A Jesus Way: Do We Still Need Church?
Is there any good reason for the Church to still be around?
Churches have been responsible for everything from the crusades to slavery to bombing abortion clinics and spreading hatred toward homosexuals. It’s starting to catch up with them.
In the 60s and 70s, the idea of being “spiritual, but not religious” began to find traction in the U.S. Take Karma from the Hindus, mix it with pagan pantheism, and add a loving God loosely based on the monotheistic religions. Mix it all up, privately affirm it so it makes you feel good. Keep it to yourself.
This isn’t really that different from the growing number (some say in the 80% range) of people in their 20s and 30s who no longer go to church, may even believe in God and think Jesus died for them, but see no need to be a part of a church. Ask them why, they’ll make some blanket statement about “Church is full of hypocrites,” or “I don’t believe in organized religion.”
Which isn’t really different from the Christian who shows up for Church on Sunday, and spends the week quiet about their faith and joining in the godless revelry of their peers.
The growing trend is toward disorganized religion-private assertions of individual belief, having little to no affect on one’s life or community. This is for good reason, because Churches often are legalistic, full of hypocrites and make no difference in the world.
So do we still need Church? These posts, after all, are encouraging a Jesus way of life. How does a religious institution fit?
