Josiah Meyer

Okay, that's it - I'm officially annoyed at "free-webs." I wrote a very nice post, saved a draft, then went and did other things on the site and when I came back, *poof* no more draft. Just like that. So much work - and I never have time to post these days as it is!!

*sight*

Okay, well here was the jist of my post:

The main reason I haven't been posting much lately is not that I haven't had enough to write about, but that I've had too much. I have been listening to a lot of podcasts and such which basically are calling for us to completely throw out the "institutional church" for the "real church" - which is something much simpler, and supposedly closer to the new testament church.

In part, I see the point - and those who have read my blog no-doubt are thinking "I thought that's where you stand, Josiah!" Yes, I do believe that religion will never save us (that is why Jesus came - to save us from our relgious attempts to make ourselves holy!!) and Christianity is all about relationships. I also have a lot of questions about how we do church: at the same time, though, I am very willing to work with the structures that we have, to make them better. I am wrestling with the opinions of the voices that I hear which seem to want to just want to throw everything out, and start again with a blank slate.

This leads me to my central question, to which I don't really have an answer: is the first-century church the golden age of Christianity, or the stone ages? True, there was amazing growth - but there were also amazing problems, and weaknesses. Two thousand years of history has brought staleness, for sure, and we need to find ways of breathing new life and vision into it - but how much can we throw away, without significant loss? In the same way that I want to regain the joy and innocence of childhood (although I don't want to loose my maturity, to actually become a child again), I think the early church needs to be a continual ideal for us, but not necessarily something which we aim for on all counts.

This leads me to the crux of this post: I NEED YOUR HELP! As I said before, I have not been thinking about too little, but too much. All the issues of preaching, theology, church buildings, etc., are all "log-jammed" in my brain, and I cannot decide which to write about first, or how to go about it. I am also just plain confused on these issues, and I feel a certain urgency to find answers, because I am about to sell my house in order to go to seminary to actually become part of that "institutional machine" which some people want to throw out!

This is where you come in.

I have started a new funciton on my site called a forum. This is where you guys can post your opinions, respond to each other, and I can respond to you for a change!

Please help - go over there and write what you think about these issues, or start new threads if you want. I really need to know what you people think, so that I can better sort through these issues for myself!

Thank you so much, and God bless you all!!