Buff Scott Jr.
Junior
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 334
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"CHURCHIANITY"
VS.
GOD'S MODEL
Part II
Buff Scott, Jr.
VS.
GOD'S MODEL
Part II
Buff Scott, Jr.
HISTORY IS UNIQUE
It might interest you to know that William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament scriptures was published in 1525, almost 100 years before The King James Version made its appearance. He translated ekklesia "congregation" and baptizo "immerse" and was condemned to death as a heretic by the "Unholy See" of Roman Catholicism. Additionally, Hugh J. Schonfield's Authentic New Testament (1955) renders Matthew 16:18, "Upon that rock I will found my community." So regardless of how we peel the orange, "church" is a total and absolute mistranslation.
And so is King James' "Easter" (Acts 12:4). The Greek is pascha, which delivers "Passover." If we reject "Easter" as a correct rendering, why is it so difficult for so many of us to reject King James' "church"? Partisan religion has been built around "Easter," just as partisan religion revolves around "church."
BILLY GRAHAM WAS RIGHT IN 1965
"Multitudes of Christians within the church are moving toward the point where they may reject the institution that we call the church. They are beginning to turn to more simplified forms of worship. They are hungry for a personal and vital experience with Jesus Christ. They want a heartwarming personal faith. Unless the church quickly recovers its authoritative Biblical message, we may witness the spectacle of millions of Christians going outside the institutional church to find spiritual food" (Quoted in "World Aflame," pp. 79-80).
PLAYING AROUND WITH "CHURCH"
We have played around with "church" far too long. We have taken a mistranslated word and erected sectarian walls around it. Those walls have formed the Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church, Church of God Church, Christian Church, Church of Christ Church (a cappella), Assembly of God Church, Evangelical Free Church, Pentecostal Church, and a host of others.
Here is where the fundamental and inexcusable sin has been committed. We have built our own brand of wall around "church" and excluded far too many sincere believers who do not "belly up" to our brand of religion. We call that wall "The Lord's Church" and dare anyone to breach it. The English term "church," and what it breeds, denotes a sect, a religious party, a schism, but never the one body of believers. As Jesus is not the author of religious parties, neither is He the author of churches, for both are equal to each other.
Yes, unquestionably, there is only one body of believers, as per Ephesians 4:4. But we have misused and misapplied that divine passage by applying it to the wall we have erected in the form of "church." It is shameful and disgraceful. If Ephesians 4:4 ("There is one body" of believers) can be desecrated by creating many bodies, it may also be violated by concocting many Gods, Spirits, hopes, Lords, and faiths. The obvious truth is that we have sinned by dividing that one body of believers into a profusion of sects and factions. We ought to get down upon our knees and petition the Lord to forgive us.
ECCLESIASTICAL ABUSE
Even "congregation," "community," and "assembly"—correct renderings of the Greek ekkesia—are not immune from ecclesiastical abuse. And if our English "church" had never surfaced and exploded into a major problem, the sectarian mindset and its offspring would have devised another foreign icon to use as their sacred cow. Like the children of old Israel, we never learn.
When God came down and disrupted the language of the people at the building of the Tower of Babel, they groped about in the darkness of confused tongues. Today's clerics, popes, "Reverends," and other churchy elitists have constructed another "Tower of Babel" in the configuration of churches and religious jargon. Considering our divisive plight and language barrier, it is no surprise that so many are groping about in spiritual darkness.
The one body of believers, which was once pure and tranquil when originally founded by Jesus and His ambassadors, has evolved into an apostate system of religion. Unless she undergoes complete reform, she will eventually self-destruct. Although she once shined as a bright light, she is now only a flicker.
And so is King James' "Easter" (Acts 12:4). The Greek is pascha, which delivers "Passover." If we reject "Easter" as a correct rendering, why is it so difficult for so many of us to reject King James' "church"? Partisan religion has been built around "Easter," just as partisan religion revolves around "church."
BILLY GRAHAM WAS RIGHT IN 1965
"Multitudes of Christians within the church are moving toward the point where they may reject the institution that we call the church. They are beginning to turn to more simplified forms of worship. They are hungry for a personal and vital experience with Jesus Christ. They want a heartwarming personal faith. Unless the church quickly recovers its authoritative Biblical message, we may witness the spectacle of millions of Christians going outside the institutional church to find spiritual food" (Quoted in "World Aflame," pp. 79-80).
PLAYING AROUND WITH "CHURCH"
We have played around with "church" far too long. We have taken a mistranslated word and erected sectarian walls around it. Those walls have formed the Baptist Church, Methodist Church, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, Catholic Church, Church of God Church, Christian Church, Church of Christ Church (a cappella), Assembly of God Church, Evangelical Free Church, Pentecostal Church, and a host of others.
Here is where the fundamental and inexcusable sin has been committed. We have built our own brand of wall around "church" and excluded far too many sincere believers who do not "belly up" to our brand of religion. We call that wall "The Lord's Church" and dare anyone to breach it. The English term "church," and what it breeds, denotes a sect, a religious party, a schism, but never the one body of believers. As Jesus is not the author of religious parties, neither is He the author of churches, for both are equal to each other.
Yes, unquestionably, there is only one body of believers, as per Ephesians 4:4. But we have misused and misapplied that divine passage by applying it to the wall we have erected in the form of "church." It is shameful and disgraceful. If Ephesians 4:4 ("There is one body" of believers) can be desecrated by creating many bodies, it may also be violated by concocting many Gods, Spirits, hopes, Lords, and faiths. The obvious truth is that we have sinned by dividing that one body of believers into a profusion of sects and factions. We ought to get down upon our knees and petition the Lord to forgive us.
ECCLESIASTICAL ABUSE
Even "congregation," "community," and "assembly"—correct renderings of the Greek ekkesia—are not immune from ecclesiastical abuse. And if our English "church" had never surfaced and exploded into a major problem, the sectarian mindset and its offspring would have devised another foreign icon to use as their sacred cow. Like the children of old Israel, we never learn.
When God came down and disrupted the language of the people at the building of the Tower of Babel, they groped about in the darkness of confused tongues. Today's clerics, popes, "Reverends," and other churchy elitists have constructed another "Tower of Babel" in the configuration of churches and religious jargon. Considering our divisive plight and language barrier, it is no surprise that so many are groping about in spiritual darkness.
The one body of believers, which was once pure and tranquil when originally founded by Jesus and His ambassadors, has evolved into an apostate system of religion. Unless she undergoes complete reform, she will eventually self-destruct. Although she once shined as a bright light, she is now only a flicker.
[Look for Part III soon.]
