Agreed. I guess my favorite Christian saying these days is this:
It's RELATIONSHIP, not RELIGION.
Part of our human nature has in the past gravitated towards institutional-ism and religion, which gave rise to ever fracturing denominations. (Also, the unfortunate but understandable limitations in our theological understanding, as different denominations arose from emphasizing this aspect or that aspect of what is a theological framework with gaps.)
God, in his infinite grace, has raised humanity higher and higher over the past 2000 years, and we now stand in a place (spiritually) where we can pursue the relationship with God and Christ over and above institutions or churches or denominations and 'religion'.
(You'll notice that the steady development and reform of the Christian presence on Earth has constantly been directed towards establishing greater freedom from institutional authority and more and more towards direct personal relationship with Christ and the Father.)
Indeed, there are many theological issues to be yet resolved for Christianity, butt the purpose of theology is to open the way to an ever growing relationship with Christ, NOT to build and establish rigid structures that end up preventing a relationship with Christ.
Agreed. I guess my favorite Christian saying these days is this:
It's RELATIONSHIP, not RELIGION.
Part of our human nature has in the past gravitated towards institutional-ism and religion, which gave rise to ever fracturing denominations. (Also, the unfortunate but understandable limitations in our theological understanding, as different denominations arose from emphasizing this aspect or that aspect of what is a theological framework with gaps.)
God, in his infinite grace, has raised humanity higher and higher over the past 2000 years, and we now stand in a place (spiritually) where we can pursue the relationship with God and Christ over and above institutions or churches or denominations and 'religion'.
(You'll notice that the steady development and reform of the Christian presence on Earth has constantly been directed towards establishing greater freedom from institutional authority and more and more towards direct personal relationship with Christ and the Father.)
Indeed, there are many theological issues to be yet resolved for Christianity, butt the purpose of theology is to open the way to an ever growing relationship with Christ, NOT to build and establish rigid structures that end up preventing a relationship with Christ.