CHURCH: (definition)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. (sometimes initial capital letter) the whole body of Christian believers; Christendom.
\n4. (sometimes initial capital letter) any division of this body professing the same creed and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a Christian denomination
\n6. a body of Christians worshipping in a particular building or constituting one congregation<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Church of Christ, in reality, is made up of Jesus’s followers, both past, present, and future, who acknowledge and believe Christ as their savior, and try to walk in His footsteps. In order to do this, they need all the help they can get, and as humans, they typically need fellowship with others. So they get together, worship and praise their God and savior, and often share, teach, and prophesy as they are directed by God.<\/p>\n

INSTITUTION (definition)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. an organization, establishment, foundation, society, or the like, devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or program, esp. one of a public, educational, or charitable character
\n5. any established law, custom, etc.
\n7. the act of instituting or setting up; establishment<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can probably guess where I’m going with this. Whatever the reason, the modern-day church has turned into an institution. The Jews probably started it all, with the Pharisees and ceremonies and rituals and unnecessary practices in order to become blessed and all that. Jesus rebuked them to their face. The Catholics did it next, with their holy water, crucifixes, and their emphasis on the worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus. And now the denominations in America and around the world today are at it, throwing around the Book of Church Order and their hierarchy as if it was Scripture. I can’t remember a Session in the Bible, can you? Do you remember Matthew 18 saying, “If you have guff with your brother, go to him with witnesses, and if you still have a problem, take it to the Session, and after that, the Presbytery, and after that…” I don’t remember the Bible saying that the Church of Christ was the Session. And I sure don’t remember the Bible saying things like “B.C.O” and “Pastor” and “peace for the church.” So I’m living in an institution. And it’s not too fun, lemme tell you.<\/p>\n

I’d like to make everyone think about this. I’m a bit young to have all kinds of experience and understanding when it comes to the modern-day church, but has serving the Church first and Christ second felt wrong to anybody? Have you felt a little nervous when you’re called to obey your leaders, when you’re positive the Bible said something different? How about a personal experience with God…and your elders have wanted you to do something different than you were told by God Himself? Is that really a dilemma? Should you have such a hard time deciding what the right course of action is? Or would you rather have Christ say, when the end comes, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees; Hypocrites!” Not so flattering after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHURCH: (definition) 3. (sometimes initial capital letter) the whole body of Christian believers; Christendom. 4. (sometimes initial capital letter) any division of this body professing the same creed and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a Christian denomination 6. a body of Christians worshipping in a particular building or constituting one congregation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[910],"tags":[151,156,361,438,439,596,724],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-god","tag-institution","tag-institutional-church","tag-organization","tag-scripture"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n