Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The role of the church

Let's focus our attention now on the church. But there are actually 3 questions to discuss here: What is church? Is it a necessary part of a healthy society? If it is necessary, then what is its role and how do we distinguish it from the roles of family and government?

Religion has been a part of every human society since the beginning of time. This signifies an apparent need for belief in something beyond our physical perception and temporal understanding. Even France, which has worked hard to eradicate any type of value training or religious teaching in its schools, might be said to have faith in the omniscience of collective human knowledge. But religion has also been the single most powerful instigator of conflict and hatred between people and cultures. This is because humans have a need for an eternal purpose, something much bigger than any one of us, and the belief in that purpose drives every thought and action to the point that a conflicting belief cannot be tolerated.

So, many might say that religion is destructive to a healthy society. This is true in some cases. But when I speak of 'church', I don't mean religion. And what is the difference? Religion is defined as: a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe or b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship. There are really only 3 categories of religion: a. belief in no god, b. belief in one god, c. belief in many gods. I discuss this a bit in another post. Church really has its roots in a different concept. Jesus refers to church in Matthew 16 saying that his church will be built on the fact that "[He (Jesus) is] the Christ, the Son of the living God." So the whole concept of church revolves around the teachings of Christ, His claim of deity, and the purpose for which He came to live among us. The church, as a gathering of families and individuals, signifies a common desire to know who God is, what a relationship with Christ means, and its significance for one's every day life. That is different from religion because it is the development of a relationship, not just a system of belief.

Beliefs are important because they help us define right and wrong. If there are no absolute values, there is nothing on which to base a system of laws to govern a society. A collective agreement on what is right and wrong can always be challenged, but an eternal truth (apart from our 'acceptance' of it) creates a true standard for conduct. Some might call that restrictive but that would be short sighted and show their ignorance of human nature to be deceptive and controlling. There is really something greater than a 'collective good' that benefits only 99% of the population or less. Christ shows us that each individual is of the utmost importance, not the collective society. We must be willing to change the structure of the society if the worth of the individual is not valued. This is where the church should excel. The church teaches the worth of the individual and his eternal purpose in Christ. The church teaches respect and love for a God who truly loves each person as a special and unique creation. The church teaches our responsibility to Him and to our neighbor. The church supports the roles of the family and the government, teaching respect for those in authority. The church defines the family unit (as taught in Scripture) and defends the freedoms and responsibilities of the individual. The church provides a means to serve the community through care for the elderly, the poor, the sick and the needy. The church proclaims the good news that God does not want any to perish (either now or in eternity) and that all can have a full and meaningful life with eternal purpose.

This leads us back to the 10 Commandments. The first four are the primary teaching points of the church and deal with our personal relationship with God: respect God's deity and authority, respect God's Personhood and character, respect God's Name, respect God's day. These are for our individual as well as collective benefit in relationship to our Creator. The other commandments are reinforced by the church and teach respect for others in our community for everyone's benefit.

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