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I was reared in a home where “going to church” on Sunday morning was not a decision; it was a requirement, at least for the adults; kids went by default. We had no choice except 1) to stay home alone (not really an option), 2) to stay with a baby-sitter (absurd), or 3) to go where ever the adults went. So, we went to church. As I grew slightly older, I learned through osmosis (or some other scientific process - lol) that it was a sin for an able-bodied adult not to attend the worship assembly (i.e. go to church) on Sunday morning. I am quite sure that I never challenged this system until my teenage years, but I did have questions, some of which are still valid. I will pose these questions as a part of this series of articles on Mercy and not Sacrifice.

I will describe some scenarios before posing my boyhood questions. First, I noticed when someone in the family was sick, depending upon the severity and/or type of illness, he/she might not go to church. As best as I could tell, this was for one of two reasons: 1) the person just didn’t feel like going due to their physical ailment, or 2) the person didn’t go due to the possibility of infecting others. In either of these two cases, missing church seemed to be chalked up as an excused absence (sometimes called being providentially hindered). On other occasions, I noticed that an adult was apparently excused from attending the worship assembly in order to stay home and take care of a sick family member. This was also classed under providential hindrances. As a third kind of scenario, I took note of the fact that some people who worked in positions that affected the public safety (firemen, policemen, doctors, nurses, etc.) were also permitted to miss church in order to perform their jobs. This was not a case of being providentially hindered; it was just a case of being prepared should someone else be providentially hindered (e.g. have a wreck, get sick, or a house catch on fire)! However, such absences were excused absences, albeit not providential hindrances.

Here is the first question that came to my young mind: If God commands (or in some other way demands) that all believers attend the Sunday morning worship assembly, who says that an absence for any cause is excused? I admit it made sense for my mom to stay home with me when I was sick, but I also knew that right isn’t determined by common sense. If the mantra of my religious fellowship was true, and we really had an obligation to “speak where the Bible speaks, and to be silent where the Bible is silent,” where was the book chapter and verse to back up these practices? I know that I posed this question from time to time, but I cannot remember anyone giving me a biblical answer; it was always just kind of common sense.

The next question will not be fully dealt with here, but it is connected to the first. Who decides when the hindrance is providential and when it is otherwise? For instance, if an adult stayed out on the lake on Saturday until his skin was so painfully blistered that he could not stand to wear clothing on Sunday morning for church, would that person be providentially hindered? In other words, if a lack of planning or neglect on the part of a person led to his or her being providentially hindered, was it really providential hindrance? And, even more perplexing, would such an absence be excused?

The point of this message is to show that when we claim to speak as the Bible speaks, there is frequently a lack of consistency. Even if it is the case that God demands that we attend the worship assembly on Sunday (which is not an assumption that will go unchallenged), the simple fact that God desires mercy and not sacrifice is the principle that resolves the questions of my boyhood! (continued)

Questions:

1. If God requires that something be done, who can remove that obligation or excuse someone from doing it?

2. Which is of more importance; going to worship assembly, or relieving someone's genuine emergency need? Why did you answer the way you did? Can you give a biblical basis for you response?

3. Is it important to give book, chapter, and verse for what we believe and do? If yes, why?

4. How important is consistency where spiritual truth is concerned? What does an inconsistency suggest?

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - March 4-8