Alone in the Middle, Part 2 - Religion

  This is the second entry in my series, "Alone in the Middle", in which I am describing a few settings where I am a misfit.  Part 1 was on Politics and can be viewed by scrolling down to the next post below.

  

Robert on the Road.  Alone.

  When it comes to religion, again I am on the outside, and not to my regret but rather to my delight.  I believe that the institutions of the church are not what God had in mind and are man-made entities.  This doesn't make them inherently evil as some of my friends maintain, it just predisposes them to be infected by the sinful inclinations of man, starting with the early churches and increasing exponentially with Constantine in the fourth century when he first established Christianity as the state religion.

  In practice and orthodoxy, I am neither a conservative nor a liberal, religiously speaking, since I am not a participant in any church or denomination.  The Church Universal that is all believers, or the Body of Christ, exists and functions both within and without the religious institutions.  There are wonderful Christians in every church, and there are wonderful Christians who never go to church.

  I am a part of a growing movement in the western world that is a modern exodus from organized church.  In fact, the only church group that is growing in America is the house church movement, and it defies categorizing.  Many have tried to describe it, but with varying success, since there is no central leader or spokesman other than Christ, it is virtually void of hierarchy, and the doctrines and practices vary from one house to the next.  There are characteristics which seem to be common to most house churches, starting with the tenets of the Apostles' Creed but then diverging from there to a refreshing diversity that encompasses a plethora of ideas.

  There is also a plethora of critics who have sought to demonize the movement, and this is not surprising, as humans just normally resist change, and especially religious humans.  Some critics say it is heretical, but the same was said of Christ when he departed from the established religion of his day.  Many of the exiles who are part of this migration maintain that it is the next great movement that God has initiated, since the institutional church has largely lost its way.  In their thinking - and some of them have said this:  Jesus has left the building - and we're following Him.

  The church has become something of a political party with its own unique platform characterized by hypocrisy, bigotry, criticism, and legalism.  It is infected with a general oppressive air that demeans women, the underprivileged, and gays.  And all in the name of Christ who was a friend of women, the poor, and was often called the Friend of sinners.  No wonder so many have left with a bad taste in their mouths.  I think Jesus wants to gag as well, and so he has staged a modern day exodus to rival the original exodus of his people from their slavery in Egypt.

  One of the endemic tyrannies of the organized church is its powerful addiction to the doctrine of hierarchy, an oppressive orthodoxy specifically banned by Christ himself (Matt 20:25-28).   To many it is the cardinal sin of the church that victimizes millions every day.  I would say that at least it is the leaven of the Pharisees that has worked its way through the whole batch.  Jesus said the leaven of the Pharisees was hypocrisy, which makes me ask the obvious question: How is it not hypocrisy for any Protestant to preach submission to authority in the church when the entire Protestant tradition was born out of protest against church hierarchy?  The word Protestant means, "One who protests".  By teaching submission to authority, you deny your Protestant roots.  Yet millions cower under this dogma every Sunday having never realized the hypocrisy of it.

  In his book, Was Church God's Idea?, Marc Winter says, "So much of the devil's subversion, of those assemblies who are called by the name of Christ, has been through the useful tool of titles. When Jesus said, call no man "Teacher, or Father", I think He meant do not give positional headship to any man, that position belongs to Christ alone. When Jesus said it is finished, we no longer needed ANY human intermediary. Now we ALL are a kingdom of priest. Do not let a human usurping Christ's headship, via their title, interfere with you hearing God's voice."

  Watchman Nee is another scholar and writer who asserts that whenever we designate a leader in the church, we displace the headship of Christ.*

  

  But my own philosophy on the displacement of Christ by the organized church points to legalism as the ultimate culprit, a salvation earned by man's own self-righteousness.  The work of Christ is freedom (Gal.5:1), but the work of the church is slavery to a new kind of law that replaces the Old Testament law but that is just as oppressive and bypasses the cross of Christ.  Most Christians just don't get it: we are living in the age of grace and are free in Christ.  "By grace we are saved, not of works, lest any one boast (Eph. 2:8)."   There is no list of rules to live by, no law but the law of love.  "The entire law is summed up in a single command, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Gal. 5:14)  We are at liberty to  experience Christ more fully every day, and it's not done through human effort.  The church cannot save.  In fact, all too often it does the opposite: it condemns us to an alternate hell of human effort, the same as every other religion in the world.

  To some who are reading, my position sounds really liberal, doesn't it?  And by definition it is, since the word means "marked by generosity: openhanded, free from bigotry".  In that case, I don't mind being identified as a liberal, as I'm thinking that  Jesus was the original liberal.  He came to free us from the law, from legalism, from an obligation to obey the rules.  He became our righteousness so we are accepted by God.  Unconditionally.

  If not, then the cross of Christ is good for nothing.  And if the cross is good for nothing, than the church is also good for nothing more than a social gathering, so either way we are in for a good time.  Rejoice!  And be free!

  So this kind of talk is rejected by religious conservatives... and liberals as well but for different reasons.  Either way that makes me a reject.  A reject from all religious institutions.  But I'm not really Alone in the Middle like the Monkey in the Middle, 'cause I'm not even in the game.  Thankfully.

  I reject Christendom.  I embrace true Christianity:  Jesus Only.

* Watchman Nee in his book, The Normal Christian Church.