Beresford Job's Biblical Church - 7

As we've seen, Job has argued that the church practices which derive ultimately from the early "fathers" are not only "un-biblical, they are actually anti-biblical." (95) Their foundational error was imposing top-down, government style leadership, "with the Bishop presiding as the big chief at the top of the pecking order." (95) Churches, which had heretofore been independent organisms, now became assimilated to "a multi-national organization". (95) This led to havoc with various doctrines, including teaching about baptism, and the very practice of weekly meetings was totally transformed. (96)

Job now anticipates a certain popular but lame defense against all this: but we're Protestant - we base our teachings and practices on the Bible.

He replies: although Catholics may be "more deeply immersed" in the anti-biblical practices he's been discussing, Protestants are in just a little less deeply. (96-8) Despite our scripture-only rhetoric, and our smug self-image as the biblically-based wing of Christianity, in light of the comparison of biblical church practices and ours, "it becomes unnervingly clear just how inconsistent we have acually been." (101) Job believes in the Reformation, but things its work of returning Christians to the Bible needs to be pushed forward, in the arena of church practice. (101)

If you find that you're not doing what the Master wants, it is pointless to console youself by reflecting that other of his servants are doing things he likes a teeny bit less than the things you're doing! And if you accept the premise that the New Testament best reveals God's will, then to obey God is to obey it. And it simply can't be obeyed through a normal, institutional-church-going lifestyle - the practices are logically incompatible. (99)

Job recaps a list of anti-biblical practices which most Christians take for granted as normal.

• priesthood, or any clergy/laity divide - or any hierarchical, position-based leadership structure
• set liturgy, to be follow in meetings
• meetings as services, led from the front
• infant baptism
• (lengthy) pre-baptismal instruction
• "denominationalism" - or devotion to particular leaders or meeting-styles
• bread and wine communion services
• formal church membership
• special religious buildings (100)

At this point, one may be concerned that Job is a mean, finger-pointing legalist, who enjoys condemning his brethren. To the contrary, I have never observed anything remotely resembling this in him. And to make clear that he's not pointy that bony finger of condemnation, he says,

I do not say that the wrong practices themselves are necessarily sinful, or that to observe them out of genuine ignorance is either, but once we do become aware of the truth then we are duty bound to act. (102)

Not acting, once the knowledge is in place, is, sad to say, hypocrisy; it is preferring human traditions to the will of God, whilst publicly claiming to be devoted to the will of God. And this is like the hypocrisy Jesus condemned in his fellow Jews, who overrode the clear commands of Moses for the sake of their own traditions. (102) To point this out is not mean or self-righteous; when one employee suddenly gets clear on what precisely the Boss wants, he naturally tells his fellow employees, and if they won't listen, he'll obey anyway.

Next time: Objections and Replies.