Jesse Phillips Blog

Hey, it’s me, the evil Alter Ego again. I know I took a bit of a break, but that was just so that I could rekindle my loathing of scripture. But I’m back now, and more feisty than ever. The verse that I want to talk about today is Matthew 16:18 when Jesus says:

“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

Now before you get all religious and churchy on me and ramble on and on about how wonderful your church is, let me provide a little dose of reality. The church is the one of the biggest failures in the world. If your Jesus really knew what was going on inside the four walls of the average church, he would probably be disgusted.

Do you think he would really accept the fact that Christians are hypocrites? Do you think he’d be happy to learn that churches are chock full of people who only care about looking good to others on Sunday, while they drive by homeless people on the streets on their way to their fancy houses and problem free lives? In the real world people have issues. Not everything is black and white. You think a mother wants to commit abortion? Of course not. If she could have her own little perfect world that Christians enjoy then of course she could choose to have a baby. But I hate to break it to you that in the real world bills have the be paid and choices have to be made. If Jesus really does have the compassion you say he has, then logically he’d understand people’s circumstances, right? But if the church Jesus said he would build included the types of self-righteous Pharisees that fill churches today, then I don’t think he would have been so enthusiastic about the church.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering how I can doubt the success of the church. Look at all the churches in the world. God is building his church. No, actually, God’s not building his church. Men are building things that they call churches. They are constructing buildings that people gather in to talk about how much better than the rest of the world they are. You can build a nice building, but if you really cared about anyone other than yourself you would take that money and give it to the poor. Buildings are useless. They just sit there and collect people’s tithes. Why would Jesus want to build a building? Didn’t he toss some tables and kick people out for selling stuff in church once? Jesus came to break down religious institutions, not create more.

If you Christians would get your act together you’d break down all  your denominations and solve real problems. Instead of condemning sin and fake problems, you’d focus on true solutions to genuine needs of poverty and social justice. Instead of trying to legislate morality, you could free people to live how they want and overcome their issues the way they want. Instead of trying to scare people with your conformist doctrine by taking about hell all the time, you could free them to be who they are and to live the lifestyles they were made to live.

The evidence is right in front of you. Why do you think churches are full of older people, while the young folks are turning away in droves? You want to reach them, right? Quit talking about your religion that they can’t relate to and start talking about real issues. It’s hilarious to see pastors ranting on and one about dusty books and sound doctrine, and other terms that people could care less about. Then, after talking about nothing but theology week after week, they wonder why their kids are not interested. Hello, maybe it’s because you and your church are not interesting. The world does a way better job attracting people than the church ever has. Yet how many years have to go by before people in the church realize that what they’re building couldn’t have been what Jesus had in mind.

If Jesus was really building today’s church, why does it have so many problems? I think if he saw the church today, he’d probably tear it down.

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Now that my evil Alter Ego is done with his rant, let me share with you my perspective on the church, in all her glory and with all her issues:

I have seen a mystery,
The hopes of prayer and prophecy,
And rising from all peoples see, she comes.
Rescued, ransomed, lifted up,
Crowned with mercy, clothed in hope,
The object of all heaven’s love, she comes.

It is the church,
The hope of all the world,
And here I fix my heart and hand,
I cannot turn away!
It is the church!
The passion of God’s Son,
The goal of history, come.
You’ll see we’ve nearly reached the day.

And she will be all glorious;
Fitting for Him whose bride she is.
In that day, in that day (repeat)

Words by Stuart Townsend.