Jesus Visited

After worship this morning I continued thinking.  I always think during and about the worship experience.  This week my thinking has been impacted by reading the book, Pope Joan.  It was a well researched book about the possibility that there was one (or more) female pope in the Roman Catholic hierarchy.  That's interesting, but not what caught me.

What caught me was the legalism, the male domination believed to be constituted by God, the vicious warfare in the name of the prince of peace, the forced conversion, the persecution of those perceived to be "different", and the emphasis on wealth, politics and ostentatious aggrandizement.  After years of being a Christian pastor, and years of serving in the church, I heard myself say to my wife, "I am content following Jesus.  I am ashamed to be part of the church."

Think about the fellowship of the Twelve.  It contained at least one traitor, and it dissolved rather soon after Jesus death and resurrection.  Thomas is reputed to have gone to India.  Peter ended up crucified in the Roman Empire.  Paul (not one of the Twelve) became possibly the most influential of the lot.  John seems to have gone to Ephesus.  They were the church and they didn't stick together.

Hmmm.  Would we do better with communities which could form and dissolve easily?  I see so many church groups, congregations and denominations which seem to mainly seek to perpetuate themselves.  Defend themselves.  Secure a place for themselves in the history books, as it were.

Is it the fault of the forced conversion of the Roman Empire?

Scholars say that the misogynist writings in the late epistles of the New Testament was probably to ease the way with the non-Christian power structures that wanted to keep women down in the Roman influenced society.  In other words, early on Christian leaders were compromising with non-Jesus beliefs and prejudices.

Maybe the church should have totally died by 60 AD.  Or, 60 CE if your prefer.

So, as I continue to wrestle with the "Who am I?" question I am pretty turned off on the church, but still find hope and guidance in Jesus as best as I can know Jesus.

What about you?  Leave a comment and let us know.