What is Churchianity?

James 2:14-16

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”

The word faith, according to Strong's concordance, means: “convictionof the truth of anything,belief;”. So, as I read it, James is saying that if you truly have faith, you will have works. This is because if you truly believe in something you will act on it. We see this dichotomy all the time. So one will say that they believe something, but then when rubber hits the road, it turns out that they are being something less than honest, with either themselves or with others. Examples include Michael Moore saying that Cuba has a better system of government than the USA does. He says this. He does not move to Cuba. He could move if he really wanted to, but he does not. So we can see that even though he probably does have a superficial belief in what he is saying, he does not truly believe it.

A long time ago I heard that the definition of wisdom is “Applied knowledge”. That always seemed like an overly simple definition, until I thought of it in terms of the superficial/true belief dichotomy. Now I think of wisdom as doing your best to find truth, and then acting on it. Conversely, foolishness is to concoct, find, or believe in a set of lies that allow you to act in a way that you find comfortable.

To bring it back to the title of the post, Churchianity is foolishness in the Church that allows churches to avoid clashing with modern culture.

Modern Culture: all roads lead to god. All cultures are merely different but equal.

Churchianity: (from Rick Warren's Twitter) “We're NOT called to be the judge, the prosecutor, or even the defense attorney! 'You will be my WITNESSES' Acts 1:8 Got it?”

Actual Christianity: (1^st Corinthians 6:3) “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?”

Matthew 7:13 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat”

Modern Culture: all you need is love. The world will work if we are all just kind to each other and stop the hate.

Churchianity: God always gives us more of what we want (taken from the idea that hell is simply existance without God (which is also wrong)).

Christians are called to be as kind to everyone as possible.

God is a gentlemen and will leave you alone if you want Him too.

Actual Christianity: (Leveticus 10:6) “And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people” Moses was telling Aaron to not morn the death of his sons after God killed them, or else God would kill him to (not what Aaron was wanting).

Stoning is the main method of execution under Israel's government. Aside from the fact that you cannot view execution as tough love, stoning is hardly the kindest method of execution.

Psalm 145:20 “The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” Destroying is not leaving alone.

Modern Culture: slut is a derogatory term used to discribe a woman with a life style that she should not be ashamed of.

Churchianity:  

Actual Christianity: (John 8:11) “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

Proverbs 5:3-5 “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.”

Proverbs 11:22 “As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.”

Since thinking of Church doctrine in these terms, I have been trying to make a point of rebuking Churchianity any time I come across it. My church has a healthy dose of it, as does the churches of many of my readers I'm sure. And even though, at times standing up and confronting Churchianity can be awkward, I have conviction in the truth of its evil, and I don't want to be a Christian who has faith without works.