Knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for sin, for one who dies has been justified from sin. Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also, having perceived that Christ, having been roused from among the dead, is no longer dying. Death is lording it over Him no longer, for in that He died, He died to sin once for all time, yet in that He is living, He is living to God. Thus you also, be reckoning yourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin, yet living to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul to the Romans 6: 6-11, Concordant New Testament
A friend asked me the other day, upon reading my previous post, of what advice I would give someone who had left the church as I have. Now, this might be difficult to handle for some people, but I say it after more than a few years of living in the knowledge that I am indeed in Christ. So, be prepared to be shocked. That life I once lived in the church, went against what I now know the Lord Jesus to be. To say that I had been misled is definitely an understatement. For in my time in the halls of the mainstream church, I was no closer to knowing Jesus than when I began. Sure, I had gained much knowledge about Him, but I still did not know Jesus as I do now. Part of this is due to the theology of the mainstream church while the rest is due to my not knowing that there was more to Jesus than what I was being taught. That in itself is a lethal combination. Yet I believe that I had a advantage over others who had for one reason or another left the church behind and never looked back. That is, I wanted to know more about this Jesus I had grown up learning about. I wanted more than to just know about what He had done. I wanted something which the mainstream church could never provide for me, a relationship with Christ Jesus. The mainstream church has been very good at what they do best, which is telling people about Jesus. For that, I am grateful, for they introduced Christ into my life. But as I said, knowing about Jesus and truly knowing Him are two different animals. For to know Jesus is to live in the knowledge that we live in union with Him {Johns Account 14:20}. The closest which I had come to knowing Jesus through church theology was the belief of being "Like" Jesus if I behaved well enough to earn Gods approval. I wanted for than that.
As, then, you accepted Christ Jesus, the Lord, be walking in Him
Paul to the Colossians 2: 6, Concordant New Testament
I really did not see the difference between a life of knowing Jesus and a life knowing Him through church theology until I had walked away from the church. What I noticed is that I had grown up being taught of the life of Jesus in the past. Of what Jesus HAD done for me. I was keenly aware through the teachings of the church that death could never hold Jesus. That He in fact overcame the death of the cross and was raised again days later. This is a core part of mainstream church theology. So, why not speak to Jesus being alive and well? Why not speak to Jesus being in the Fathers creation? This is declared through the scriptures {Paul to the Galatians 2:20, Paul to the Colossians 2:6, Paul to the Ephesians 2:10}. I see this as the mainstream church cherry picking scriptures to suit their own narrative. Again, some people will disagree with my observations, and I'm ok with that. I'm also ok with knowing the living Christ as I now do. I have also learned that our own definition of "church" has been misconstrued over the years. What is important for every believer to know is that the church is not the fancy building. The church is not the Sunday sermon. THE CHURCH, for all intents and purposes, consists of those who follow Jesus {Paul to the Corinthians(1) 12:27}. It is we who are the individual members of Christ, with Jesus at the head of the church {Paul to the Colossians 1:18}. Therefore, my advice to someone who has walked away from the church and desires to once again sit in that pew come Sunday morning is this, be sure that you are aware of the true meaning of the church. That WE, in Christ Jesus, are all members of His church.
~Scott~
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