Sunday, December 2, 2012

Beyond Reproach?

worshiping the institution, not the God it represents
Institutionalism 

       Not long back I read an internet article about the latest church sex abuse scandal. In it, the writer raised the question of weather it was consistent with the churches beliefs to put institution before people. While he made no claims to know the answer, the very idea that people could even raise such questions against the church is disheartening. Yet, not at all surprising. When any institution treats itself as beyond reproach (religious or otherwise) at the expense of people, the damage to their authority is detrimental when ugly truths inevitably comes out. Always more damaging than if they would just own up to the offense and hold the guilty parties accountable.
       The ultimate question I’m working towards is this. Is the church truly beyond reproach, simply because it’s the church? To answer that, let me point out a few details. The time when Jesus got the most angry was in response to what was going on at the temple. (Matt 21:12-17, Mark 11:12-19, Luke 19:45-48, John 2:12-25) Throughout Jesus’ ministry, who was he the toughest on? It was the religious authorities, not the common people. So it would seem that Jesus holds the church leaders to a higher standard of responsibility. Which is consistent with Old testament passages like Ezekiel 34:1-6 and Malachi 2:1-10. If anything we should be the ones holding ourselves accountable, not letting others force us to. Who are we to instruct others in the matters of righteousness if we can’t maintain integrity ourselves as Jesus indicates in Matt 7:3-5. 
       If we ever hope to bring real revival to the current church, we must embrace this truth. This is the motivation in which I write this blog, the spirit of restoration; rather than destruction. I bring this up because there is a movement among believers that hold to the idea that the church is just too broken to fix, so we should just scrap it. So let me make it clear that nothing I say here is meant to forward an agendum to dissolve the institution, but rather a hope that it becomes more like what Christ meant it to be . 

Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done? -Proverbs 24:11-12


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