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"Aren't there many good loving charitable bright and
solid-in-the-word
Christians who are in 501c3's, even in Babylon working in
government service? Are you saying they are rejected by God in some way?"
This is indeed one of
the most difficult problems I face in laying out my case. I do know many good,
kind, thoughtful individuals who are in state-churches...
"Are you saying we should dismiss the
wonderful things God does saving, healing, touching, changing lives even if
they are done in 501c3 incorporated entities?"
I can't deny at all
that God does amazing things for people who call on His name, where ever they
are. I believe God is bigger and greater than our weaknesses or predicaments...
"What about the church for centuries and all the
profound good it has done all the faithful Christians through history who've
graciously convinced millions to believe in Him, and done wonderfully charitable
things for so many? Are you so readily disparaging them?"
This is a terrific
point, because I acknowledge that I personally know of Jesus
through the industrious efforts of those so devoted to Him...
"How come you're the only one who knows all
this? Where is everyone else?"
I very much take this
concern to heart...
"So what of the magnificent things
government and government-sponsored organizations have done? Without them we'd
have no roads, no zoning boundaries, no armies or prisons to protect us from bad
people."
First, what exact
policy or activity are you speaking of? Some things are designed specifically
for government to do, and Scripture tells us to offer respect and even extend
proper tribute to it for those things...
"Looking for the perfect community here with
perfect people as if it were some utopia makes you think you'll make a
paradise here when we should be looking for it in heaven. Isn't that a bit
presumptuous, if altogether impossible?"
In this site I've laid
out a bit of what that perfect community is hey, it's right there in
Scripture...
"In order to be accredited or licensed or
something making a thing legitimate and respected and reputable and subject to
strict accountability, we all must enter into contracts that could easily be
considered compromising our beliefs. But that's just the price of doing
business!"
Sometimes contracts are perfectly
fine things, simply because we are prone to forget the terms of our
agreements...
"What about our present missionary activity?
Here and abroad we must do certain things the government requires for us
to get the gospel to the lost. Again, there are a number of things we must do
as the price for getting the gospel to them."
Price? Didn't Christ
pay the full price? If He wants people to hear and respond to His word...
"What you're saying here is just wrong.
It's simple, what we're doing by being incorporated as a 501c3 is just no big
deal."
I
can't help but think that if it is indeed "no big deal," then why do so many
churches and non-profit ministries insist on keeping it...
"To do what you ask, to get rid of all of
our incorporated obligations, is just too daunting! It is too scary! No one
would join together to do it! What you're asking is just too unreasonable."
And I must then
emphasize that it takes the power of the God of the universe to get us out...
"Aren't the real challenges of the church
things like New Age ideas, marketing strategies that water down the gospel, the
postmodern Emergent threat, encroaching secularism things like that? Shouldn't we be going after them?"
I have seen book after
book after book (evangelical Christians like to read books) that say "Here's
what it's really
all about," and those things are real concerns...
"You have a page of straw-man Jesuses. Isn't
this quite presumptuous? By saying who he isn't, you are still saying a
lot about who you think He is!"
Good point, the
observation that ruling out some characteristics of a thing goes a long way to
defining the thing. My purpose is merely to bring up many of the kinds of
Jesuses...
"How can you be so sure Protestant churches
are as 'Catholicized' as you say they are? I think you'd get a challenge from
them; many are pretty averse to the Catholic Church."
A lot of their
animosity stems from their insecurity about the association they still have with
Catholicism...
"What do you have against church? You
seem to speak disdainfully of it as a 'God club.' Why can't we just work hard at
doing Christ's work where we are as we are? Seems like it can be very good!"
I've never said doing
Christ's work was a bad thing wherever it is done.
"Throughout history
there have been dozens of attempts to be 'pure' and 'separate' from
the World. There were the Pietists and the Waldensians and the
Albigensians and the Mennonites and the Anabaptists and the Plymouth
Brethren so many failed 'movements' to do exactly what you're
suggesting. Isn't the extremist Christian doomed to meaningless
marginalization?"
So? Really, so what? I'm
sure this contention is raised to somehow discredit the idea that we
should really be setting ourselves apart for God because past
attempts...
"When you talk about not paying taxes, you sound
like a crazy law-breaking tax protester. That is not becoming of a Christian.
You should do as the Bible says and 'avoid any appearance of impropriety.'"
The tax issue is
indeed one of the more troubling things anyone can truly wrap their mind
around...
"You assert that we should be unassociated with any
incorporated body. But is it nearly impossible to avoid being in the employment
of one and by default signed on with a W-4 contract."
I agree! It is nearly
impossible! This is just a clear evidence of how wide is the road to destruction
and how many people are on it...
"If we are completely
reasonable, we must accept that we all sin sometimes, so the law is a good thing
to constrain us even if it does it some of the time or in small ways like it
does with 501c3 contracts. Really, no one is morally perfect."
I must
say, if I do so boldly, that while this may sound like the most reasonable
endorsement of an avowed World association by a Christian...
"Can't
you give some credit to some people who are out there living out the
great things of God, are happy, are loving Him and others? Are you
so cynical you don't see them?"
Oh no! I very much know there are
followers of Christ who are...
"You
don't take into consideration this... something very meaningful that
you're not really seeing..." Please finish!
Do let me know! Fill in the ellipses there! I'm happy to hear any
fact, principle, anecdote, condition, situation...
"Through all this you sound like such a
know-it-all. People don't like that."
Quite frankly, this
objection is disingenuous because any statement is some claim to know something,
including the criticism of it. How then is the speaker exempt from
"know-it-all-ness"?...
***
(I am in the process of
adding a few more of these objections to this page. Again, if you have
come across this site and you have an issue with what is said here, I
humbly invite you to email me. Thank you.)
Scripture
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The Grafted Church
A Thumbnail Sketch
of the Premise of This Website
1. Each and every
individual is someone who does or has done horrible things. Each
person was made to reflect the beauty and glory of God, to do
wonderful things in this world, but each person has messed that
up and as such goes around wrecking his or her life and the
lives of others. In other words, everyone is a sinner.
2. The only way not to be a sinner anymore is to humbly put
one's soul in the hands of Jesus Christ, who is God come in the
flesh and who offered His life as the substitute for our
punishment because of our sin. He offers to "buy us back" with
His blood, or redeem us from our sinfulness, and we may
choose accept His generous gift of life.
(These first two parts of the
premise are standard features of the message of Christ.
Responses for someone who is not so familiar with them are
offered in the
Frequently Asked Questions page of this
site. The following highlighted parts of the premise are aspects
that many Christians question.)
3. Because many would not come
to Him to find truth, grace, joy, and peace in His Kingdom, God
sent the preeminent evildoer Cain out to build a city and
prosecute their sinful conduct. The result is the World System,
today administered by the United States Government, the Roman
Catholic Church, and the Federal Reserve. All of these
institutions collaborate to manage the sin of those who ask them
to do so, and they do this by signing any of a number of
contracts that signify such a request. (At any time, Jesus
would still extend complete forgiveness of that sin and full
provision of joy and peace for those who wish to make Him their
Lord instead.)
4. Whenever an individual
assumes undue W-4 tax liability or his organization (either
business or church) incorporates, he presumes non-resident alien
status or accepts government employment, and as such he puts
himself in the service of the Legacy of Cain. He becomes
beholden to the World and with it he endures a constant fearful
existence, the agony of violent interactions with others, and
the oppressive drudgery of incessantly defending himself from it
all. This arrangement is perfectly reasonable for the one who
chooses not to follow Christ. For those who name His Name,
however, Christ asks for undivided commitment, and in return
they receive all His benefits and provisions, chiefly that of
being loved and having the capacity to authentically and
tangibly love others.
5. The entirety of Scripture
confirms that there is a profound dichotomy between those living
in the Kingdom by love and those trudging through the World in
fear. Again, Jesus invites every single individual to live
bountifully with Him in all He has to offer. A critical
issue is that many not only brashly refuse His offer, but
they pretend to be His and set up grand elaborate
deceptions, some of the most insidious of which involve
501c3 incorporations and all the machinations included therein.
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This page was originally posted by David Beck at
yourownjesus.net on January 4,
2007
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