"CHURCHIANITY" vs. GOD'S MODEL - Part V - Finale

[Reformer]

"CHURCHIANITY"
VS.
GOD'S MODEL
Part V - Finale
 
Buff Scott, Jr.

STRUGGLING FOR REFORM
Occasionally, I receive letters from recipients of my weekly Reformation Rumblings column who share their struggles at reform within the confines of their own church. The experiences vary. Some are called on the carpet and shipped out. Others are confronted head-on by the elite pulpit hireling. Still others are asked to attend the next "Business Meeting" to "go over a few things." But the best of letters are those that speak of leaders who are willing to listen and evaluate. They are few and far between, however.

    I do not discourage these courageous believers for trying to work for reform within the system. I strongly encourage them, in fact. For years I have worked for reform within the system. I have always believed that a degree of reform can be achieved by working within the institutional church. But it's a hard sale, a difficult ministry, because most "would rather fight than switch." 

    In West Virginia in the early 60s when I was pulpit minister for a church, prior to my defecting the religious Establishment, I was called on the carpet by the church's chieftains and fired on the spot because I attended a speaking engagement of a brother they did not favor. They refused to even listen to my explanation. Partisan religion corrupts the spirit—just as power corrupts.

    Church addiction is like drug addiction. It is hard to "throw in the towel." Drugs affect one biologically. "Churchitis" affects one psychologically and spiritually. But both are destructive addictions. Drugs destroy the body and mind. "Churchitis" does havoc with one's freedom and obstructs his God-given gift to dissent.

IN CLOSING—LET'S UNDERSCORE
If Jesus ascended to heaven without being a Roman Catholic, and He did, and if the apostle Paul was taken to paradise without being a Presbyterian, and he was, I, too, can enter paradise without being a Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon, Roman Catholic, Muslim, Jehovah's Witness, or without being tainted with any of the other partisan colors. I think I'll just be a "believer at large"—a Christian only. Surely that will be sufficient. God's grace will fill in the gaps, if any need to be filled.

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ENDNOTES— If, as I affirm, church edifices have become our idols, and if church structures were not prevalent during the formative decades of the Christian community, where did the early believers meet? They often met in public places such as the Jewish Temple and Jewish Synagogues, chiefly to share the Good News with unbelievers, but to gather as a congregation to edify one another and to phrase God collectively, homes were their chief meeting places.

    On one occasion they met by the riverside—and other locations. But church edifices were not introduced until about the second century A.D., according to history. It was then the redeemed community began to drift, for Jesus said to "get out and go" but the drifters "came in to stay!" The scriptures below are truly revealing.

    "Greet also the congregation in their house" (Rom. 16:5). "Aquila and Prisca, together with the congregation in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord" (I Cor. 16:19). "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the congregation in her house" (Col. 4:15)). "To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the congregation in your house" (Phil. 1-2).

    THE KINGLY CLERGY— Jesus had something to say about the special clergy. He confronted the problem in His day by warning others, "Beware of the scribes [clergy] who like to walk around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at feasts" (Luke 20:46). Jesus always gives the best answer and warning, doesn't He?

[Finale ]

[Reformer]

HOBIE:

I encourage you to read my finale under PART V.

Buff