To be 'Jesus Yes, Church No' Shows Your Lack of Faith in Christ.

"And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he may hold the primacy." (Col 1:18 DRV)

You CAN NOT be anti-church/ (anti religious institution) and still love Christ. Christianity is belief in Christ and as such belief in Christ is a religion. So unless you just believe that Jesus was a cool dude and said some cool stuff but isn’t the son of god then, you are religious. You may not be pious but you are religious none the less. Religion is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary  as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” How does one say that they love Christ but dislike the Church when it was Jesus himself that created The Church “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt. 16:18 DRV). The same Christ that you profess was the son of god just told you that there is a church and therefore a religion. The religion is that of following Christ, also commonly known as Christianity.”Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. ” (John 14:6 DRV) The ‘Jesus yes, Christianity no’ crowd is absurd within the context of Christ’s mission that was himself. By taking Jesus away from Church one is making there own brand of Jesus to fit the individual. This is creating a false god (see first commandment).

The Idea of ‘Jesus Yes and Church No’ is simply a way that the person can still feel like they are a religious person but they don’t feel like they need to follow any sort of moral code. What they feel is right and what they think is wrong is wrong. Never mind what Christ actually said about that subject because that person is living here and now and obviously knows better then GOD about such things.

The lack of responsibility and lack of acknowledgement in an authority that can govern moral issues is one of the greatest downfalls of the last half of the 20th century, and it continues today. This comes from the idea that no man is in charge of me, and I will make my own rules. This is a self defeating proposition. Because of this you see the raise of co-habitation, lack of meaningful marriages, increase in divorces, acceptance of gay marriage and other ideas that are today permeated as “okay” when in fact they are simply wrong and go against the very core of what the bible, and therefore God himself has to say. So again we come to the question of who knows better, you or God?

There is no Christ without his Church, the Church, guided by and through the Holy Spirit, is the Bride of Christ. It was instituted by Christ, for the followers of Christ. To deny this is to deny a very act of God. For this is not a mere human institution, but a Divine one. For as Christ said to Saul; “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (ACTS 22:7 DRV). Why would Christ say this when Saul was persecuting the Church not Jesus? Jesus was already at the right hand of the Father when he appeared before Saul.

May you come to understand Christ by following Him in everything that He said, not just in what you want to hear. Being a Christian is not an easy thing, it was never meant to be easy. To pick up your crosses and follow him is a hard life to live, but in the end eternal life is better than what awaits us if we choose our own way. “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 2:6-10 DRV).

Blake Quick

Just a Simple Catholic