There is a doctrine called "Christian Freedom" that millions of professing Christians rely on to allow them to worship the way they see fit.

It's complicated... of course!

There are the so-called 'essentials' that all other professing Christians are expected to adhere to... there is 'no choice' in whether or not one must believe those... they are required..

Then there are the non-essentials... those are the things that God has supposedly left up the individual.

In other words, what ever the mainstream says are 'essential',- well, you'd better agree and accept those things, or... guess what! You aren't a Christian!!
At least not one according to the mainstream!

And, if you aren't one with the mainstream, then you must be a 'cultist'... According to the mainstream, you can't possibly be a follower of Christ, unless you 'follow them as THEY follow Christ'.

What is it about the 'mainstream' you don't realize??

Well, if you have a Bible, it ought to be an interesting investigation!

Follow the leader!! That's the name of the game! And the leader in this world today, as far as the 'Christian' religion goes, is the mainstream! They are the leader! They claim to be following Christ, but are they? Really?

Tell me have you ever played 'follow the leader'??

How does it go again??? One child is the leader and the rest have to go where the leader goes and do what the leader does? Is that the way it works?

If we open our Bibles and look at the way Christ lived His life, at the way He walked, and where He went, and what He did... How does that compare with the way that the mainstream SAYS a follower of Christ must walk?

Are they going where He went? Are they WALKING how He walked? DOING what He did? BELIEVING WHAT HE BELIEVED??
Are they? Really? Are they following HIS STEPS, or are they blazing their own trail... going where THEY want to go? Doing what they want to do, and BELIEVING what THEY want to believe??

What did He TEACH? What do THEY teach??
What did He SAY? What do THEY say??

The SAME? or different??

A careful examination may astonish you, and along the way, you'll learn a LOT about our Lord and Saviour!

For more on this, see my post "Easter and "Christian Freedom" -- Would Jesus keep Easter?

Phil
...The 'essentials' and 'Christian Freedom'...working together to follow... who?

and believe that is what the reformation has done. It was fine for the reformers to question doctrine and tradition and believe that the Bible was to be interpreted by themselves, but no one should question what they see as doctrine, tradition and "correct" scripture interpretation. If you interpret the bible for yourself and it doesn't agree with them, then you are not properly eseigesing it.

It has gone from one pope, to several jillion little popes. Here's what I believe the freedom of Christ entails... that no one can control your spiritual life. Once you understand that ESSENNTIAL, then none other matters. It's about mind-control. When man tries to assert themselves as your lord or savior we are to resist them. Nothing is essential until God convicts us of it. Our part is to keep our consciences from becoming seared. This requires us to bring every thought under captivity of Christ.

To me that has been the single biggest struggle for me. Sometimes I just don't want to handle things in a christ-like manner. I have a coach who works with me (he's part of my in-class support in several sections) and it has been a real blessing for me this year, bc he shares with me how hard of a struggle this is. He doesn't try to lord over me, or teach me doctrine, but we just share our Christian struggle. That to me is the best support other Christians should be giving one another. Not trying to appear perfect, or continually baiting others about how wrong they are, but to encourage each other bc the road is a struggle, AND WE ALL HAVE A SHARE IN IT.