This often happens with a blog post.
I start with a simple anecdotal story.
I start telling that story and as I start to make a point I realize I don’t know enough about the topic. I start researching. I go down rabbit holes. I end up with thousands of words, quotes, videos, links, and information.
My simple story gets lost in a lot of information and I never finish my thought.
This happened with a story about a woman I met.
This was back when our dog Bengie was still with us. I was walking him when I got into a conversation with an elderly woman sitting on her doorstep. She was very sweet. We discussed her kids, Bengie, and the neighborhood.
During our conversation she made a simple comment that made me very sad.
This lady was talking about her church and how it was close enough for her to walk to.
Internally I was thinking, “Awesome!”
Then, unprompted, she said, “I don’t give them much money though… just sometimes when I go, I give them a little.”
Why did this little old lady, a stranger, feel the need to clarify that she didn’t give her church too much money? When talking about her church, the first two things she told me were that it was close and that she didn’t give it too much money. That is sad.
She didn’t tell me anything about how her church helps her feel closer to God, nothing about how amazing her pastor is, nothing about the community her church brings her life.
1 – She can walk to it
2 – She’s not giving it too much money
When did that become one of the first things you have to say about your church?
This got me thinking about the progression of churches. Satan has been corrupting religious institutions since the Earth began.
All institutions, including churches, need money to operate. Where is the line drawn? I think the line may get drawn at extravagance, excess, and greed.
That’s why this post originally got derailed. I started talking about this woman’s comments about her church, thinking about how sad that she had to mention her donations, and it led to me defending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its finances.
I’m going to set that discussion aside for another day. As I said, there’s a lot to be discussed there.
Ultimately, it’s sad that profit has to be discussed about any church.
Churches are for the benefit of man. Not for the profit of man. Churches are for the eternal benefit of man.
What does the Book of Mormon say on this topic?
The Book of Mormon takes a strong stance against churches for profit. See Mormon 8:32-37, 4 Nephi 1:26-27, 2 Nephi 26:20-22, 2 Nephi 26:31, and Alma 1:12 for examples.
I think so many people have been turned away from organized religion due to this corruption for personal gain.
I think it’s interesting to take a look at the things Satan attacks. Some of the first things to come to mind.
- Our true identity – Divine, Children of God
- Who God is – our Eternal Father
- Truth – what is truth, really?
- Churches
That last one I think is shown in all the things churches have done wrong over the centuries. Judgement, wealth, greed, manipulation, abuse. These are the things Satan has brought into religious institutions and it has resulted in generations of people who then spurn religion, which in turn allows them to spurn the big questions about life.
I don’t think the major issue with people not going to church is people not being in church, I think it’s them not thinking about who they are, how they got here, who sent them here, and who they’re going to see when the finish here.
If you’re not asking these questions, you’re not seeing the big picture.
And that’s what Satan wants. He wants us to miss the bigger picture.
With technology, the busy-ness of life, and the corruption of churches, Satan is making us forget the real reason we’re here.
The main benefit of church is thinking about Jesus Christ each week. After that it’s community and support. That’s it, I think. Outside of that, church doesn’t do much. If we all had a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and showed that in a covenantal way as a community by supporting one another and showing our devotion to Jesus Christ regularly in the other ways He’s asked us to, we wouldn’t really need a church. Life would be church.
That’s the goal.
No Coincidences 