[TheBibleIsABook]

Hello, everyone.

My name is Yvonne Readings, and my favorite bible verse(s) are Matthew 21:12-17:


12 Then Jesus entered the temple[a] and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 He said to them, “It is written,


‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;
but you are making it a den of robbers.”
14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard[b] the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry
16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,


‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise for yourself’?”
17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.



These are my favorite verses, because I believe it clearly demonstrates that Jesus and his followers were against the commercialism and corrupt nature of organized religion at the time (sounds familiar, doesn't it?).


My personal relationship with God is faith-based, not religion-based, because of this. I believe many churches (not all of them, of course) oftentimes forget the real reason Christianity came to be, and use it as an excuse to get money or power over others.


In my experience, many of the churches I've attended started out just fine, but ended up pushing their fundraisers, offerings, and new books the pastor wrote so much they actually spent less time teaching about the bible and more time trying to get money!


This is a massive travesty, because Christianity was an amazing movement that protested the occupation of the Romans and the prosecution of those who followed the word of God in a non-violent, peaceful manner, and was so powerful it spawned the creation of hundreds of churches and millions of believers all across the nation.


Perhaps I am wrong in saying this, but I think churches, as they are now, are not entirely necessary.


I remember hearing a very interesting turn of phrase from a friend of mine. He also has had negative experiences involving churches in the past, and he said something that I have never forgotten.


"Churches are essentially amphitheaters that host Jesus reruns."


What are your opinions on this very interesting topic? I'd love to hear them, so long as they have good reasoning, reliable sources, and aren't just a slew of insults/"you're going to hell for having a controversial opinion" comments.