Talk:Institutional church
Some say that the institutional church is "the collected group of Christians who don’t want a relationship with Jesus Christ on his terms, but on their terms."
The bible warned us about the institutional church explaining that it would be a Christian’s departure from the faith:
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron … (1 Tim 4:1-2)
What is “the faith”? It is the true teachings of Jesus Christ, the foundation of what was originally taught. Anyone can open the gospels right now and hold it up against the mainstream teachings of Christianity and see that there’s been a deviation from the truth. And how did they deviate? Because they were seduced and led away by doctrines of demons. The bible continues to foretell:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears (2 Tim 4:3).
The institutional church is a group of people who desire teachings that appeal to their own lusts (or desires) — they’ve got itching ears waiting to be scratched. So the bible reveals that they were led away because they wanted to be! So it’s not just the church leadership who are at fault, it’s also the people themselves who lift up these false teachers. This is why it’s so hard to witness to people in the institutional church, most of them want to be there.
So why do they reject the message of Christ? Because Jesus’ message of self-denial is a hard thing to hear. Giving up fornication, the love of money and all other sinful pleasures is a hard message. Being taught that only the humble will make it into the kingdom of God is offensive demanding a change to many who live in pride. Hearing a message that commands you to forgive others or be rejected by God is too hard to bear for some. So men have taken the words of Jesus and added, twisted and downright removed them to suit their sinful lifestyles.