… that is exactly what I want to be separated from.. church, state, and any other man-made piece of BS institution.
If looking at the whole bible as a book written to reveal Christ to us, which I feel is the essence of Christianity, then I feel Christians should dig deep and reconsider the relationship they have with the church institution and also with the “state”, or what we call government.
In many passages throughout scripture, and one in particular in the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus gave instructions to his followers not to swear oaths, not to judge and not to resist. However, when you look at our institutions of church and state today, the government of each institution actually demands oaths of allegiance, and judges its people. The government of the state and the church also use violence to impose its laws, and maintains its citizens in a form of economic slavery by forcefully taxing their labor or forcing a “tithe”. A voluntary tax? Hahahaha.. try not paying them, see what happens.
So I am going to come out and say it. The church institution and the state institution of government are both an “unchristian” or an un-biblical institution.
Let us step back and close our eyes and pretend a minute… if Christians actually acted as Jesus taught them to act by governing their social interactions through love and forgiveness, then there would be no need for a state government institution, or even a church institution. People would help one another and willingly share all of life’s basic needs and necessities. The main principle of society would be love (or Christ), not a fictional so-called “justice” enforced by a threatening government state.
So, open your eyes. Is this type of life too good to be true? I do not think so. I feel the government, as well as the institution of church are incompatible visions for our so-called “society”.
I cannot see how a person can be both an honest follower of Christ, and at the same time recognize the legitimacy of our man-made institutions. I think the government and the church institution both directly violate Jesus’ clear advice.
What are your thoughts?
My thoughts are yes… I think so, and if Jesus’ recommendations were put to actual practice, then the government and the church institution would become obsolete and fade away.
For the last couple of years I have written a bunch of posts about the church institution. As of now you know I am not a fan. I know when people read these posts they think I am coming down on them personally. I am not and never will. I love the people. I just hope that these posts bring about good discussion and thinking. It is all about Love, right?
My criticisms of both government and church institutions typically fall on deaf ears. I get censored from a plethora of Christians and get called many names (heathen, asshole, ect). It is sad really. I think many Christians have fallen in love with the institution of Christ called church and not Christ the Church himself… and they do all they can to fight for the institution. Because if they were fighting for Christ the name calling would stop.
Allergic to BS 
Institutionalism is a cancer, just like many other isms. The church won’t completely break free from it before Christ returns, but I continue to be encouraged by those who long to see the church set free from its shackles.
Shon – well said.
I think they are both forms of idolatry, and we can do our best to live outside them. But as institutions, they will never end until Jesus returns, and so to some degree, we need to learn to live with them, just as Jesus did.
Jeremy – I agree. Institutions will never end and will always be with us. The good thing is I do not have to participate and get bogged down in all the red tape…. I see clearly now the tape is gone…..
According to a famous attorney who never lost a case, Gerry Xxxxxx, “You have all the freedom you got the jack to pay for”.
What I really love about the good ol’ USA is all the liberty, like Illegal to capture RAIN WATER, illegal to drill for ground water, illegal to live in many municipalities on YOUR OWN PROPERTY unless you have power lines supplying you electricity, even if you’re self-sufficient with solar, generator, and/or wind/ –> battery back-up power. Then there’s property tax; you may own your home outright but the govt can take it from you and kick you out on the street if you don’t PAY, PAY, PAY… THOUSANDS every year, endlessly, and as inflation increases and property values rise, so do annual taxes, great news! for elderly and/or those living on SSI due to injury, low intellect, etc. who live on a fixed income which was just enough to supply their needs back when they planned their retirement 20-30 years ago, something which is now IMPOSSIBLE to afford.
No, we’ve been lied to from birth, and all this police-state of a country really is, is just another greedy self-serving establishment taking as much as it possibly can legislate as legal, FROM those who already have only little, TO those who have a thousand times more than they can ever use, let alone need, and who make the laws, rules & regulations of tyranny.
THAT’S your country & government, a legal tyranny machine designed to steamroll over and destroy the small and poor so the rich may thrive.
Under the guise of fees and taxes we have more than 1/2 our income stolen from us while we are now being forced to pay for something we may not want, 0-bummer care.
This current system is failing and won’t last another 5 years, let alone another decade.
Prepare.
As far as the big governmental churches, pffffft, what a joke and nightmare of self-justification and judgementalistic verbal diarrhea.
Who here hasn’t heard it said, “Christians, they only shoot their wounded.” ? Step out of line and rock the boat with valid thinking-person questions and the next thing you know, no one is inviting you to the ice cream socials, and they’re all moving away from you on the Group W bench.
Now, God wishes that NONE should perish (2 Peter 3:9) yet Jesus said the way to destruction is wide and the majority will travel that way.
– So, why did God follow through with a flawed plan wherein his Holy Spirit-filled, sinless beloved are so easily convinced to choose against their own very essence, so easily convinced to disbelieve God & disobey Him by listening to the mere BS of some reptile, not getting what He (God) wants from his own creation?
OK genius, what more could God have done to insure that his own Spirit-filled God-image and God-likeness would exercise free will by choosing in accordance to that which is in step with, and follows suit with their very essence & nature, – by choosing right over evil?
What sense does it make to imagine the sinless, sin nature-free, Holy Spirit-filled God- image & God likeness could operate from lust when Jesus clarified that it was that which is within a person that causes sin, – when he taught that even looking at a woman with lust is sin? Did Adam & Eve sin due to already being sinners within, so that their inner sin of lust simply manifested itself, according to Jesus explanation of sin?
Did God create sinners so he could punish us for sinning?
How could they who were God’s Holy Spirit-filled Likeness & Image ever be interested in sin & death to choose it out of free will? Does the operation of free will necessitate the choosing of sin? If so, then it isn’t free will at all, since free will would also have the ability to choose good instead of evil,n begging the question asked earlier, what more in terms of perfection, sinlessness and God-likeness would Adam & Eve needed to be in order for their free will choice to have echoed their inner essence?
Where DOES a thinking, no-BS person go to obtain that all-elusive “truth” – that sets men free?
Dam’n talking snake…
“Love one another as I have loved you – in this is fulfillment of all the commandments and prophets.” – Now THAT makes sense…
†