Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
When the Lord says in Revelation, "Come out of her, my people," speaking of coming out of Babylon the Great Harlot, assuming Babylon represents a corrupt religious system, what do you think he is talking about?
Is he talking about leaving the church one is in, or is he telling churches to stop being tethered to evil systems? I think in many cases it must be the latter.
I went to a wedding this weekend in a Catholic church in Arlington, TX. It was a simple non-ornate parish and the presence of the Lord was there. The word of God was pure and clear. I saw no religious corruption.
Now, if the Lord is calling these people to leave Babylon, what is he telling them to do? Abandon their church and the Christians they have relationships with? I don't think so. That's not building, it's tearing down. I think He's calling them to cut ties with evil systems.
Same with LRC churches, I would think.
|
I wonder if it is a call to separate from the secular/political realm. While not entirely linked in the imagery, we have a political system represented by the beast, and something that seems to be sort of a melting pot called Babylon the Great. We can point to certain kinds of corruption in the churches from day one. But at some level, one of the most corrupting things was the acceptance by some of the State's offer of being "the religion." Rather than discussing the gnostic issue, they simply made it illegal. And to this day there has been a marriage of church and state within so many places. Even in America.
I believe that the call is not to come out of a church. But for the church to come out of its unholy alliances. To return to its position as the only true Christian Nation. I'm not saying that things beyond the political are not embedded in that call to "come out of her." But just like those 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3, no one was called to "leave the church," but to overcome corruption. Even "that woman, Jezebel" was not a cause to leave the church.
In other words, it is not about people coming out of the church, but the church coming out of unholy alliances. Out of places of corruption.
And in the context of this thread, I sense that looking to the most vague writing in the NT to declare who/what/where to leave/come out of is sort of setting a different kind of sectarian mindset in place.
I appreciate your comment about the RCC wedding. There may be much to say about some kinds of corruption that they can overcome. But to read "Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots" as being the RCC and the Protestant groups that split out from it, while not entirely implausible, seems to be a stretch with a purpose. And that purpose is to somehow taint all the others without tainting your own group that is really just one more of the Protestant "harlot" groups (accepting their reading).
I would more nearly call the Moral Majority, or their successor "Christian right" groups as being the ones getting "into bed" with the world/government. The church needs to separate from those. I'm sure that there are other things.