Sometimes I feel that organized religion is complicated, divisive, condemning towards others who do not believe exactly as they do. Sometimes I long so deeply to fit, but still feel so "other"
I fear that I can not be saved outside of attending a physical "church," while at the same time a part of me wants to abandon organized religion altogether.
http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/attend.html
Does the Bible say Believers must go to a physical church?
Churches commonly quote
Acts 20:7 as a precedent for Church worship, but the whole impression of
Acts 20:7 is rather that of a family meeting together in a home than of a modern congregation met in a church. "Family" meaning a group of believers and friends. Is it possible that we may have lost the sense of the congregation as a real family in God?
Psalm 22:22 is also quoted, and it is cited in
Hebrews 2:12, as referring to Christ. How does Christ stand in the midst of his congregation and declare His Name? Only in certain buildings at certain times?
Matthew 18:20 spells doom for those who would so assert: "For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them." His Presence with us is through the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (
John 14:16-17), who fulfills Moses' wish that we could all be prophets and not have to be dependent upon special priests to teach us (
1 John 2:27). God's Presence is not localized "in temples made with hands" (
Acts 7:48; 17:24). Our body is now the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells within us (
1 Corinthians 3:9,16,17; 6:19-20,
Ephesians 2:20-22), just like Jesus referred to his own body as a temple (
Mark 14:58,
John 2:19-21). And as believers exercise dominion over the entire globe, Christ is correspondingly present (
Matthew 28:18,20).
Does Scripture require this "special" place of worship in addition to "everywhere"? One of the burdens of the first century was the corrupt worship among the Jews, and scripture says in God's advent, that will be replaced with pure worship among the Gentiles in every place (
Malachi 1:11; 3:3-4). Worship would no longer be limited or tied to Jerusalem, or to the outward shadows of the Old Covenant, or to a centralized Church. Because once the Holy Spirit is given, shadows are no longer necessary.
How do we worship God in the New Covenant? Do we need an institutional priesthood? Must we journey to a certain centralized location? Must we "attend church"? It is virtually implied that those who do not "worship" in a certain place (subordinate to a priest) do not believe in "assembling" together, or with any appreciation of the Community we have in Christ. This is false. The question is not, "Are we to 'gather together'"?, but rather "How are we to 'gather together'"?
The Judaizers told believers in Christ that unless they observed the ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant they weren't being faithful. Their purpose was not to make obedient patriarchs out of the new converts, but to gain power over them (
Galatians 2:4).
We should not localize God:
Acts 7:49, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?"
1 Kings 8:27, "…behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"
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