To their credit, church services put a positive moral pressure on society; and that's about it.
On the other hand, they are the chief reason many
Christians don't understand their bibles unto maturity.
Religion is the organized worship of God.
And, each organization has it's own
"statement of beliefs"; and each has it's own
set of human leaders that form the hierarchy
telling you how to worship God.
Those who may be seeking knowledge of God for the first time can benefit from church services for a while, however, once they mature they need to "graduate" from school. A person may need to experience the teachings of several schools (churches) over several years to finally come to spiritual maturity. Yet, at some point, they still need to graduate. The very presence of a person going to church is a sign of spiritual immaturity.
I know, this might offend those who really like the church experience every Wednesday (prayer meetin' Christians), Friday (Muslims), Saturday(Jews and Christians stuck between covenants), or Sunday(Catholics and Protestants), because they like the singing, the pot-luck meals, the "sacrificial feeling" they get of pushing themselves toward being more righteous than those who "don't go to church" .... like Fred, the drunk who lives at the end of the street (Wish he'd move!).
They love old Fred (ha!), even if the infidel is headed to hell. 'Cause that's what Jesus would do. They don't love him enough to talk to him, or to check on him since his poor wife died last year, but they do look to see if he's out in the yard once in a while. Besides, they're just too busy, with being in charge of the fund raiser committee and all, to waste time talking to that old drunk.
Most people have gone to several different churches during their life times. There are the Baptists, Nazarenes, Methodists, Lutheran, Catholic, Mormon, Apostolic, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, Church of God ....
Today, in America alone, there are more than 1500 different faith groups professing many diverse and conflicting beliefs.
Most of us really are rather myopic in our view of God, and religion. God's view, however, sees the entirety of mankind. The whole world.
John 1:29 "...Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
To see what I mean, take the word "world" out of the above verse of scripture, and replace it with any religious denomination you wish. See how silly and self-centered it sounds?
In the "world", God has to deal with the presence of these religions also:
LINK
If you are reading this on a computer, check the above link out (or, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religions) so you can get a good perspective of religious life beyond what you are used to. You can return here by clicking your browser's back arrow.
God will work with every human being ever born before his plan is over. God has not formally introduced himself to most of the world. Yet, they've become convinced that a Higher power exists. On their own, they have offered worship and devised their own rituals and ceremonies. The Muslims know of God because of the unintended relationship that developed with Israel through Abraham and Haggar.
God chose Israel as a "template" for all other nations to use in the future. Such a stiff-necked, obstinate people were not of the proclivity to live in the world keeping a low profile. God needed a people who would be visible, at the forefront, and strong enough to take correction, and carnal enough to get into lesson-teaching trouble. He worked closely with Israel. He introduced himself to them while all others would have to wait until the historic examples were written for all to see.
In the meantime, indigenous peoples on the various continents around the world developed all sorts of religions on their own: Voo Doo, Hindu, ancestor worship, planet and star worship...and on and on as you saw in the above LINK.
As a result, there exists among mankind, several levels of spiritual growth. They range from worshiping spirit entities through magic, spells, and chants all the way through the accepted examples of Israel's TWO COVENANTS and on to the "Secret" relationship with God that was "hid in God from the foundation of the world." (Eph. 3:9) And, was revealed to Paul and the other apostles at a specific time some thirty years after the New Testament church was started. " Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:(Col. 1:6)
This "Mystery", or "Secret" has no covenant of any kind involved with it. It is not a "Deal". Instead, it reveals your destiny, and the destiny every other person who has ever lived, or will ever live. It reveals what future you WILL have, and not what you might have if you would just do certain things. You have no bearing on whether you will have eternal life or not. None.
" [God] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
( I Timothy 2:4)
This has always been God's plan for all mankind. However, there are various levels of future reward beyond eternal life for those who expend the effort to grow spiritually now.
Those in the sixth level of spiritual growth (New Covenant relationship)are where the church was for the first thirty years after it began on Pentecost, 31 AD. During those three decades they looked on the followers of the Old Covenant as "spiritual children", still being lead about by a "School master." A school master whose ultimate purpose was to lead them to Christ. Spiritually they were even considered "small" children in need of milk. Actually, this implied that they were still "infants" as far as growth was concerned.
However, even they, the New Covenant church, was built around a "deal", a covenant that also belonged exclusively to one nation -- Israel. Even Gentile converts had to be "spiritually adopted" into the family of Israel.
But there is more. One final (7th) level of understanding and growth reveals that in this relationship with God, there is neither Jew, nor Gentile, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female. It is not a covenant. It is the God-designed destiny for all mankind whether they be white, black, yellow, brown, red or regardless of their current religious beliefs.
There are resurrections ahead in the future, in which God will reach down into the graves and raise all of mankind back to their feet in a physical condition to learn their lessons for the FIRST time. This will occur after Christ returns and those in the first resurrection help him prepare this planet for such mind-boggling events.
God's plan takes a LONG time. It doesn't center around our own little span of 70 years or so.
I intend on adding a links list to this page eventually for many different subjects. No doubt there will be some concerning Bible study subjects. Other subjects may have nothing to do with the Bible at all. Check back from time to time.
In the meantime, thanks for dropping by.
Oh yeh. I almost forgot. It's not currently possible to attend God's "true" church. The book of Hebrews tells us it is currently in heaven. Also, there is not a thing wrong with people of like minds to assemble to study their bibles, or to fellowship.
Organized church services are not actually "wrong" either. But, since the mystery has been revealed, they are not necessary for those who chose the relationship of the Mystery with God.
God will honor which ever of the covenants you attach yourself to if that's the relationship you desire, or the one you can "see." They are not done away with. See the article DEAL OR NO DEAL.
But, when one grows-up, God expects you to move on.
God's truth stands by itself. Religion is something man added in his effort to "organize things" his way. Listen to George Carlin and Paul Harvey as they give you their take on religion. Paul Harvey will go first.
Here's George Carlin
Being spiritual is one thing.
Being religious is another. Think about it!
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