Why I Left Atheism (Part 3)

By John Clayton

I began to recognize that the Church was not a building. I can remember that when we lived in Alabama, there was a meeting place of some religious group just down the street from us. My mother used to point to that as we drove or walked by and say, "Look at that. How could anybody believe in God when the Church looks like that." I realized that the Bible did not teach that the Church is such a structure. First Corinthians 3:16 makes the statement, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God...." As an atheist, I recognized that you could meet on the moon, in a submarine, out in the desert, or any place else and still be the Church. The Church was not a building. What a tragedy it is that so many today have invested enormous amounts of money in edifices and buildings, while other human beings have gone hungry nearby.

I began to recognize that hypocrisy was not confined to religion. I had the idea that every hypocrite in the world sat in a pew on Sunday morning, and thus that everybody who was not sitting in a pew was not a hypocrite. I remember the lesson I learned on this. There was a young man who would sit elbow to elbow with me arguing against the religionist from time-to-time. He was in the hospital once with a very serious ailment. I went up to visit him and as I opened the hospital door, I saw him down on his knees praying to God. I stood at the door of that hospital room screaming at him, "You hypocrite--you dirty hypocrite!" until I was escorted out of the hospital. It slowly began to dawn on me that hypocrisy is a function of humanity, not religion. You deal with hypocrites at the grocery store, at the filling station, on the job, at school, and at the golf course (maybe more there than anywhere else). You do not quit buying groceries because the grocer says one thing and does another. You do not quit your job because your employer tells you to do something that he himself would not touch with a ten-foot pole. You do not deprive yourself or your child of a good education because a teacher teaches one thing and lives something else. You do not quit playing golf because your buddy takes a stroke in the rough and does not count it when he thinks you did not see it. Sure there is hypocrisy in the Church, because there are human beings in the Church, and as long as you deal with human beings, you are going to deal with hypocrisy. Do you want to get away from hypocrisy? Dig a 20-foot hole in your back yard, jump in, let someone cover you with dirt, and even then you are going to be sitting down there in the bottom of that hole with one hypocrite. There is not a one of us breathing air that is as consistent as we ought to be, but the person who says, "I'm not going to be a Christian! I'm not going to serve God! I'm not going to get involved in the work of the Church because there are hypocrites in the Church," is just logically inconsistent! We do not use that kind of thinking anywhere else in our lives. How can we do it in our relationship to God? There were many, many misconceptions that I had to get rid of to understand truly what the Bible really teaches. &

Human Opinion VS the Bible (Part 6)

By Tim Haile

The New Testament, through its commands, statements, implications and approved examples, establishes a pattern for the work of the local church. Those who substitute opinion for divine truth see the church as a mere social institution whose primary function is to provide entertainment and recreation services. And though this approach does attract many people to what some call “church,” it is not a biblical approach. It misrepresents the true nature and purpose of the church. The function of the church is far more serious than what such folks imagine. We must look to the Scriptures for our understanding of the mission and work that God has assigned to the local church.

The Bible contains a pattern or blueprint for the work of the church. As a seamstress consults her pattern, and the building contractor his blueprint, so are we to consult the “pattern of sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13). As did the Hebrews when building the Tabernacle, Hebrew saints were to do things “according to the pattern” that God had revealed (Hebrews 8:5; Ex. 25:40). Paul told the Corinthians that he had sent Timothy to them in order to remind them of his ways “in Christ,” which, he said, “I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17). Paul told the Corinthians that he taught the same marriage rule in every church (1 Cor. 7:17). Regarding the custom of the woman’s head covering, Paul told the Corinthians that the apostles and other “churches of God” had no custom of being contentious (1 Cor. 11:16). He also said that the principle of orderliness in worship is to be respected by “all the churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33). With regard to giving, Paul taught the same thing in all churches. He told the Corinthians, “As I have commanded the churches of Galatia, so also are you to do” (1 Cor. 16:1). As we observed in earlier articles, the New Testament also contains blueprints for local church worship, including the kind of music we use, and the conditions of salvation. God’s blueprint precludes the need for human opinionism in the realm and practice of religion. &

Christmas Time Religion

By Tim Haile

Religious sentiment tends to increase during Christmas and Easter. And even though we admit that a small amount of attention to Bible topics is better than none at all, we do not want people to be deceived into thinking that this seasonal “religion” is sufficient for their souls. There is more to serving God than just attending a “Christmas” or “Easter” church service once a year.

While there is nothing wrong with people celebrating national holidays by having special family visits and exchanging gifts, the Bible nowhere instructs churches or individuals to establish special religious holy days. Doing so is a violation of Bible authority, for one “adds to” the Scriptures by adding such special services. It is sinful to “add to” the Scriptures (Revelation 22:18). One cannot “speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11) and claim that churches are to celebrate the birth of Christ, either upon December 25^th or any other day of the year! Christ’s gospel contains no instructions authorizing or requiring such special services or assemblies. Churches act presumptuously when they arbitrarily assign a special religious significance to a certain day of the year. Sins of “presumption” are nonetheless sins, and rather than rush into them we should ask God to keep us “back” from them (Psalm 19:14)!

There is, however, a “day” of significance to God: The New Testament makes every Sunday equally significant. New Testament Christians assembled upon the first day of every week to give (1 Cor. 16:2), to remember the Lord’s death through the observance of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-26), and to pray, sing and study (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 14:26-33). No particular Sunday service was any more or less important than others, for every Sunday has been divinely prescribed as our day of worship. The notion that certain religious services are more spiritual than others is a mere fiction.

This raises an important question: Why do some people commemorate events that God has not told us to commemorate, but refuse to commemorate an event that God has told us to commemorate? The Bible does record the birth (Matt. 1:18-2:12; Luke 2:1-21) and the resurrection of Christ (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20), and these are important gospel facts that we must believe. However, the Bible nowhere authorizes the establishment of certain holy days or procedures for their commemoration. Conversely, the Bible quite plainly instructs us to commemorate the Lord’s death (by the Lord’s Supper, Matt. 26:26-29; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-33), stating the day of the week on which this is to be done, and even implying the frequency of observance (every week has a “first day” - Acts 20:7). With the approval of an inspired apostle, the disciples at Troas assembled “upon the first day of the week” to observe this memorial. Inasmuch as every week has a “first day,” we are to observe the Lord’s Supper upon the first day of every week. Let us commemorate what God has told us to commemorate, not what we arbitrarily decide to commemorate. By doing as God instructs, we will worship God weekly, not just annually or biannually, and not by mere contrivance. &