# What is the Reformed Faith? URC audio



## Bladestunner316 (Nov 20, 2006)

Saw this at Monergism today. Have nto been able to check it out yet but I figured people here might be interested.

http://www.start.urclearning.org/what


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## Philip A (Nov 20, 2006)

May their tribe increase!

(and their churches spread, especially to my town!)


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## ZackF (Dec 15, 2006)

Bladestunner316 said:


> Saw this at Monergism today. Have nto been able to check it out yet but I figured people here might be interested.
> 
> http://www.start.urclearning.org/what




I have found these guys to be of great help. Truly enjoyed downloading their program.


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## elnwood (Dec 16, 2006)

This is slightly off-topic, but does anyone else think they might be overboard on their "true church" thinking? They seem to think that nearly all non-URC churches are "false churches," including confessional lutherans, and even some confessional Presbyterians!

And I am very offended that Baptists are included along with Mormons and Catholics in a list of "groups that claim to be Christian churches."

Is this typical thinking in the URC?

http://www.start.urclearning.org/about/



> The first question is what is a church? All sorts of groups claim to be Christian churches: Mormons, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Joe’s community church on the corner, etc. How do you differentiate a true church from a false church, otherwise known as a sect?





> We would use the word “true” churches, distinguished by three marks, which you hear us talking about all the time: the pure preaching of the gospel, the legitimate administration of the sacraments, and the proper exercise of church discipline. Churches either hit these marks or they don’t, it’s not a sliding scale. All churches are very weak and have their share of problems, but some are “true” and some aren’t – that’s the important difference – you know Christ meets you at a “true” church’s worship service.





> Some places that don’t meet the criteria will be better for you than others, but only temporarily. Maybe a confessional Lutheran congregation, or a confessional Presbyterian congregation would work for a time (and although they have important differences from our confessional continental Reformed churches, some of these may bear the three marks).


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## R. Scott Clark (Dec 16, 2006)

elnwood said:


> This is slightly off-topic, but does anyone else think they might be overboard on their "true church" thinking? They seem to think that nearly all non-URC churches are "false churches," including confessional lutherans, and even some confessional Presbyterians!
> 
> And I am very offended that Baptists are included along with Mormons and Catholics in a list of "groups that claim to be Christian churches."
> 
> ...




No, I don't think that all URC's would agree with them that baptists are not true churches, but a fair number would.

So far as I know, Adam and co do not deny that confessional presbyterians are true churches. 

I know that Adam's congregation in Ontario permits confessional Lutherans and Anglicans to the Table. So parts of the statement below is puzzling.

There have been extensive discussions about this on this list. Maybe someone could provide a link.

rsc


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