Church: One of the Most Sinful Groups on Earth
If you look at the history of the church, be sure to have a Prozac handy because it is depressing how terribly wrong humans as a whole consistently are. You would think that when smart, Godly people get together, the resultant group would also be smart and Godly. In fact, mathematically speaking, combining two of such people should be of greater value than one. But over and over again, humans have proven that the more of us there are, the stupider we get.
As individuals, the Bible is littered with examples of humans doing the right thing, being pleasing to God no matter what he asks. Abraham, Moses, Esther, Matthew, Mary, Luke, Joseph, the list can go on and on. But name one group of people that were faithful, that pleased God like these individuals did. Even God’s chosen people disappoint Him over and over again. After he saved them from slavery in Egypt, what did they do? They worshiped an idol, and only Joshua was faithful enough to make it to the Promised Land, a single individual, not a group.
Even after God made the ultimate sacrifice for us as Jesus, we still couldn’t get the grasp of things. We formed a church, and that church is a complete and utter failure when it comes to serving God. Yes, the church has done good things. But one (or even many) good deed does not a good church make. The crusades were not Godly, but we sure justified them like they were. The church embraced slavery in America. This is one that cuts me so deeply. How could people who spend so much time studying something as perfect as Jesus confuse something as evil as slavery?
So why? Why do smart people who have the guidance of the creator of the universe continue to screw up so horribly? It’s because there is no accountability for groups of people. When an individual screws up, it’s easy to see where (or rather who) things went wrong. There is only one option. But when a group of people like the church make a mistake as horrible as slavery, it isn’t so clear. If there is an inquiry, they are looking for individuals that led the group wrong. And no one wants to be that individual, so the group slinks away from accountability as a whole. They pretend like it never happened and move on to the next mistake.
Every now and again accountability is held for an individual within the group, but that is not the problem. Sure there are leaders that can lead people astray. But ultimately those who are astray made the choice to be so. Why do you think God prohibited the entire slave generation from entering the promised land? Because every single person is responsible, the whole group was now tainted and God held all of them responsible, not just the leaders.
And if this doesn’t happen, if every single member of a group doesn’t take responsibility, then that group can never be pure again. This is what is happening to the church. And what’s worse is that now the church is broken up into sections, it’s so much easier to say “Well that’s them, not my group”. But if a group is formed in the name of God, then all Godly people are responsible for it.
Take the Catholic Church for example. How many sex scandals do there need to be before the church realizes that there is something fundamentally wrong within the group, not just specific individuals? But it’s not just that the Catholics need to do something. All Godly people are responsible, because if you see a brother or sister in Christ doing something sinful and you don’t do anything about it, then you are now sinful. As Christians it is our responsibility to take care of each other. And if you aren’t demanding that something happen, if you aren’t doing something to help, then you are in the wrong.
Westborough Baptist Church is another example. Most of mainstream Christianity agrees that their methods are terrible, hateful, and just plain sinful. But other than shunning them, most Christians do nothing. That is wrong, we are wrong. This is our responsibility and we are doing nothing about it.
Now, not everyone has the power to make a big change in the church. But that is not what most of us are called to do. There is always something small, something that maybe we don’t even know will make a difference. But that is where God comes in. If you see a problem in the church (any Christian church, not just your own) and you are not praying, asking God what you can do, then you are in the wrong. You are part of the group, and yes, you are to be held accountable.
The sad thing is that even all the things we can see that are wrong in the church, those are only the surface sins of our group. Most of the really horrible stuff in our church we can’t even see. The Jews couldn’t see how terrible worshiping that golden statue was for them. The churches of slavery for sure thought they were in the right.
So where is the slavery of today? What is that thing the church just can’t see? I think it is in the way we approach people (non-Christians) with different beliefs, different practices. Christians are so narrow-minded because we know the truth; we can see there is only one path to righteousness. But not everyone can. And the thing is, God went through a lot of trouble to give us free will. It is not our place to tell anyone how to live that hasn’t chosen a life through Him. Non-Christians have every right to make the choices they do, even if they are the wrong ones. And by approaching common society with such force, such a condemning air of those who haven’t chosen the same as we have, Christians are in the wrong. We are tainting our group, and we are all responsible. We are all accountable.
So can the church be fixed? Unless Jesus is coming back soon, the only way to redeem ourselves is if every single one of us is prepared to get down in the trenches with a hammer and nails. Not just the trenches of our own church families. If we want to truly purify our own group, we have to purify the whole extended family. Catholics*, Westborough, even the KKK. All of these organizations are a part of us. And if nothing can be done, if you, personally, aren’t willing to put in the extensive amount of time, money, and effort to cure the boils of our society, then you might as well just abandon the institution all together.
*I do realize that there are many good parts to the Catholic faith, and grouping them with the likes of the KKK may seem unfair. But I only refer to the tainted part of the Catholic tradition. I also realize that the poison that taints Christianity is not limited the these three groups, they are just examples.
If you look at the history of the church, be sure to have a Prozac handy because it is depressing how terribly wrong humans as a whole consistently are. You would think that when smart, Godly people get together, the resultant group would also be smart and Godly. In fact, mathematically speaking, combining two of such people should be of greater value than one. But over and over again, humans have proven that the more of us there are, the stupider we get.
As individuals, the Bible is littered with examples of humans doing the right thing, being pleasing to God no matter what he asks. Abraham, Moses, Esther, Matthew, Mary, Luke, Joseph, the list can go on and on. But name one group of people that were faithful, that pleased God like these individuals did. Even God’s chosen people disappoint Him over and over again. After he saved them from slavery in Egypt, what did they do? They worshiped an idol, and only Joshua was faithful enough to make it to the Promised Land, a single individual, not a group.
Even after God made the ultimate sacrifice for us as Jesus, we still couldn’t get the grasp of things. We formed a church, and that church is a complete and utter failure when it comes to serving God. Yes, the church has done good things. But one (or even many) good deed does not a good church make. The crusades were not Godly, but we sure justified them like they were. The church embraced slavery in America. This is one that cuts me so deeply. How could people who spend so much time studying something as perfect as Jesus confuse something as evil as slavery?
So why? Why do smart people who have the guidance of the creator of the universe continue to screw up so horribly? It’s because there is no accountability for groups of people. When an individual screws up, it’s easy to see where (or rather who) things went wrong. There is only one option. But when a group of people like the church make a mistake as horrible as slavery, it isn’t so clear. If there is an inquiry, they are looking for individuals that led the group wrong. And no one wants to be that individual, so the group slinks away from accountability as a whole. They pretend like it never happened and move on to the next mistake.
Every now and again accountability is held for an individual within the group, but that is not the problem. Sure there are leaders that can lead people astray. But ultimately those who are astray made the choice to be so. Why do you think God prohibited the entire slave generation from entering the promised land? Because every single person is responsible, the whole group was now tainted and God held all of them responsible, not just the leaders.
And if this doesn’t happen, if every single member of a group doesn’t take responsibility, then that group can never be pure again. This is what is happening to the church. And what’s worse is that now the church is broken up into sections, it’s so much easier to say “Well that’s them, not my group”. But if a group is formed in the name of God, then all Godly people are responsible for it.
Take the Catholic Church for example. How many sex scandals do there need to be before the church realizes that there is something fundamentally wrong within the group, not just specific individuals? But it’s not just that the Catholics need to do something. All Godly people are responsible, because if you see a brother or sister in Christ doing something sinful and you don’t do anything about it, then you are now sinful. As Christians it is our responsibility to take care of each other. And if you aren’t demanding that something happen, if you aren’t doing something to help, then you are in the wrong.
Westborough Baptist Church is another example. Most of mainstream Christianity agrees that their methods are terrible, hateful, and just plain sinful. But other than shunning them, most Christians do nothing. That is wrong, we are wrong. This is our responsibility and we are doing nothing about it.
Now, not everyone has the power to make a big change in the church. But that is not what most of us are called to do. There is always something small, something that maybe we don’t even know will make a difference. But that is where God comes in. If you see a problem in the church (any Christian church, not just your own) and you are not praying, asking God what you can do, then you are in the wrong. You are part of the group, and yes, you are to be held accountable.
The sad thing is that even all the things we can see that are wrong in the church, those are only the surface sins of our group. Most of the really horrible stuff in our church we can’t even see. The Jews couldn’t see how terrible worshiping that golden statue was for them. The churches of slavery for sure thought they were in the right.
So where is the slavery of today? What is that thing the church just can’t see? I think it is in the way we approach people (non-Christians) with different beliefs, different practices. Christians are so narrow-minded because we know the truth; we can see there is only one path to righteousness. But not everyone can. And the thing is, God went through a lot of trouble to give us free will. It is not our place to tell anyone how to live that hasn’t chosen a life through Him. Non-Christians have every right to make the choices they do, even if they are the wrong ones. And by approaching common society with such force, such a condemning air of those who haven’t chosen the same as we have, Christians are in the wrong. We are tainting our group, and we are all responsible. We are all accountable.
So can the church be fixed? Unless Jesus is coming back soon, the only way to redeem ourselves is if every single one of us is prepared to get down in the trenches with a hammer and nails. Not just the trenches of our own church families. If we want to truly purify our own group, we have to purify the whole extended family. Catholics*, Westborough, even the KKK. All of these organizations are a part of us. And if nothing can be done, if you, personally, aren’t willing to put in the extensive amount of time, money, and effort to cure the boils of our society, then you might as well just abandon the institution all together.
*I do realize that there are many good parts to the Catholic faith, and grouping them with the likes of the KKK may seem unfair. But I only refer to the tainted part of the Catholic tradition. I also realize that the poison that taints Christianity is not limited the these three groups, they are just examples.