Religion has actually convinced people that there is a invisible man living in the sky watching everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time! But he loves you. He loves you, and he needs money. He always needs money. He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing and all-wise, somehow he just can't handle money.
George Carlin
I have a good friend who is a retired pastor who has often regaled me with the struggles he often faced in his time in the church. Of the conflict in himself as he began to understand the truth of Christ Jesus in him. I get it. For this is the very same conflict that I faced myself as I began to walk away from the church I had known for so many years. All too often we see the news stories of just how many people are becoming disillusioned with the mainstream church. Again, I get it. My own discomfort with the church began a few years before I walked away from it. I started to witness things which I had not witnessed as I was growing up. From the change from traditional church hymns to more modern rock and roll worship music. It's obvious to me that were I to walk into a church these days that I more than likely would not recognize it. What happened? I believe that this is the question that many believers have been wondering. What happened to my church? What happened to the strength in the congregations? Well, I believe that there has been an increase in those who are seeking to know Jesus. Now, the church that I recall has always been good at telling people "about" Jesus, but they always dropped the ball when it came to telling us who Jesus truly is. Before I walked away from the church, I could tell you all about what I knew about Jesus from the scriptures. Yet I really didn't know Him. I was caught in the grip of man made religion. I believe that this is the issue which we face today, the issue of religion versus the reality of Christ Jesus. One teaches while the other reveals.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are taking tithes from the mint and the dill and the cumin, and leave the weightier matters of the law, judging and mercy and faith. Now these it was binding you to do, and not leave those. Blind guides! Straining out a gnat, yet swallowing a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are cleansing the outside of the cup and the plate, yet inside they are brimming with rapacity and incontinence.
Matthews Account 24: 23-25, Concordant New Testament
I have often wondered what Jesus would proclaim were He to confront the pastoral church leadership of today. The way I see it, the same words He proclaimed against the Pharisees of His day still ring true for us today in regards to our mainstream church leadership. It is more about the organization that the individual. It has become more about the traditional theology than actually proclaiming Christ Jesus as He is. Never in my time in the church was it revealed to me my union life within the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. Never in my time in the church was I told that the sin I was taught to fear had been put to death by Christ Jesus on the cross {Paul to the Romans 6:11}. This is the truth of Christ Jesus! Yet the mainstream institutional church seemingly chooses to not proclaim this truth for all to hear. To be fair, my own knowing of Christ in me came not from a church sermon, but from the revelation of the Father. So it is that when I hear of someone else who has become disillusioned with the church, I remember my own struggle with leaving the church I had come to know so well. In the end, it wasn't about abandoning my faith, but about coming to know Jesus. My desire was to know Him, not just know about Him.
~Scott~
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