That still doesn’t negate the value of attending church in general and I hope you’ll pray about where God wants you to attend and try again. As each church in each town is different, I wouldn’t presume to suggest a particular church or denomination (even my own). God knows what is best for you at this point in your life and for your own particular background. He knows whether there are people there you will be able to make friends with and all the other bits and pieces that make a certain church the best fit for you. None of us do it perfectly (considering either individuals, churches or denominations takes on the proper interpretation of the Bible), but it is better to get involved with a group and try to work from the inside to move them closer to the Bible than to simply rail from the outside.

Best wishes and may God guide your search.

Just because you've never experienced intimacy online, or can't understand how that might be possible, does not make it impossible. I personally don't understand how God works in the world—but that doesn't make God's working in the world an impossibility.

Hi everyone! I have been a a Christain for only about five years and it has been a struggle due to “Todays Church”. like Jesus said to
many, men choose to follow in mans traditions and not Gods(my paraphasing)This is a real turn off to new Christains it also states in the bible that there the church is the body of Christ each individual has their own strength and all together make up the body of Christ. It was layed on my heart to “seek ye the truth” and I have it is all in the bible to understand some of the bible on must look into history and use the bible to put it together. Take for example( and remember I do not follow any denomination I follow what the bible says) the sabbath the so called church teaches the sabbath has changed “it has not!!!” it is a commandment jesus explains that the limmimits man has established for the Sabbath are nil and void NOT THE SABBATH. People say the sabbath was given to the Jews, IT WAS NOT! it was given to the 12 tribes called isrealites, jew are from Judea. I have been told We as Christains changed it yes we as Christains changed it in fact the Catholic church changed it go look up the 29th cannon for the Catholic church. What makes man think they can change stuff in the bible.
Let me tell you an amazing true story My husband has been a Christain for about 3 years now and just recently he made the decision to get baptized, his mother asked her preacher if he would baptize him and he said ” I don’t think it will do any good because he is not part of this church” Hello The preachers and the church need to start teaching the truth and not mans traditions if this were to happen more people would come to God because the truth is “CHRIST” our FATHER.

Pastor Johno, thanks for your thoughts on what a biblical church is. Your last set of comments made me realize I left out an important topic when putting together the schedule for this series – whether genuine community can be formed in an online setting. I tweaked the schedule and added a post on that topic for Dec. 15.