i realize not everyone who leaves the church is leaving the faith, but from personal experience i feel it's a step in that direction. the "dwelling place" of the LORD was once a house of worship, and before that it was a mountain, and before that it was a garden; now, it is an omnipresence in the hearts of His people.
the church is a building, or at the very least a gathering of like-hearted people. such an environment makes the presence of God blatantly obvious compared to the world outside which has strayed so far as to no longer warrant the title of "His creation." the Church is the family of like-hearted people worldwide, linked by the sole fact that His Spirit lives in them. the church is physical; the Church is metaphysical.
members of the church live independently yet thrive together. a local church brings together people from all walks of life, who each have their own responsibilities, worries and issues. from their individual experiences and skills, they can each offer something to the greater whole that is the body of the church. the church has needs; not everyone can get the job they want, but every one can fill a job, and because they are serving the church, they should do so joyfully. the church continues to stay healthy and grows accordingly by the activity of its members.
members of the Church live dependently yet thrive separately. believers worldwide share their lives, their needs, their desires and praises. they are more personal, they are more intimate, they help one another carry the burdens of life (outside of the church, as well as within). to leave the church is to have no desire to spend time with the Church in the absolute presence of God, learning from others' successes and failures, correcting your faith based on how they live out theirs, congratulating or rebuking as the Spirit shines through you to them. members stay healthy and grow in character by their interactions with the Church.
10 reasons why i won't leave the church
1 because i don't agree with everything taught at the pulpit. wherever you go, you will never find anyone who agrees 100% with everything you believe. within the Church, there are parts of the faith that must be true; but if my opinion differs from something a pastor says, i don't take it any more personally than i would if a friend were speaking with me. it is all the things that we can agree on that i call truth.
2 the Bible is sexist, and sometimes racist. i don't know about you, but that makes it more natural to me. i'm not saying i agree with sexism and racism; but scientifically, it's justified, and spiritually, it served/serves its purpose.
3 the Bible shuns murder, as understood in the story of Cain and Abel, but allows killing through war. murder arises out of hatred of a person or one's own circumstances because of that person. wars are fought between conflicting views. first and foremost, the deaths of Israel's enemies, and the genocides of the flood and of Sodom and Gomorrah were just in that such people lived and made their stand against God. (if you have to ask why that matters, look again at Genesis 1.1) secondly and more personally, i believe physical life (though a blessing) and death is of little importance when brought into the context of spiritual life and death. (see Matthew 6.25-30 and Isaiah 40.6c-8)
4 i have a bar to reach, i have shoes to fill, i have standards to meet. i'm not perfect, and left to my own devices i never will be. i want to better myself, and being reminded every step of the way where my faults lay is just the sort of conviction i expect and indeed desire in order to change. what better Person to judge me, and what better place to listen to Him?
5 there is a lesson to be learned in every thing (from praise to insult, commotion to silence), and that is the foundation of wisdom. i believe that no matter where i go or what i hear, God is speaking to me. the church is the most obvious place to hear God's teaching. to stop attending for any number of manifest faults is like plugging my ears and shaking my head.
6 the church building is a place to worship, to show God His worth in our lives. it is a place to go to escape the confines of the world, to forfeit the worry and anxiety and stress, to relax and to narrow our individual focuses upon Him, to humble our desires so that we may be open to His. not everyone can sing, not everyone can play an instrument, not everyone likes the songs or the genres, but a church service is not a concert, and its congregation is not the audience. not everyone can donate money, not everyone can teach; not everyone can cook, not everyone can clean. not everyone can do everything, but everyone can do something. how you work in the church shows how God is working in the Church.
7 "church service" has a dual meaning. Church is about service. church is about realizing that what we've done is wrong, and then what we can do that's right. true, action doesn't lead to salvation. quite the opposite: salvation gives a character that wants to act.
8 some days at church are pleasant, others feel routine or stagnant. for those extraordinary days where i receive just what i had need of, those are the reasons for staying; those are the confirmations of my faith.
9 when i go to church, i see people dressed nicely to the point where it's hard to tell whether they're genuine or covering up a rotting core. neither is truly of my concern. i don't dress especially different on sunday (for reasons all my own), but for a positive person, i often feel like the worst attendee. it's not that i'm comparing myself to the people around me, but that i'm contrasting myself with the spotless Lamb. outside of the church, it is far too easy to quantify our worth or success or righteousness against that of others, far too easy to forget that, regardless, we are all on the same level when compared to God.
10 i am often reminded of the persecution of the Church, that there are places where churches are uprooted or it is illegal to plant them, where owning a Bible is a crime. i at least feel persecuted whenever i state my feelings about so broad a topic as morality. a place to gather with fellow believers is a wonderful blessing, and it should not be taken for granted, for one day, in my lifetime or not, i think we will not be so free to meet.
5 reasons why i would leave a church
1 if the Bible were no longer referenced, directly or indirectly. i truly feel that belief in God does not hinge upon the authority of the Bible, much like how salvation has little to do with anything we do; but if its wisdom can be ignored by our enemies solely based on the belief that it wasn't inspired (i.e., God-breathed), how much more should we, believers, uphold it? (see John 20.31)
2 if beliefs were compromised to fit those shown by modern societal thought. i find it intriguingly odd that so much of the world is offended by the mere existence of Someone they do not believe in, to the point where they expend much energy and effort to attempt to convince others. people see the world according to their mindset, which in turn has been developed according to their experiences. information is accepted based on how readily it adheres to one's mindset. God can choose to make Himself known or keep Himself hidden, and His presence within someone's heart determines whether they can understand what has been written by Him. (see I Corinthians 2.11b, 14; Luke 24.45) all that being said, if the church suddenly believed (for example) that all life evolved from one organism (an idea that not even Darwin purported), that would be reason enough to seek another's [church's] counsel.
3 if it were to be discovered that donations and offerings were being misused (e.g., withheld from those it was intended to help), and by no means could this problem be rectified. as explained in my opening paragraphs, the health of the church depends upon its members. the parts must care for the body's well-being and should seek its growth. if churchgoers cannot influence change in a church, either they are incorrect in their assertion of wrongdoing (and so must change their selves), or they should find a new church that better fits the mold set by Christ and thence the apostles.
4 if it were preached that one must fulfill certain requirements in order to achieve salvation. this is a combination of reasons 1 and 2, as many people seem to feel that heaven is a reward and hell is a punishment, where it is truly more simplified than that. hell is our deservéd destination, and heaven is a gracious gift. a good, upstanding person who refuses to accept God's gift deserves (quite rationally) to be eternally separated from Him. and a cruel, lowly man who, at the end of his wretched life, repents to the LORD deserves to spend eternity in His presence. (see Ezekiel 18.23, 25-28; I Corinthians 1.25-30a)
5 if its body became over-confident, proud, arrogant and boastful, casting judgment on other members. pride was the downfall of Satan (Ezekiel 28.17a-b). humility before God and among men is far more attractive for a church, whose job is to welcome, comfort, edify and teach self-confessed sinners.
1 reason
if it were possible to trade salvation that another might have it in my stead. (see Romans 9.3, John 15.12-13) for this is why Christ lived, this is how Christ loved: "He became sin who knew no sin, that we might become His righteousness."
post-script: literally, after completing my lists, i discovered a second blogpost by the first's author. you may see it here.
post-post-script: edited 365 days later.
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