| 4 years ago :: Mar 14, 2009 - 10:20PM #1 | |
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I pass by many reformed churches and always wonder what the tradition, beliefs, and practices are. What makes the reformed church different, since every denomination has they're own differences. I have been raised Lutheran, but am currently interested in visiting other churches, but I like to know about the particular chueches beliefs/practices first. Thanks! |
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| 4 years ago :: Mar 19, 2009 - 9:48AM #2 | |
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Reformed Churches come out of the Calvinist tradition. They subscribe to the following doctrinal standards: the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort and the Belgic Confession. These doctrinal standards do not supersede the authority of Scripture but are felt to accurately reflect and summarize the doctrines that are contained in the Bible. The central principle that Reformed churches believe in is the sovereignty of God. There are many other characteristics of Reformed Churches which I could go into if you would like. The Reformed churches are amillennialist, so they don’t believe in the rapture of the church as it is commonly thought of in pre- or post- millennial churches.
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| 4 years ago :: Mar 19, 2009 - 10:00PM #3 | |
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So do they or don;t they believe in the rapture. One post says yes the other no. And please do go on, I love hearing this esp. from people who are apart or have been apart of that particula denomination...it gives good perspective
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| 4 years ago :: Mar 20, 2009 - 10:51AM #4 | |
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The traditional Reformed view of the last days does not include the “secret rapture” of the church. However, many members and even leaders of Reformed and Presbyterian churches have adopted a post-millennial position. In practice, most Reformed ministers do not spend much sermon time on eschatology so it is not surprising that many people in Reformed churches do not understand the subject. The name by which the distinctively Reformed doctrine of the last things is known is "amillennialism." "Amillennialism" is the teaching about the thousand year period of Revelation 20 that denies that this period is a literal one thousand year period of history during which Christ will establish an earthly kingdom in the world. Positively, amillennialism holds that the thousand year period of Revelation 20 is a figurative description of the entire period from Christ's exaltation until shortly before His second coming. During this period two important events take place. One occurs in the abyss: Satan is bound. The other happens in heaven: the martyrs live and reign with Christ. The following is a link to a number of articles that explain the Reformed position of amillennialism: http://reformed.org/eschaton/index.html On the page this link takes you to, scroll down and click on the link to “The Not So Secret Rapture” by W. Fred Rice. This is a fairly short and easy to read article. The other links also deal with Reformed eschatology and are worth reading although some of them are fairly long and heavy reading.
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