Religious detox 101

[Adullam]

http://www.parousianetwork.org/PDF%20Ch ... dule_1.pdf

 

[destiny]

You would like Frank Viola's testimony..
http://www.ptmin.org/LeavingInstitutionalChurch.pdf

and site..
http://frankviola.wordpress.com/
http://www.ptmin.org/

 

[Timf]

There is a joke where a recent immigrant who does not speak English very well asks his friends to teach him enough English to order breakfast. They teach him to say "Apple pie and coffee". After two weeks he is getting a little tired of this so he asks his friends to teach him how to say "Two eggs". When he goes to the diner, he says "Two eggs". The waitress asks him, "Over easy, scrambled, or sunny side up?" A panicked look comes over his face and he says, "Apple pie and coffee".

When I talk to Christian friends, particularly those with seminary affiliations, about house church, I find that there is a willingness to listen to descriptions of alternative systems, but an inability to understand any concepts that were not framed in "systems" language.

I heard an NPR interview with a woman who had written a book about ants. She spent her life studying ants. Her perspective was interesting. She said that the ant colony was not the result of hierarchy, communication, or control. The colony was the aggregate result of the individual action of each ant.

It is ironic that each day brings new levels of collective pressure on people, yet we increasingly have less "freedom" than ants. Humans have become so collectivized that we have almost lost the language to understand how Christians are supposed to live. Even new terms like emergent, holistic, and organic are just attempts to put Christianity back in a box.

At the beginning of the movie Animal House there is a scene where a young man wants to join the popular fraternity. Every time he attempts to join in with the others, he is intercepted and diverted back into the room where the rejects have been placed. This can be a metaphor for how Satan has intercepted and diverted Christians over the centuries.

Each Christian is supposed to mature into the image of Christ. Each Christian is supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit. Instead like zombie-robots we show up at church factory locations for a message, teaching, or social activity. We often leave with an idea that we should do good.

We have been so saturated with the "educational model" that Satan has used to capture the world, that we look to church to get "taught" about Jesus. We hear endless messages. Our problem is not being ignorant of what the Bible says. Our problem is that we cling to the flesh and are unwilling to be led by our Savior. Even when willing, we can hardly find anyone who can show us what it is like to really follow Jesus. It is not information that is lacking it is faith. We do not trust Jesus enough to surrender ourselves to Him.

Jesus was our perfect example. He showed us a life lived in perfect faith. He trusted the Father every minute of the day. We are like the rich young ruler. We are tied too strongly to this world. Jesus asked when He returned would he find faith on the earth. In context, He was speaking of a living faith that continues to cry out to God.

When house church becomes just another system, it becomes just another dead end into which Satan can divert Christians unwilling, unable, or uninterested in really living for Jesus. When house church is just the house where Christians who are really following their Lord meet, Christianity is finally going in the right direction.

 

[Adullam]

Excellent post, as per usual, Tim!