Episode 50 - I Want Control

Are churches today only in business to control their members? When leaving the church it is common to hear people complain that there are too many rules, or they felt controlled, or they were hurt by the church. Why are these complains made; and, are they valid?

Thanks for listening!

Join the conversation on Twitter @TeleiosT
Or, email us at teleiostalk@gmail.com

Our Podcast is on YouTube too! link with us here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFUPLcjgQNlJEGph7xbwCIijnYXkta2kU

Check out our book "Six Good Questions" https://a.co/d/bCtOzaj

Please consider supporting our ministry. Donate using the link below:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=N54GRDE34VUDY&no_recurring=0&item_name=Donations+help+us+expand+and+maintain+the+ministry+of+Teleios+Talk.&currency_code=CAD

Transcript

I Want Control

Introduction

Today, we're talking about the perception society has of the church's control over its members. Often the way Christianity is described is being very cultic in nature, with hierarchical structures capable of affecting its members financial, political, and familial ties; all of which make it impossible for Christians to act freely or even think in ways which are not sanctioned by church leadership.  Is there any truth to this claim, and how is this perception skewed to color Christianity as just another cultic religion?

In a podcast I listened to recently, a man was talking about his son who had rejected Christianity in favor of an Atheistic/Humanist worldview. Among the reasons he gave for this decision, the son mentioned the historic control which the church has exerted over its membership and how he saw the modern church's control over its members as being equally damaging. Historically, it is easy to look at the pre-reformational Church and see how these accusations are not only valid but damaging in their context. 

So is that example still valid, and have the changes in the church over the past 500 years been more constructive or destructive?

Is the church all about controlling people?

If we are going to talk about the church being in control of the membership and attendees, we should first discuss who is in control of the church. 

In his Systematic Theology textbook, 19th century author/theologian, Augustus Hopkins Strong says, “Christ gave no such supreme authority to Peter. Matthew 16:18-19 simply refers to the personal position of Peter as the first confessor of Christ and preacher of His name to Jews and Gentiles. Hence other apostles also constituted the foundation (Ephesians 2:20; Revelation 21:14). On one occasion, the counsel of James was regarded as of equal weight with that of Peter (Acts 15:7-30), while on another occasion Peter was rebuked by Paul (Galatians 2:11), and Peter calls himself only a fellow elder (1 Peter 5:1).”He continues by saying, “Protestants err in denying the reference in Matthew 16:28 to Peter; Christ recognizes Peter’s personality in the founding of His kingdom. But Romanists equally err in ignoring Peter's confession as constituting him the “rock.””

Historically, the pope has been seen as the successor to Peter, and as such, the Catholic Church has bestowed on him supreme power and jurisdiction over the whole universal church and all its members. In this way, all matters of faith and morality, discipline and church government are in his purview of control. This is a matter of the Catholic church's doctrinal teaching. But the church has struggled to keep and maintain this control in a way that mimics the life of Christ. Late in the 3rd century the church of Rome found itself with increasing power after Christianity became the official religion of the empire. 

Then after the fall of the empire the church's role changed from a strictly religious institution to a political source of authority. It was in this time that the church saw itself as able to direct the church beyond its papal states. 

By the 8th century the authority of the church was challenged when the eastern and western empires split. All this changed again when Charlemagne became emperor and the pope was given the sole authority to crown all heads of state in western Europe.

But this power was not to remain, and as the Middle Ages descended onto the western world; the Crusades and Investiture Controversy signaled the end of the church's control over its people and all the people of Europe. Monarchs started to challenge the church's power looking to lead their people outside the oversight of the popes. Then a challenge came that would break the stronghold when Anabaptists, Lutherans, and later Calvinists, backed by local monarchs and the courts,attempted to reform the Catholic church. Good or bad, the golden age of Papal Supremacy was over.

When we look at this historical overview of church history, it is easy to understand how the claim levied against the church – that it exerts control over its membership – has been developed. When the church is allowed to determine the steps of anyone's day to day life it is hard to see how that person could claim any type of freedom, short of quiet and personal thought.

In his interview with former scientologist Aaron Smith-Levin, Jordan Petersen discusses the control this cultic structure exerts on its members. In his own experience, the teachings of Scientology led to his family's complete separation from parents, grandparents, friends, education, and employment at the moment that Aaron and his wife chose to leave Scientology.
[https://youtu.be/P3SnxVoO2Jw?si=ffnTlHN3BNkBDPWf]

We can see how the type of control experienced by Aaron Smith-Levinmimics historical Christianity. When a church acts in this manner it is often referred to as a high-control church. These churches are characterized as being abusive and manipulative, as well as taking advantage of its members’ desire for connection with God.

The head of the church is Christ; He is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. How we choose to dress when attending church is a question of who we are trying to please. Is it the group, in order to avoid negative comments, or are we trying to honor God? Is your choice in movies and music based on what members of the church and its leaders allow; or are we worshiping God by the way we feed our souls? 

There are times when we may hear references to those outside the church as “them,” as if becoming an “us” means one must be acceptable to the church. But is that a Biblical idea? I don’t believe that the view held by the religious majority toward the Samaritans, Gentiles, or other sinners during Jesus time on earth was congruent with His own. And how does the church respond to those who are questioning their faith or engaged in complex thinking? Are they shut down, dismissed, or silenced? Jesus looked at the hearts of the doubters and drew them in, to feed them with everlasting water so that they would not thirst. 

Are we losing our members, like the young man in the interview, because our sermons focus on fear, guilt, and sin, rather than love; and is it because we don't like those topics, or is it because the church has become too woke when addressing hard topics such as these? We must remember that our Lord and Savior was killed because he went against popular teaching, religious thought, and the perversion of Man; not to be offensive, but to divide the wheat from the chaff, to show us the truth and provide an exit from the destruction our hearts desire.

Is Christianity necessarily political or have we lost our way?

One reason we hear this complaint about the church is because our society puts pressure on everyone to stay current. It isn't hard to see the church entered into politics; supporting or condemning certain views in order to draw parallels with historic Christianity and modern sensibilities. The church in the United States is guilty of driving the political machine and Christians there are deeply divided along lines of morality and ethics.

Churches in Canada tend to be less vocal but this approach has allowed our government the overreach to dictate when we are allowed to be open and threaten our charitable status. We operate in a dangerously socialistic regime, twisting our speech and freedoms, limiting our ministries and evangelism through threats of fines, criminal charges, and jail time. First, we were told we had to be politically correct, then we were told to become progressive, and now there is the woke agenda nonsense trying to cancel everything and legalize unspeakable horror.

But it seems the church in Canada is blind to its own destruction. In October of 2023, Pierre Gilbert, Associate Professor Emeritus at Canadian Mennonite University, writing for the Mennonite Brethren Herald remarked, “A church that is woke is a church that is in full retreat from Christian orthodoxy, has abdicated its prophetic mandate, and has tragically ceased to be a voice for life, reason, and hope.” [https://mbherald.com/is-your-church-going-woke/]

If you know anything about the Canadian Mennonite University, you know that his comments very likely could cost him his job; but the statement hits the nail right on the head.

Jim Caviezel, when being interviewed by Jordan Peterson regarding his role as Tim Ballard in the movie Sound of Freedom, made a point which I feel fits here very well. He said, “People want to see Jesus only as being happy.” [https://youtu.be/rTBGNEliczc?si=cBi66uguL3arKnlf]

But, when the only Jesus we portray is a happy Jesus, we fall into a self-perpetuating bondage of worshiping a Jesus which is counterfeit and a Jesus we clearly do not understand .Christ was not one dimensional; yes, there were periods of joy in His life, but He also experienced sadness, pain, anger, and pity. I think, if we take the idea of a ceaselessly happy Jesus and apply it to the church – and how the church is accused of being controlling of his members – we'll find a church which is selling a counterfeit god dressed up as Jesus, we find a church that tickles our ears with a happy Jesus narrative; and if you keep pushing beyond this interpretation, you are obligated to enforce a certain amount of control on your members in order to keep them from discovering the Biblical Jesus.

The high-control church is a suppressor of truth, stopping church members from thinking about Jesus – and experiencing Jesus – as something more than that false Jesus we are being told to believe in.

A culturally happy Jesus, the woke Jesus, is “dude Jesus” with His plastic grin, hemp shirt, and two thumbs way up, riding in a hippy-van, and looking for a thrill. This is a Jesus we can sell in the classroom and on the street corner because He does not present a threat to anyone. This Jesus will wear a MAGA hat in the morning and defend abortion in the afternoon. He is absolutely political and equally useless.

Are we describing a benchmark of the church's decline? If the God we preach is necessarily useless then our service to Him is purposeless. Our knee-jerk reaction is to motivate church membership, but our motivation is the couched language of hostile control. In Matthew 20:26-28, Jesus says, “whoever wants to become prominent among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Do those in leadership of a controlling church live this way?

Later, in Matthew 23:3-7, Jesus is talking to His disciples and the crowds who followed Him regarding the leaders in the synagogue and He says, “whatever they tell you, do and comply with it all, but do not do as they do; for they say things and do not do them. And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger. And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues, and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people.”

Writing for the Christ Church Cathedral blog, Christopher A. Pappas says, “The decline of trust and confidence is a possible reason why people don't go to church as often as they used to. Some people have been disillusioned by the scandals, abuses, and corruption that have plagued some churches and denominations. Some people also feel that churches are too focused on minor issues, politics, or money, and not enough on the core teachings of their faith.”\[https://www.thecathedral.ca/blog/decline-in-church-attendence-in-the-west]

What does it mean to be free

There are many people who have been hurt by the church, be that leadership or other members. Alan Parr on his podcast The Beat says. “There's two groups here, first would be a negative experience with a church or a church leader. We often term this, or coin this as, Church Hurt, right? ‘Hey I got hurt by a pastor, got hurt by someone, or maybe someone at the church let me down.’ And as a result; you know what, hey, I am done!” “The second group, in this religious Church type of category, would be people in the community. Maybe somebody has hurt you, or maybe they're bigoted, or maybe they are hypocritical. One of the things that people will say (is), ‘Well church people are so hypocritical.’ You're right, they are. That's why they're in church, that's why they need to be in church. What does Jesus say? ‘I did not come to heal those who are healthy but to heal the sick’.”
[https://youtu.be/IwHEmDa761w?si=Rs5dlJX89k1OanTQ]

If the church wants to be involved in evangelism in this postmodern day, it requires a change in lifestyle when it comes to our methods of teaching; both in theory and in practice. Sam Chan, in his book “Evangelism in a Skeptical World” explains what this should look like:

We used to argue the following three points:

• “This is true.
• If it’s true, then you must believe it.
• If you believe it, now you must live it.”

However today our argument should be

• “The Christian life is livable.
• If it’s livable then it's also believable.
• If it's believable, then it's also true.” 

(pg 125, Sam Chan, Evangelism in a Skeptical World )[https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/reasons-why-people-reject-gospel]

I hate to say this – but even though Scripture is perfect, and needs no reinterpretation, or reimagining, - - - -  to meet today's expectations – how we share it, and how we understand the definition of terms, impacts what people hear.

Let’s just get this out of the way, the church comes across as a freedom sinkhole to a lot of people. Our postmodern worldview sees the church as a series of rules and restrictions holding us back from an enjoyable life. This should not come as a surprise to us, we want to be entertained.

In his February 23rd podcast, Becket Cook talked about spiritual dryness and where the church is headed as an entertainment venue, saying, “You know there are churches who (that's all they do is try to) generate consolation. ”They try to bring the rush back to Christianity. “But again, having those kind(s) of pleasurable feelings isn't necessarily what God is doing. At a certain point, He wants us to become more and more like Christ, and to deal with the vices in our hearts; and then (He) (God) says leaders need to resist the temptation to generate consolation. Instead, the task of leaders is to open the people to what God is really doing in the lives of the congregants, and He says we need to be faithful to keep coming to God. So don't give up, just know that God is taking you deeper, He's taking you into a deeper relationship with Him.” 
[https://youtu.be/9SsD7UJsjX0?si=kM3SpuFPvw3U1DLb]

Bible.ca has this to say about worship and the role of worship in the church, “There is an erroneous idea today that the main reason we attend worship is to "get something out of the service", rather than going there to give our worship to God. This is a selfish motive on our part. This is the reason people cannot be satisfied with the worship service when their emphasis is not on the proper object of worship, God.  People want to "do their own thing" in the worship of the church. What the Bible has to say about worship for many people is of little consequence as long as they are happy and feel good.  We must be concerned with what God says on how He is to be worshiped instead of what we might want to offer Him.”
[https://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-3-not-entertainment.htm]

So what does the Bible say, and when it comes to control in the church, who really is in control? Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes."In Galatians 1:10 the question is asked, "Do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Back to the article on Bible.ca, “When people seek an "emotional high" from worship and don't get it, they are disappointed and start blaming the song service, the preacher, etc. The world wants their worship service to be "more entertaining", thus they are failing to worship God in spirit and in truth. Where in the Bible can we go to show that our worship is designed to please the worshiper. The desire to have an experience or an encounter along the lines of mysticism also gives little regard to what God says in the Bible.”
[https://www.bible.ca/interactive/worship-3-not-entertainment.htm]

Outro

In Ephesians 1:18-23 we read, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

It isn't your Pastor who controls the church, the leadership, elders, deacons, the congregants, or even the pope. Christ is in control, and when we are tempted to turn away from the church because of the hurt we have endured from others, are we turning away from God instead? If this is something you struggle with, ask yourself, “What is my motivation?” One day we will stand in subjection to God, will we say, “I stopped believing in You because the church hurt me?” Or, will we have to admit we turned away from God because we allowed our hearts to be hardened?