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ORGANIZED
RELIGION
WHO NEEDS IT?
Can you be a true Christian and not be involved with God's
Church? Millions may think
so,
but what does the Bible say?
W
ill
Rogers once said, "I be–
ong to no organized politi–
al party. 1 am a Democrat."
Leaving aside the accuracy of the
famed humorist's witticism about
the political situation of the early
thirties, you often hear the same
kind of statement, albeit seriously,
about religion. Sometimes even with
an a ir of self-righteousness someone
"!ill say in almost the same breath:
1) " I am a Christian," and 2) "l
belong to no organized religion."
The point that he's makíng, of
course, is that he doesn't
need
what
he would scornfully call the cozy
comfort of a church, like other lesser
mortals. "Just you and me, Lord !" is
his rallying cry.
Ah, but in reality it's not just "you
and me, Lord." Simply put, if you
want to be on good terms with your
Creator, you must !ove your neigh–
bor as yourself (Matt. 22:39). And,
since the ultimate destiny of roan is
to become God, as God is God, you
must become like God now by
trying to emulate God's love of
mankind (I John 4: l l ). Now comes
the hard part: the best way to do all
this is through an organized church.
The Lone-Ranger Christian
Many people ask, legitimately: If
Christianity is having God's Spirit
(Romans 8:9) and becoming like
God, why mess around with an or–
ganized, visible church at all?
Any organized religion can have a
certainsocial stigma attached to it. As
C.S. Lewis pointed out in the
Screw–
tape Letters,
being pan of a church
20
by
Jeff Calkins
doesn't do a lot for your vanity-all
your nonmember friends can assume
a sort of superior, 1-don't-need-a–
church attitude which makes you feel
that you're not quite bright enough to
transcend all that organized folderol.
But mostly, many people find that
being part of an organized religious
etfort simply sticks in the craw. They
have a hard time accepting the idea
that religion can be something other
than a hidden, deep-down, strictly
personal exercise in spirituality. It
means investing more effort, energy
and money than otherwise is the case
when religion is confined to "Just you
and me, Lord."
Also any church, be it God's own
ora false one, is made up of human
beings. Fallible human beings. l ndi–
viduals who don ' t always live up to
the high ideals which they profess to
believe. And this gap between what
the church teaches and what people
who call themselves Christians ac–
tually perform is often used as an
excuse to go the "Lone-Ranger
route." If you go that well-trodden
path, however, you will end up
doing less for your fellowman than
if
you had stayed with a group, in
spite of its members not being the
embodiment of millennial ideals.
God's Church is the best way for
you as an individual to show love
for others-many more than you
could ever help by yourself. T he
power of collective !ove is mighty.
A follower of Christ
will want
to
obey Christ's injunction (Matt.
28: 19, 20) to take His message of
God's soon-coming government to
his fellowman.
It
is. after aH. good
news. How much do you think one
can do as an individual? Confront a
few people on street corners? Ring a
few doorbells? In the process of
reaching relatively few people, !)e
is
likely to make a rather obnoxious
nuisance of himself.
l t is ultimately a matter of
effi–
ciency.
One person, alone, can only
confront the few people
with
whom
he comes in personal contact. Sev–
era! persons, however, might be able
to pool enough of their contacts and
resources in order to rent a hall and
invite many people to hear a mes–
sage. Many persons can pool their
resources and purchase time on ra–
dio to air their message to an even
greater audience. By organizing,
Christians can share their knowl–
edge with more people, and, by
using mass media, each individua l
r'eaches far more people. Organiza–
tion increases the power of the
Church to make a genuine impact
upon the world.
Division of Labor
One of the most elementary prin–
cipies of economic science is in–
volved here: the division of labor. If
each person who wants to see a job
get done does that part of it which
he does best,
the job will be done
better, sooner, at less total cost.
The division of labor was heavily
stressed in the New Testament
Christian Church. When Paul, for
example, was explaining to the
church at Rome just how you go
about being a "living sacri.fice, holy,
The
PLAI N TRUTH May 1977