{"id":1270,"date":"2010-11-19T15:24:28","date_gmt":"2010-11-19T20:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2011-03-31T16:03:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T20:03:14","slug":"sinning-in-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/sinning-in-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinning in Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

Close Your Church for Good. <\/em>Chap 4, Sec 4. <\/em>This section is actually based off a blog post\u00a0I wrote\u00a0a while back<\/a>. It fit in nicely with the direction of this chapter, so I included it.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Modern Christians are not the only ones who met together in large groups to worship God, pray, sing songs, and listen to Scriptural teaching. God\u2019s people have been doing this for thousands of years. And God isn\u2019t necessarily opposed to it, unless it gets in the way of certain things that are nearest and dearest to the heart of God. What things?<\/p>\n

If we take passages like Isaiah 1:12-13, Amos 4:4-5, Amos 5:21-24, Jeremiah 14:12, Hosea 6:6, and Micah 6:6-8 and put them together with modern terminology, we could say that the following is what God has to say about the church:<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to church and sin!
\nAttend Bible studies and multiply your sins!
\nVolunteer to clean the church.
\nFaithfully tithe your 10%.
\nPraise Jesus for all He has given you.
\nThank God for your many blessings.
\nFor these are the things, Oh Christian, you love to do,\u201d
\nsays the Lord God.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate your pot lucks.
\nNor do I delight in your Christian concerts.
\nThough you give generously to support the building fund,
\nAnd donate faithfully to the Christian organizations,
\nI will not even look at these many gifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cCease your many sermons,
\nStop writing your faithful blog.
\nGet out of your pew,
\nPut away all your Christian books.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you fast, I will not listen.
\nThough you cry out, I will not hear.
\nI will not accept your offerings
\nAnd sacrifices of praise.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake away from me the noise of your many songs,
\nYour numerous prayers are an abomination!
\nQuit playing the guitars, banging on the drums,
\nAnd raising your hands in praise.
\nStop trampling the parking lots
\nIn your eagerness to get to church.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunday morning, Sunday night.
\nWednesday evening, Friday morning.
\nI hate all your meetings.
\nI despise your numerous studies.
\nThey are all evil in my sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, let justice roll down like a waterfall,
\nAnd righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
\nI desire mercy, not sacrifice.
\nI want you do justice, love kindness,
\nAnd walk humbly with your God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does that sound harsh? It probably sounded so to the Israelites who heard God say such things about their temple worship, yearly festivals, frequent fasts, and sacrificial system, much of which He instituted! But notice. It is not that God doesn\u2019t desire such things; it is that they were supposed to lead to something else. The worship of God is supposed to result in justice, kindness, and the humble service of others. If our churches services are not accomplishing this (and preaching about such topics is not enough), we should cancel our services until we have our priorities straight. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Close Your Church for Good. Chap 4, Sec 4. This section is actually based off a blog post\u00a0I wrote\u00a0a while back. It fit in nicely with the direction of this chapter, so I included it. * * * * * Modern Christians are not the only ones who met together in large groups to worship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14,15,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-1270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-books-by-jeremy-myers","8":"tag-close-your-church-for-good","9":"tag-theology-church","10":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nSinning in Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/sinning-in-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sinning in Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Close Your Church for Good. 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