Re: What is an institutionalized church?

Yes, it does make sense that we should come out of her. We, who have the depth of heart can consider ourselves to be the voice of one crying out in the wilderness because The Lord has given us eyes to see the "...depths of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10) and ears to hear the word that we should live by. So, even though we can at times, feel uncomfortable about exposing the insincerity and misbeliefs commonly taught in the instititutions of earthly Christianity, it is our cross to bear because The lord gave us a measure of faith that extends to "...the greatest of these", 1 Corinthians 13:13 (faith must be borne out of love). God is not mere faith, God is LOVE.

The feeling of uncomfortability is a feeling that is to be expected of a gentle and contrite heart, but we must remember, Jesus was also a threat to the institutions of His time. In Jesus's time, the state declared Him innocent of any official crime. The last words Pilate said to Jesus were "What is truth?" (indicating it's irrelevance to the human lifestyle). In John 14:6, Jesus clearly states that He is the truth. Pilates question was actually a very philosophical statement (even of a cosmic nature). In the institutional teachings of Christianity, MANY things in scripture are disregarded/skipped over as insignificant because our "...natural limitations" (Romans 6:19, the flesh) make it very uncomfortable to see anything other than what is convenient for us to believe.

Just as Pilate was speaking to 'the truth', reading scripture WITH A CONTRITE HEART will reveal the word that we are to live by (as found in Ephesians 6:17) so that if we are a good student of God's spirit, we will learn to divide good from bad (as a sword would divide) so that the change from good to evil is clear and abrupt with no middle ground (no shadow or variation). This understanding will enable us to have genuine compassion (sorrow) for everyone who suffers consequences due to the neglect of 'good' instead of count the demerits earned when a code is violated or sinned against.

God has given us a cross of our own to bear, much as Jesus had His. We must overcome our uncomfortability with having to challenge the status quo for the sake of the brethren that were taught to embrace partisanship. Our dilemna is how to be gentle so as not to alienate those who are sincere but misguided and ensure that the young (babes in Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:1 who still think in fleshly ways) will not become misguided (we should only be IN the flesh, but not OF it).

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