The Decentralization of The CHRISTIAN Church is nothing new: Canadians’ faith in God is ‘decoupling’ from their attachment to religion – April 7, 2023,
One of the greatest features of Christianity is its decentralization of it. The bible talks about how people were initially “labeled” as Christians; even the initial labels denoted the decentralized nature of the Christian faith. One of the reasons Christ the MAN is such a great SECULAR figure is what he stood for, which was PEACE and harmony amongst humanity.
Christ by dying for our sins showed how evil WE all are, Christ’s life revolved around helping and healing the sick, Christ even went as far as to ASK sick people if the wanted to be healed, many Christian churches often pick and choose what parts of Christ’s life they want their church to revolve around. A lot of Christian churches are held on Sunday, while the rare few are held on Saturday, even if one topic is open to debate amongst Christians.
Christ points out in the bible how many Jews were breaking the Sabbath, but Christ did not condemn them to hell for doing it, which some could interpret as the Ten Commandments or the Fourth Commandment no longer be necessary. This is an example of the DECENTRALIZED nature of the Christian faith and in my opinion, it’s the beautiful thing about Christianity.
The problem with most religions is that they have a few representatives that have COMPLETE control over the narrative of their religion. Theocratic Governments in my opinion are the worst types of governments on the planet. Unless you’re the beneficiary of a Theocratic government, then you’re a slave to it.
The only time I consider a theocratic government justifiable is when the people can VOLUNTEER not to leave or not be a part of the MAJORITY rule government. Humans instinctively gravitate to freedom, liberty, and the possibility of PRIVATE ownership.
The Christian church in many instances, tends to align with a certain political view; in Canada, some churches are Left Wing Christian Churches, and in other instances, Christian churches are Right Wing churches; you’ll often notice politicians will go to a church in which the LEADER of the church is a FOLLOWER of the politician in question.
Now, if you’re an insider or outsider observer who disagrees with the pastor’s politics, you might say to yourself, “I don’t want nothing to do with Christianity, period,” but I have to push back and point out that this is what makes Christanty so beautiful, you have the CHOICE not to go to church be a Christian. Catholics are considered Christians. However, the Catholic BRAND of Christianity involves thought leaders, and I like to point out that this is one of the reasons why ECONOMICALLY Germanic-derived nations tend to do better than Latin Derived nations.
Most Latin languages are Catholics, obviously dating back to the Roman Empire; although the Roman Empire is reasonable for a lot of the Law and Order that exists in Europe today, English speakers, for example broke away from Catholic control, and by doing this, allowed England to expand with FREER thought than Latin countries.
It’s not a coincidence that Capitalism derived from Mercantilism is tried in the ENGLISH speaking United States first. People who don’t understand free market capitalism have a hard time comprehending how capitalism HURTS the power structure. Most people prefer a socialist system so that the people in charge can hold onto power indefinitely, capitalism rewards ovation and the best ideas, which may contradict what the church or the government in power is promoting, I bring this up because catholicism is one of the main reasons why Latin countries often lag behind, Protestant countries economically.
Oddly enough, Christianity under the control of the church has also allowed Athestic countries like China to rise to power. Morality is often defined by certain members of the church, and if, let’s say, a Pastor or Preist believes in Labor Unions because labor unions claim to be helping the Poor by exploiting the rich, well, then a totalitarian country like China will enact a law that makes Chinese Communist Party the only labor union allowed to operate in China.
What this means is that instead of labor unions arguing with employers, the Chinese Communist Party does what it thinks is best for it to hold onto power, which for them currently means NO DISRUPTIONS allowed in the workplace. This, ofcourse makes China a more attractive place to do business for capitalists, while in countries like Canada, the church, depending on its politics might SUPPORT labor disruptions.
I bring this up because both employer and employee might attend the same Christian church, but because the employee outnumbers, the employer, the leader of a church might feel compelled to pick a side or choose a political position. This ONE topic alone could lead to individuals ‘decoupling’ from their attachment to religion.
The Catholic church has taken a lot of POLITICAL positions that all Catholics must consider; now, what do I do, if I disagree with the political positions of the leaders of the catholic church? Is Western society about FREEDOM of choice? Maybe I love Jesus, but I don’t support the positions of the church, am I at liberty to call myself a Christian and not identify with any religion? Ofcourse I can.
I guess the argument for people who opt not to join any religious group is, well, who is your leader? where is your community? My answer is didn’t Jesus die alone? Did people not stand there and watch while Jesus was tortured? During the life of Jesus, he broke free from CULTURAL norms of the then-established Jewish community, but in the end his life was vindicated, as the supposedly holier-than-thou establishment used the force of GOVERNMENT to have our lord and savior crucified.
It should be noted that the Jewish establishment of that era could have killed Jesus anytime they wanted to, infact there are instances in the bible where it talks about Jews wanting to kill Jesus, but what those specific Jews in that era didn’t want to do was make Christ a martyr, so instead, they created a democratic process, which forced the hand of the Roman Government to do their dirty work.
I bring this up because I’m of the belief that each individual, based on Christ’s teachings, should want to VOLUNTEER their lives to the lord; in my opinion, a person should seek knowledge for themselves so they can have their own individual relationship with Jesus Christ as opposed to having a religious leader create a narrative for them.
The beauty of living in modern times is the FREEDOM to read; in China, I have friends who, once they read the BIBLE, were converted, which is why in China, the Chinese Communist Party seeks to rewrite the bible, to make sure all Chinese people are subservient to the Chinese Communist Party. In Canada, we’re born into freedoms others don’t enjoy, most people are disinterested in finding out where these CONCEPTS of freedom come from.
But once you comprehend the true power of Jesus, chances are you’ll at the very least love the story.
Canadians’ faith in God is ‘decoupling’ from their attachment to religion | NationalPost.com
Interesting times ahead!