Paul's Passing Thoughts

Don’t you know, God’s design for Christian fellowship is susceptible to every bump and pothole in the road of life. Supposedly. Of course, the problem begins with the whole concept of church, which is where you go to get more gas for your salvation gas tank for motoring closer and closer to “final justification.”

Yes indeed, church is God’s authoritative institution on earth for the overseeing of his salvation process, and meanwhile, the process is hindered by all kinds of natural disasters, dictatorships, genocide, and religious persecution. In some countries, if you want to murder a bunch of Christians, they will accommodate you by meeting at a certain advertised place, on a certain day, and at a certain time. In other countries, organized religion is against the law unless state approved. In Western culture, church seems like a perfect system because it fits the culture.

Sarcasm aside, Christian fellowship has nothing to do with a salvation process, and is designed in such a way to not be hindered by any bumps in the road of life. The most recent example is the Coronavirus pandemic. I find it interesting that on the one hand, church is critical for obtaining the “ordinary means of grace” under the authority of “God’s ordained ministers,” but on the other hand, where is the biblical exception for when the church building gets leveled by an F5 tornado?

Already, several churches have cancelled services until further notice, and in some states, executive orders to limit ALL social gatherings to 500 people or less are forthcoming in the near future. So much for separation of church and state.

Funny, when a church is shut down, you never hear a concern about where people are going to get their weekly justification, even though that is church orthodoxy in a nutshell.

What could happen to the mega-churches is particularly interesting. During a pandemic, you can’t have thousands of people gathered together three times a week. Also, the bulk of tithing takes place when people are at the services. Furthermore, things like pandemics effect the personal livelihood of parishioners to begin with, while the need to go to the church for financial help increases. Well, the church isn’t going to be able to help. Add these realities to the fact that churches have gargantuan budgets and most mega-churches survive financially on a month to month basis.

It’s interesting that there is no interim orthodoxy for not being able to go someplace and receive salvation on the installment plan from “God’s anointed.”

God’s family is a literal family and functions like a family. Gatherings are for studying God’s word, sharing a meal together, prayer, and encouraging each other unto good works. Multiple self-sustained households can also accomplish various things at utmost efficiency. Institutions, invariably, are funded by individual households anyway.

This doesn’t mean that there is no organization; there may not be authority, but all families are organized. During a pandemic, the family may not meet for awhile, but everything else would remain the same.

And because its not a public institution, home fellowships are underneath the radar of cultural dramas of all sorts.

paul