Buff Scott Jr.
Junior
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2023
- Messages
- 334
- Reaction score
- 107
- Points
- 43
Why I Deflected The Religious
Establishment
[Part I]
Establishment
[Part I]
The need to clarify and specify never ends. Ideas, views, issues, and philosophies are not always communicated effectively. This venture is to define my position on several questions and to include a little background along with it.
As a whole host of problems within the Christian commonwealth may be laid at the feet of poor and ineffective communication, I hope to be able to speak clearly and distinctly during this experience with words. I’m not sure I can satisfy my critics. My eagerness to do so finds solace in the maxim that no man is able to appease all of his critics. If my approach to these matters makes for greater understanding and brotherhood, my efforts will not have been wasted.
RELEASED FROM SLAVERY
A few decades ago, I was set free from partisan religion. The experience was invigorating! As I sought freedom from spiritual slavery—“churchitis”—the Lord operated upon my heart and modified my course. It was a simple but serious procedure. The only prerequisites were that I cast aside my sectarian, partisan shackles and open my mind and heart. In essence, I was deprogrammed.
Did I leave Messiah Jesus when I abandoned organized religion—the institutional church? Goodness, no! He and I are closer now than ever before. As a result of my surrendering institutional religion in favor of freedom, I am now a “believer at large,” free-thinker, and one of God’s instruments for reform. No human being and no partisan group or church does my thinking for me any longer. I arrive at conclusions after careful evaluation, study, and prayer. Simply stated, I have cast aside the chains of religious orthodoxy and abandoned the Establishment’s status quo.
I’m not formally identified with any church or religious party. I’m a free man. With the Spirit’s direction, I think independently and I arrive at my conclusions independently, regardless of what Calvin, Campbell, Wesley, Luther, Pope John Paul II and all the others taught. Neither man is my polar star. My Polar Star is Jesus—none other. Consequently, no one may preside over my concepts and teachings insofar as dictating my walk with the Lord.
I will gladly absorb and happily accept advice from godly men if it coincides with what I conscientiously believe is truth and understand as heaven’s grace. But I will no longer bow my knees to the “powers that be” of the religious bureaucracy. I will no longer be enslaved by the institutional church or religious Establishment or organized religion.
Organized religion? Yes, but let me explain. I believe in an organized life. I believe all believers should have their priorities organized. I believe in an organized mind and an organized schedule. Organization, of itself, is gratifying and necessary. But I have problems with organizational structures and programs and projects within the body of believers that have supplanted the simple, informal but serious life depicted in the lives of early believers.
Literally, and in this vein, we have organized ourselves out of practical existence. Overall, our programs, projects, and organizations have deflated our capabilities and our enthusiasm to reach the unreached. “Jesus said to get out and go, but we have come in to stay” (W. Carl Ketcherside, Mission Messenger).
In essence, we have permitted our internal organizations and materialistic projects to strangle us. There’s no room, no time, and no money for the resurrection message. Our fancy edifices, palaces, polished organizations, and programs are symptoms of our pride, digression, and apostasy. Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on “materialistic evangelism” while millions of the world’s poor go hungry, not only for food but also for the message of salvation. Our priorities are abused and misplaced. We have taken the simple arrangement of communicating the Good News to others and developed it into a complicated mess. [Please look for Part II soon.]
As a whole host of problems within the Christian commonwealth may be laid at the feet of poor and ineffective communication, I hope to be able to speak clearly and distinctly during this experience with words. I’m not sure I can satisfy my critics. My eagerness to do so finds solace in the maxim that no man is able to appease all of his critics. If my approach to these matters makes for greater understanding and brotherhood, my efforts will not have been wasted.
RELEASED FROM SLAVERY
A few decades ago, I was set free from partisan religion. The experience was invigorating! As I sought freedom from spiritual slavery—“churchitis”—the Lord operated upon my heart and modified my course. It was a simple but serious procedure. The only prerequisites were that I cast aside my sectarian, partisan shackles and open my mind and heart. In essence, I was deprogrammed.
Did I leave Messiah Jesus when I abandoned organized religion—the institutional church? Goodness, no! He and I are closer now than ever before. As a result of my surrendering institutional religion in favor of freedom, I am now a “believer at large,” free-thinker, and one of God’s instruments for reform. No human being and no partisan group or church does my thinking for me any longer. I arrive at conclusions after careful evaluation, study, and prayer. Simply stated, I have cast aside the chains of religious orthodoxy and abandoned the Establishment’s status quo.
I’m not formally identified with any church or religious party. I’m a free man. With the Spirit’s direction, I think independently and I arrive at my conclusions independently, regardless of what Calvin, Campbell, Wesley, Luther, Pope John Paul II and all the others taught. Neither man is my polar star. My Polar Star is Jesus—none other. Consequently, no one may preside over my concepts and teachings insofar as dictating my walk with the Lord.
I will gladly absorb and happily accept advice from godly men if it coincides with what I conscientiously believe is truth and understand as heaven’s grace. But I will no longer bow my knees to the “powers that be” of the religious bureaucracy. I will no longer be enslaved by the institutional church or religious Establishment or organized religion.
Organized religion? Yes, but let me explain. I believe in an organized life. I believe all believers should have their priorities organized. I believe in an organized mind and an organized schedule. Organization, of itself, is gratifying and necessary. But I have problems with organizational structures and programs and projects within the body of believers that have supplanted the simple, informal but serious life depicted in the lives of early believers.
Literally, and in this vein, we have organized ourselves out of practical existence. Overall, our programs, projects, and organizations have deflated our capabilities and our enthusiasm to reach the unreached. “Jesus said to get out and go, but we have come in to stay” (W. Carl Ketcherside, Mission Messenger).
In essence, we have permitted our internal organizations and materialistic projects to strangle us. There’s no room, no time, and no money for the resurrection message. Our fancy edifices, palaces, polished organizations, and programs are symptoms of our pride, digression, and apostasy. Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted on “materialistic evangelism” while millions of the world’s poor go hungry, not only for food but also for the message of salvation. Our priorities are abused and misplaced. We have taken the simple arrangement of communicating the Good News to others and developed it into a complicated mess. [Please look for Part II soon.]
