by Jim Gordon
Often times in the past I have talked about modern day church and the way it is way off base from what it was meant to be.
It is not that I am against church, but it is a matter of being clear on the proper meaning of the word. Not that we have to be politically correct in description, but I feel we need to be clear on the matter in regard to our way of thinking.
Normally when the word church is mentioned, we think of a building we go to on Saturday or Sunday to learn about God. We also think in terms of how much we go to church as being a guide to how spiritual we are, or how close we are to God. We think of the doctrines, rules and regulations placed on us by the church as ways to make us better Christians.
We need to reset our thinking. The Church is not a building. The Church is the bride of Christ, all of us who are saved by grace. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The building is just a place where we can meet and conduct spiritual meetings and social events. Doctrine, rules and regulations are the old way of living, it was part of the law which Jesus fulfilled and brought to an end. We now live by love because of his grace.
Our thinking in regard to the word of God is also flawed. When we think of the Bible we think of a book and call it the word of God. The Bible never calls itself the actual word of God. The true living Word of God is Jesus. In the gospel of John it is stated that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God; and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus is the Word of God. There is certainly nothing wrong with reading the Bible because it teaches us about God and leads us to Jesus, the Living, Inerrant Word of God. Our focus is to be on the fact that the Word of God is alive and living within each of us and is not just words printed on a page.
Although sometimes it may seem unimportant how we think of church and the Bible, it is very important that we understand what is really meant. The old mindset of a building and a book need to be replaced with the fact that the Church are those of us who are redeemed through the blood of Christ and the Word of God is Christ Himself, alive and living within us by his Spirit.
Done with Religion 
Thank you Carol. It is so good to know we are not alone. I think it is common for those of us who are deconstructing and resetting our thinking to have periods of questioning. Are we doing the right thing? Are we wrong in leaving the traditions? But when we find others who are going through the same thing, and then see the results of where we are going, it is so encouraging. I certainly see many similarities in our thinking. Thank you again for your positive comment. So glad you are doing good on this walk, and I will have to talk with the other writers for DWR about the idea of a Daily Devotional.
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I Reset My Thinking about 8 years ago. It made things so much simpler. It’s about just “Being, not Doing.” After that, for some reason, I could not pick up my Bible again and read it the way I use to. I had no interest. I think some people just like to be able to say they have read the Bible from cover to cover, which is fine….nothing wrong with that. It was written by fallible people that were capable of error and in writing or telling a story, we as humans like to add our own interpretation and twists and turns.
I have heard and believed for many years that the grounds the church building sat on was “Hallowed Ground”….very sacred and that it is the House of the Lord.
Also I haven’t seen where Jesus called us “Christians.” The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. The city of Antioch gave them what I would call maybe a nickname, because they were Christ followers.
After leaving the building called church, God put in my path wonderful people from different websites, such as your site Jim that helped me to understand so many things that I wasn’t clear on. God brought me out of the building and provided truth for me through blogs about His Grace and Love and mainly the simplicity of WHO he is. What Freedom after being bound for so long with rules and regulations.
Jim I wish you had some of your writings in a Daily Devotional for 365 days of the year. I have been greatly encouraged by them. Thanks so much!
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