Why I Haven't Joined A Church

Many have supposed that they must join a church in order to be a practicing Christian. Some are very dogmatic about it and cite some verses from the New Testament, which they interpret as a requirement for every Christian to find membership in a church organization. The usual passage quoted is Heb. 10:25, which criticizes those who failed to attend Sabbath day meetings. However, this passage is not referring to an organization, but to fellowship meetings. Heb. 10:25 says absolutely nothing about a sponsoring organization that controls and conducts such meetings. These were Sabbath day meetings of Christians. It is not a ringing endorsement of any organization.

All other passages cited are even less specific and can be summarized as instructions for Christians to fellowship with one another. No requirements are imposed on such fellowship being under the control of a sponsoring organization. Instead, instructions are given on how such meetings are to be conducted. In one passage the group is asked to read a letter from the apostle Paul, in another they are asked to allow any to speak, but to limit the total number of speakers to 3. In other passages, reminders are given to read from the Law. In some cases, the New Testament passages describe a traditional jewish congregation made up of at least 10 adult males and in one case describe a small group in a home hosted by a woman. There is no controlling organization being promoted in the pages of the New Testament!

However, is the Bible against organizations? In my opinion, it doesnt say one way or the other. It seems only to describe the ethical and moral behavior expected of individuals, and by extension it might be that organizations are approved as well, as long as they also adhere to the same moral guidelines. So, if I could find an organization that really adhered to the teaching of the Bible, then I would gladly join it. I haven't found such an organization, and here are my reasons why all of the ones I have experienced to-date simply fall so far short of the Bible that I have to reconsider the whole idea of there being any such thing as a "God approved" organization.

 

1. They teach a different God than the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

At first, this may seem improbable. After all, don't all the various churches of God believe in the same God? In a word, No. Nearly all of them proclaim some form of polytheism. Even though we have the plain testimony of scripture that there is only one God, and that he is identified as the Father, who alone is God, with Jesus being His son but not God, they still insist on their ideas of a many-God. Some have reasoned that if the father is a god, then the son must be too; but the Bible plainly says that the Father alone is God, and Jesus himself said that he is not God, even though he is a son. Some honestly believe that the scriptures have been superseded by post-biblical "inspired revelations". I am unable to reconcile the concept of "post-biblical scriptural corrections" with the Bible at all. If I were, then I guess I could ignore the plain statements of scripture too, and accept the many-God idea. Their many-God is not found in the Bible, although some have gone to great lengths to extract this idea from special terms used in the Bible, such as Logos or Elohim, all the while igoring the context in which these terms are used, focusing solely upon their "correct understanding" of a few Hebrew and Greek words.

2. They proclaim a different gospel than the one Jesus brought.

A lot of subtlety is seen in the way in which a substitute gospel is presented. For example, the "gospel of the kingdom of God" is not solely about the fact that there is a kingdom of God, but it is about the message of that kingdom. Its not merely a message that there is such a kingdom. Jesus himself told us about that gospel when he read from the prophecy of Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 really is GOOD NEWS! But, those who teach a different gospel, the gospel of a coming super-government, have nothing more to say than how speedily they hope for the prophecies of the day of the Lord to come upon the earth. Indeed, those prophecies will be fulfilled, but its not good news. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It will be a time of terrible wrath. Thats not the good news. Thats not the gospel. Neither is it the news of who gets to be in charge and rule over millions. If that were the gospel, then you would find it filling the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Instead, you find the careful documentation of the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 and other passages. The apostle Paul once quipped "if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable". The same could also be said of those who see the gospel as only a future event, rather than something that is good news today, right now! If in the next life only we have hope in Christ, then we are of all people most miserable.

3. They replace the teachings of Jesus with their own philosophies.

Jesus spent a lot of time teaching his disciples about the way of life expected of a Christian, and Mathew, Mark, Luke and John recount their experiences of his teachings. Anyone who reads these accounts cannot help but notice that an overriding concern of Jesus was how people treated one another, even their enemies. Yet, most of the organized churches spend at least half of their time bashing their enemies, with purple faces and veins bulging out of their necks. They fan the flames of hate rhetoric. They love to castigate, denounce, impugn, ridicule and despise. When challenged on this they claim that since Jesus denounced, so can they. But, when Jesus denounced he did so in love, hoping they might come to repentance, and it doesnt fill up anywhere near the proportion of the New Testament that these organized preachers take. Yet, Jesus said he lived in a time that was more wicked than Sodom and Gomorrah. So why didnt his message have as much hate in it? Was he purple faced, with viens bulging while he denounced? I doubt it! Another thing the Bible requires is that no one is to be condemed for any sin, except upon the basis of 2 or 3 witnesses. Yet, many of these hate-filled ministers slander whenever it is convenient, witnesses or not. Some of them even think its OK to bash with merely one witness. One such prominent minister I spoke to once started attacking a rival minister in another organization calling him a drunk. He said "Dont you know that man is an alcoholic?". I looked him right in the eye and said "Are you a witness to that fact? Dont you know that you are not to accuse like that?". He had nothing to say. But, did he stop his attacks? No. None of them do, because they dont teach the doctrines of Jesus. They have their own versions. They have the "corrected" versions. In fact, they are so correct in their teachings, that you wont find them showing love to anyone who is despised, and certainly not to their enemies! Another example -- and there are far too many -- is a recent request put out by a minister to have everyone in the congregation pay a head tax. He used Exodus 30:11-16 as the basis for his demand. And he was quite demanding. Yet, this particular Temple Tax is plainly addressed by Jesus. Jesus said it was not binding on any of his disciples, on any christian. Yet, here was an organized minister using his own ideas to raise money for his organization, even though it was denial of the words of Jesus.

4. They organize a ministry that denies the Spirit of God.

The church is organized. But, it is organized by God. The mistake many organizations make is that they think that God appointed them to do the organizing. So, in theory it would seem that they would agree that God organizes the church, but in practice what they mean is that men organize the church based on their position within the organization, and that this is how God organizes, by working through them. Is this what the Bible says? No! God plainly says that He does the organizing of His church throught the Holy Spirit. He does not organize the church through men at all! It is clearly taught in I Corinthians 12 that it is by the Spirit of God that God organizes the church. God accomplishes this through the giving of gifts by the Holy Spirit according to the needs of the church. This is more akin to the concepts some have of a need-based ministry than the typical leader-based ministry of the organized churches. In a typical organization, a pyrimid of leaders determines who does what and what will be considered a need. It is as far from God as you can get! Rather than let the Holy Spirit decide and make God's will known, they think that they are some kind of substitute for the Holy Spirit, and deny that the Spirit of God makes those decisions. Well, I guess its not really so surprising since God probably isnt calling their organization His church in the first place, so there is no need for the Spirit of God there anyway.

Well, those are just 4 basic reasons why I have found the churches of God organizations to demonstrate positions that are anti-christian, anti-God, anti-Christ -- well, just about as oppossed to God as you can get without becoming an atheist. Perhaps all these organizations do have a prophetic role. From among them may come the anti-christ since the spirit of the anti-christ is alive and well in these organizations.