What's with the Church in Philadelphia?

[pebble]

Hello.

Philadelphia: the church that had endured patiently.

Is there any biblical or historical account why this church became a role model for us?

Thanks.

 

[Courting4Life]

Are you asking in reference to Revelation chapter 3?

 

[pebble]

Well, yes. That's where I first came across it.

I'm just wondering if there's something in history regarding THAT church. What did it endured.

I tried googling it but all that came up were contemporary churches with Philadelphia in their names or churches in Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Thanks and a happy new year!

 

[Courting4Life]

Pebble,

For a Google link starting point try:
http://www.bible-history.com/links.php? ... iladelphia

Hopefully the information within assists you in your historical study.

 

[pebble]

Hi! Thanks for the link.

I also would like to share this PDF I found through Golden2Seals suggestion to read "Parthia" by Steven M. Collins in this post... viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3773&start=20

A New Look at the Seven Churches of Revelation

The file is found here... http://stevenmcollins.com/ANLATSCOR-norm.pdf

Makes interesting reading. And there's this side remark by the author regarding polygamy...

You may really want to brace yourself for the next portion. I'm going to talk about sexual practices in the early Christian churches. In I Timothy 3:1-13, Paul listed the requirements for being ordained as elders or deacons in the churches he founded. He mentions both elders and deacons had to be men who were "married to one wife (emphasis added)." Paul was not addressing the issue of celibacy vs. marriage (as modern readers might assume). Paul was addressing the issue of polygamy vs. monogamy. Interestingly, the Christian laity in Paul's churches were not required by Paul to be monogamous. Polygamy and/or concubinage had been a long time, totally accepted custom in Semitic cultures throughout biblical times, and God had long permitted it. Many biblical heroes were polygamous...

When Paul wrote to his churches that elders and deacons had to have [only] one wife, Paul was making a revolutionary departure from at least 1800 years of Hebrew, biblical tradition that polygamy was an acceptable lifestyle. This teaching was not as revolutionary as Paul and the other apostles teaching that circumcision was no longer necessary to serve God, but it would have been jarring to believers at that ancient time. Given that Paul did not mandate the laity to be limited to one wife, it is highly likely that if we could visit the seven ancient churches of Revelation in our time machine, we would very likely find ourselves sitting amongst at least polygamous families in attendance.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not advocating polygamy today. I Peter 2:13 states that believers are to be subject to the "ordinances" (laws) of men, and polygamy is outlawed in our modern western societies so believers should not be polygamous. Also, polygamy was not the ideal state of marriage that God created in the Garden of Eden when he made one man and one woman to live in a marital union. However, our modern western cultures have banned polygamy for so long that we tend to read into the Bible our long established western cultural practices. However, the seven churches of Asia Minor were not western in their culture; they were eastern (Oriental) in their tradition and culture and their traditions had long included and accepted polygamy.

Now let's exit our time machine and come back to the present. A visit to the seven ancient churches would be a huge culture shock for the vast majority of modern Christians. Now reconsider what I wrote earlier in this research report in identifying the seven churches of Revelation in the latter days. If you had any lingering doubts that Jesus Christ can tolerate "diversity" in doctrines and organizational structure among modern Christian denominations and churches, our "time machine" trip to the seven ancient churches should make that fact very apparent. Jesus Christ can tolerate a lot of differences in doctrines, cultural lifestyles, organizational structures, etc. among his believers in this (or previous) time periods, but the one thing they must all have in common to be part of "his" churches is a faith that Jesus Christ (Yahshua) is the one and only Savior for mankind.

The man, definitely, is not pro poly, but he does grudgingly acknowledge pro PM and practising PMs will be present in the 7 spiritual churches, including Smyrna and Philadelphia.

I find men like Mr. Collins very interesting. He seems to be an extremely competent researcher and author, cross referencing the bible with science and history.I'd expect somebody like him would have already seen through the deception via the corruption of the word of God.

Two more things. He prefers Yahshua and seems to consider evolutionists as his main nemesis. Jesus, Yeshua, or Yahshua doesn't really matter as God knows what is in our hearts. The name Yashua just kinda reminds me of people who insists it is the real name of our lord and saviour and all others are wrong. Focusing attention on evolutionists might detract people from the real enemy, satan. Evolutionists are simple minions.