On The Other Hand

19 Dec, 2007

Love the Church, Hate Her Papers

Posted by: Travis In: Community

Wow. Codepoke came out early this morning with both guns blazing:

I realize there will be some argument against my definition of paper as the enemy, but I think it’s pretty close. The real enemy of the church is the flesh of each of her members. I attack paper because it’s our generation’s go-to defense for our flesh. Lurking behind every piece of paper you’ll find a sin waiting to happen. Whether it’s the church budget allowing greed, the bylaws enabling sloth, the calendar supporting procrastination, or the membership roll feeding pride; red tape is always the first defense of the bureaucrat and the cheapest ammunition to fire at messengers of the Spirit.

Here is my proposal.

Ignore all paper in the church.

Statement of Faith? Burn it. Bylaws? Owe all men nothing but love; against such there is no law. Denominational missives? Chaff. Membership rolls? Printed lies.

I already felt like God was moving me in this direction. It’s encouraging to see other Godly men moving the same way.

4 Responses to "Love the Church, Hate Her Papers"

1 | Josh

December 20th, 2007 at 3:18 pm

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Because that’s exactly what Jesus asked us to do!

“Go forth and create statements of faith, membership rules and bylaws. For I come not only to save the world, but to create an organization.” ~2 Hezekiah 3:58

2 | Travis

December 20th, 2007 at 4:44 pm

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Hmm, good point. Now that I think about it some more, doesn’t 2 Corinthians say something about the life-giving nature of “the letter” and its relation to the New Covenant? ;)

3 | vic

December 22nd, 2007 at 12:30 am

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Just what is the life giving nature of “the letter”.

Paul also said “Led by the Spirit, If we have not the Spirit we are none of His.

Vic

4 | Travis

December 25th, 2007 at 12:25 am

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Exactly, Vic—that was intended as irony. The “life-giving nature of ‘the letter’” is that it has none. :)

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