The Church of Flesh and Blood

Jesus walked down the isle of the local mega Temple, preparing to give a sermon. He had prepared a sermon about what it truly meant to be blessed, but had discarded it because it might be to scathing. As he walked down the isle he noted all the vacant looks on those sitting in comfortably cushioned chairs as air conditioned licked at their skin. As he made it to the pulpit Jesus glanced at the clock. The singing had gone over. Great. He only had 22 minutes to make his tepid sermon. He dare not go over, for the people's time was more important that the possibility that his stale words might be used to change lives. Mentally trimming down his sermon, Jesus began. "Blessed are those who go to church, for their time is so valuable...."

One would be shocked if that were how the Sermon on the Mount began. Or the Feeding of the 5,000. What if Jesus had decided that it was lunch time and sent all those gather, 5,000 men, plus women and children, home to go find food? What if He had put others time and convenience above His own teaching? What if Jesus had limited the power of the Holy Spirit because some people were afraid of getting uncomfortable?

Lately I've been talking to some friends about my beliefs, and I've mentioned that I'm a free-thinking, pro-love, anti-church follower of Christ. Always they get a wrinkle in their brow at the anti-church part. It's almost ironic, this belief of mine has only begun to grow in the last couple of months, but it is now one of my most intense. It took participating in my school's homeless week, living out of my back-pack and sleeping in the student center, to realize how much damage the church is doing.

For so many, church is a place to go on Sunday, and maybe Wednesday. Church is a place where they fellowship with believers and put in their dues. It's a place that's seldom used during most hours of the week except for the few church employees who have to go into the office to prepare for the big day. It's a place that constantly needs remodeling and expansions to attract other believers.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We are the Temple of Christ. We are the Body of Christ. We are the Church. You are the Church. I am the church. The Church is not some building that needs new carpeting. The Church is flesh and blood! The Church is a living, breathing thing. By accepting Christ into your life you become the Church, the Bride-groom of Christ.

The problem with Church these days, in my opinion, is that it kills unity. Look at all the denominations out there! The leader of my small group has told me the story of how her home church when she was little had a church split, half the church taking beards, and the other half beer. I've heard many stories of church splits over silly things like that. We also have the worship wars, followers of Christ getting nasty because they can't agree on what kind of music is sweeter to God's ears.

I have come to the opinion that denominations are killing the body of Christ. I love doctrine and theology. I think it's a great thing, I love knowing why I believe what I believe, and I'll gladly discuss it with joy. Yet, let's be honest here. We will never know for sure if we are correct or not until Christ returns. We can use the scriptures to make educated guesses, but we will not know for sure here on earth.

Then why on earth are we getting all uppity and at each others throats because we disagree? Granted, when someone is teaching something that is clearly against the Bible, it is justified to get uppity, but there is much doctrine that people disagree over that isn't against the Bible, and that is what I'm talking about.

There is a time and a place for new denominations, I will give you that. For example, the split we had between Catholics and protestants with Martin Luther. While I don't have too much of a beef with Catholics, at the time what Pope Leo was doing with the mass printing of indulgences was wrong, and it was justified and commendable for what Martin Luther did, becoming a warrior church (remember, he was the church!).

For a modern day example let's take the Emergent church. When I first learned about the Emergent Church I thought I'd found the place where I belonged. Here was a church that put their faith into action. They are not stagnant. But then I looked into the theology. We have Rob Bell teaching people that truth is like trampoline springs, it's flexible, and that those who follow absolute truth are block heads. Hmmm, this seems to go against Jesus' teaching that He is the Way, the Truth, and The Life. Jesus is the Truth. It's absolute.

The Emergent church is a doctrine that I will not stand behind. Their theology is against the Bible. There should be a separation. Yet I believe that so many of the denominations out there need to be brought together. Unity must be returned. The sleeping giant that is the church must be awoken.

Paul speaks of believers being of one body. When their is disunity in the body, it doesn't function. There is disunity in the Church. We are not functioning correctly. We are the Church of Flesh and Blood, and we're bleeding profusely. Yet everyone ignores the gaping wound, refusing to bandage it, thinking that if we ignore the wound it'll go away. Folks, that's how one gets gangrene. A radical amputation is needed to end this infection before it causes absolute death among the church.