Dear John, Thank you for your thoughtful advise. I tried to find the booklet you mentioned but haven't found it yet. I know you have had contact with the PB before and will have some understanding of my concerns. I was hoping for some scriptural direction with regard to these things. I am not entirely satisfied with some of the "that was a custom" answers. I read one paper by Schreiner where he proves, by careful exegesis, that Paul is talking about a covering for the woman but at the end he simply pulls out the "that was a custom then" statement. He offers nothing to back this up. What matters to him is the principle behind or in what Paul is saying (ie authority). Can we then do this with any symbol in the NTS? eg the bread and wine or water baptism? I have never met you but I can tell you that I love you as a brother. I admire your gentle and gracious spirit in the midst of controversy and I only hope I can emulate this. I don't want to place bonds on a free people. I certainly don't want to place my private interpretations on the people of God. However, if the scriptures tell us how we are to conduct ourselves then we should submit to them. I do not care what the rest of the denominations are doing! We should never have a pragmatic approach to church polity. John, I am no pastor or elder. I left my home church because the leadership is so confused and compromised. I have never claimed to have everything sorted out and I never said that they had an easy job. All I long for is somewhere I can worship God in grace and truth. Is it too much to ask for? It seems to me that these issues are like burrs under a saddle. I don't believe they are inconsequential but for some they are a point of fellowship. The PB have a marvellous history of splits. Please pray for me and Cheryl. Victoria is a beautiful city and a very nice place to live but it is certainly not a Godly place. We have, apparently, a large number of witches in this city of gardens. Almost all the churches have morphed into seeker friendly and contemporary community churches. Sometimes I think we should move. Anyway, enough rambling. Is the "that was a custom then" a legitimate argument? In Christ, Adrian On Tuesday, September 28, 2004, at 07:30 AM, John Reisinger wrote: > Dear brother: How we approach the Scriptures usually determines what > we > will believe. We must avoid two extremes. First, we must accept all > that > Scriptures says, and secondly, we must not go past what Scripture says. > > We must not think that the "sufficiency of Scripture" means we will > have a > black and white answer to everyone of our questions about church order > and > practice. The NTS is far more "principle" oriented than "law" > oriented. I > suggest you look at the booklet, "Authority and the Local Church." > > If typical Reformed people would use the same hermeneutics to > interpret the > "women" passages that they use to explain the word "world" and "all > men" > they would have an enirely different doctrine of women and worship! > > I encourage you to get together with any and all of "like precious > faith" > you know and pray and worship together. Don't have any "official" > structure > that is not essential. Do not start with structure and authority and > organization. Start with personal needs and true fellowship and only > adopt a > structure and organization that is essential. No one can "start a > church." > Only God can do that! We can only start organizations. > > Blessings on you and yours. Next a good wife, a fellowship of > believers is a > great blessings. May He be pleased to add the blessing of a local > fellowship > to your experience. JGR