I recently wrote an article discussing “Secret Sin”, and got a number of responses. The latest one was a criticism of the church as an institution using the verses on the church needing to take a plank out of it’s eye before condemning individuals and their secret sins (Matt. 7:5). Below is my reply which can be generalized to many who group church-based sinners together and point fingers at them
Thanks for the reply. Respectfully, you refer to the church as a person. The church is made up of millions of people and just as many differing dogmas. Over that many people and beliefs there will always be those one can point to as doing horrible things. That includes people, pastors and centralized authorities. We are all sinners and all fall short (Rom. 3:23). That does not give man the authority to turn away from the institution of a Biblical Christian church any more than we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
It’s easy to criticize the church by those who are looking for excuses to leave it and/or have been harmed by those within it. The fact remains that our opinions on what is good or bad are irrelevant when compared to what the Lord calls us to do. Clearly the Bible calls us into fellowship with others (Heb. 10:25) meeting and worshiping together. We are to hold each other accountable and lift each other up. Church is Scriptural (Acts 14:23, Col.1:18) and that is all that needs to be said.
