The Church that Never Was

It seems that Mark Sandlin has forced himself to accept that foolish myth of a "golden era." He also seems to be deluding himself about the nature of organized religion.

Early on in his piece, "I Don't Want to Go Back to Church and Why I Will," he freely and clearly states a number of reasons he is quite happy without Church.

"I've been away from church for two months now and I have to say, I am more at peace than I ever have been. My faith is stronger than it ever has been. My family life is healthier than it ever has been. My desire to seek out God and follow the teachings of Jesus is stronger than it ever has been.
I do not want to go back to Church because life outside of Church is better."

So why go back? Apparently he believes that the church used to be quite different and can be again. Yes, I'm sure Christianity and the various sect/denominations have changed somewhat. Everything changes. That does not mean the underlying issues he finds most disturbing are all that different. He particularly talks about how hypocritical church has become. Sorry Mr. Sandlin but Christianity has always been rather hypocritical.

He gets a bit more detailed towards the end.

"The Church has developed a highly sophisticated system which allows it to both quote the Bible and believe whatever it wants without regard to the verses. That's not a particularly tremendous shocker, right?
Here's the thing though, this way of operating has become so indoctrinated into the system, so artfully woven in and out of the dogma, governing structures and informal peer-approval networks that from within the system it is nearly impossible for most people to see it has hypocritical. It is the air we breathe, the support system which gives us meaning, the stuff of church life. It's how you fit in."

I don't think he fully appreciates the whole reason scripture was developed. Christianity moved from an oral tradition to a scripture based one for the sake of authority and conformity. But this partially hides how diverse and contradictory many of the oral threads were and continued to be. Scripture really is a mish-mash of myth, legend, and folklore for the purpose of propaganda. It was always meant to serve those who gathered and promoted it. By its nature Christian scripture, like most scripture, is prone to contradicion and hypocrisy.

This is all before getting to the central figure of Christ. There are no eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life. The earliest written records related to the Christ narrative is scripture. If you go by scripture Christ is not consistent and he is not the ideal leader that so many assume him to be. Christ does behave in contradictory and hypocritical ways. If he is the gold standard for the faithful, how can the church not be laced with hypocrisy.

If anyone finds life better outside church then they should not bother going back. After all, what kind of petty asshole would God have to be to not want his children to be happy? Unless, Sandlin subscribes to a more abstract version of God in which case there is even less reason to be concerned. The perfect all powerful force simply would not be separable from anything. So Sandlin does no need to think about it. Whatever he chooses would have to be God's doing.