The church is a whore...

I recently read a quote from the early church father, St. Augustine. It goes like this;

"The church is a whore, but she is my mother."

This sentence really encapsulates my feelings and frustrations with what we call the church. The Bible says,

"You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. " (James 4:4, NASB95)^[1]

The Bible clearly teaches that the "church" is the bride of Christ, but James writes that those who are friends of the world are adulterers. This is serious! With that in mind, consider what the church you go to looks like. Does it look like the world? People judge churches by the standards of the world. It has a good building, good music, the teacher is entertaining, there's something for the kids, good audio/visual, it has a coffee shop, a book store, a Taco Bell, etc. How about how your church is run? Is the "Senior Pastor" a servant or more like a CEO? Are "Assistant Pastors" servants or more like Vice President of Children's Ministry, Vice President of Worship, etc? What are you encouraged to do at your church? Is the emphasis more about your relationship with the church than with God? When was the last time you were encouraged to read the Bible for yourself? I bet you've been encouraged to go to more church functions than to go and sit by yourself with Jesus.

You probably see where I'm going. Church is run like a business. There's marketing, promotion, and a sales pitch. Churches compete using these tactics to get our "business". The problem is church is not a business, it is an intimate family that we are a part of. All of this other stuff is nothing short of prostitution. We have subtly become whores to this world, but we call it progressive Christianity, we call it relative. It's wrong. Christ died for His bride and we sell ourselves for smoke and mirrors.

I love the church, but at the same time, I don't want to be part of it. We're going the wrong way and we must stop, now. The church is about Jesus, our individual relationships with Him and then our collective relationship with Him, thats it. When was the last time you were alone with Him? Don't forsake Him for the things of this world, even if they're called church.

^[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

Gossip

I was talking to my wife the other day about a person (a "believer") who was speaking ill about me to my friends, behind my back. My wife said the most profound thing to me concerning this, she said, "That's too bad he doesn't like you because he's going to have to spend eternity with you in heaven". What an amazing thought. What af resh perspective on gossip. Just thought I'd share.

Peace,

Harold