By CA - January 11, 2014
According to modern Christian beliefs,
love towards God is the foundation for living a holy life. Christians usually
declare faith as the greatest virtue in their religion; but faith in Christian
sense is really a disguised love, because faith does not emphasizes pure belief
in God's existence, as much as it
emphasizes importance of trusting Him, and feeling affection towards Him. A
person can believe in God, but if he/she does not love Him, he/she will be
lost. But if a person loves God, everything else will fall on its place.
A metaphor will be used to explain the
next point. Imagine a club designed for men who want to be devoted to their
wives. They gather once a week and they encourage each other to be better
husbands. When a member enters a crisis, the club's role is to help him get back
on his feet.
Next, imagine that this club has a huge
influence on a certain member; everybody he knows is a member too. And the club
works in the following manner: if you have problems in your marriage, you will
get help, but will be considered as a less worthy member than others; if your
marriage falls apart, you will be expelled.
Further more, imagine this member earning
his salary by working at this club. And finally, imagine this member in a
dysfunctional marriage that should be ended.
The following questions should be asked:
- Is he being enticed to start lying to others about his marriage?
- Is he being enticed to stay married only because of what he would lose if he gets expelled?
- Is he being enticed to convince himself that his marriage is healthy, while both he and his wife are suffering?
If the answers to this questions are
positive, we can conclude that this club serves as a burden to his marriage.
The club policy even suggests that some members would be enticed to ignore
marital problems on a daily basis, driven by fear of being cast out.
In applying this metaphor to modern churches,
it is evident that church membership suffers under the system which consumes
their personal relationship with God - the pillar of Christian faith. This is
especially applicable to church leadership. Churches use warnings, sanctions,
and evictions in order to regulate love towards God. Love can be encouraged,
but it cannot be forced. There is a place for discipline in every relationship.
But discipline cannot solve crucial problems in a relationship, especially when
being forced by a third party. When used in this manner, discipline functions
as an extremely destructive tool.
In every healthy relationship a person
needs to be allowed to struggle. This is fundamental, but contrary to the practice
of typical churches. Assuming that there is a deity, just for the sake of the argument, Christians need to create places where they can struggle with their faith - perhaps even call this places
"church." Otherwise, in a world that moves away from religion, they are moving towards self-destruction.
