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While I think there are some great churches out there I'm good explaining to God at the end of my days why I made my own choices in a world full of self-interested religions and churches run by sinful, imperfect humans.

Just remember that our choices are supposed to align with the commands God gives us to obey. We were meant to be part of a community of believers; that's How Christ established and built the Church. We were never intended to be little islands.

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I've seen pastors having affairs with their flock.
Priests molesting children.
Priests and pastors stealing from their church.

Yes, there are sinners even in positions of authority. The Bible gives directions for how that is supposed to be handled, too. We are to cast them out as they have disqualified themselves from office.

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When we die we don't get to say it wasnt our fault we were just listening to trans pastor Pat who told me this or that was ok. Our actions are our own, good or bad, so I reject wholly the notion that God requires us to submit to the whims of whatever church we attend or likely were born into.

While I agree that we are all accountable for our own actions, we are also accountable for obeying what God has commanded, and He has commanded that we join ourselves with other Christians and that we submit to faithful leaders of the Church. Obviously we are not supposed to obey sinful commands or unbiblical teachings, but what you are advocating is a complete separation from the body of Christ, outside of which is no ordinary means of salvation.

It's difficult enough for Christians to grow in grace and remain faithful even as part of a larger church body, but it's even more so when you are away from the means of grace God has given. It really is spiritually detrimental to be apart from the church.

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God is within all of us wherever we are, he left his book as a map and the path we choose is our own, not the churches.

God has gifted us with men who devote themselves to studying the word of God so that we, who don't usually have that amount of time, can be taught. God has given us commands for His holy worship that involved the corporate, public worship of God led by officers that God has appointed. We are not supposed to worship God however we feel like. God gave examples of what happened when people thought it was a good idea to worship Him however they wanted, and it didn't end well for them.

I'm not saying you have to be part of a local congregation as a necessary requirement for salvation, but I am saying that God has so closely tied the means of salvation and sanctification to the church that ordinarily, truly saved Christians are brought into the visible church, and that outside of the visible church people spiritually starve to death.

It is dangerous to separate yourself from the church, and it should not be recommended to anyone ordinarily. Remember that Jesus told His disciples to go into the world and make disciples (students) of the nations, not merely converts. The expectation was that converts were converting into a community of Christians.

This post was edited on 12/29/23 at 1:48 pm