Gathering to sit as an audience to hear great sermons and pay into the offering plate in every meeting allows Christians to assemble, display loyalty to a pastor while:
• avoiding discipleship
• avoiding letting our “light shine”
• avoiding face to face love of other Christians.
If that’s what a Christian wants to do. If that’s how we choose to hide while keeping a clear conscience… then its a great system.
A test whether a person or group is (or is not) following Christ closely, is that they are able to put up with people they disagree with.
Fleshly, human, religious love just can not tolerate someone who disagrees with them, they want them silenced, ignored, and finally OUT.
Friendships end, the person is pushed away, and it quickly becomes hate if they disagree with them too directly.
Over time in groups any conflict is hated, and greatly feared, submissive compliant non-thinkers become priceless, (and then it evolves into only the compliant ones who bring money who have any value in a group). Compliance and money become the way to favor and promotion with “the leaders.”
This is human religion.
Hence Protestant denominationalism…
These behaviors do not emerge from Jesus Christ!!, instead they come from the evil one.
Over time the type of people promoted within a group determines its culture, more than anything else.
Is your “church” filled with compliant, shallow, unthinking and exclusive people? That should seem strange because our Lord Jesus is thoughtful, independent and accepting and forgiving. He walks right up to conflict without fear and with boldness, so should we. He directly taught against hierarchy.
This post was paraphrased from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life Together.
