It's All About Control

God.

Jesus.

It’s all about control.

Stay away from Christians.

Don’t get brainwashed by the church.

Here’s the thing, the church is not a building. It’s the ‘body of Christ’, the body of believers.

Just like a physical body, it moves, it’s flexible. It’s not perfect, it has aches and pains. In the early days of the church people gathered in each other’s homes. It was the first religion that had no ritual or sacred buildings

So what happened?

Imperfect humans.

God gave us free will. He’s not about controlling others. Control, abusive, oppression, is not Godly. It comes from the dark side. For any human to think that they know better what is good for another, has inherent dangers, because we all see through our own imperfect lenses.

When I went to church, the first time as a believer, rather than to sing carols or enjoy a Christmas service, I heard the Pastor say this, ‘’We are all messed up. The church is messed up. The church will let you down. And you know the only one who won’t let you down, it’s God, Jesus.’’

This ultimately is the message, that it is about a personal relationship with the creator. This can happen independently of other believers, although it’s good to have community as Jesus said, ‘’when two or more gather in my name, I will be there.’’

The Pope has declared that it’s ‘dangerous’ for people to have a personal relationship with Jesus. This religious view of control is anti-Christ.

Yes, we are born with a conscience, ‘God’s law is written on our hearts.’ We have an inherent sense of right and wrong. That might feel like control, if we are seduced by worldly success and riches, and not listening to the law inside of ourselves. But it is the truth, a natural law of the universe.

What does church mean to me? A place where I might go one Sunday from time to time, but more importantly, it’s finding like-minded community and believers who share an understanding of what’s going on in the world, rather than a hijacked institution, that does not share basic facts about Jesus’s life (from what I’ve heard).

Jesus himself was killed by religious leaders. I personally think his story is so powerful (and so true), that it has been hijacked and distorted and twisted in order to distract people from the core essence. And that is an act of darkness, not light.