In the Name of God

When reading the Bible,  a lot of the stories are just that, bible stories, I have seldom thought about how they occur in everyday life.  Do you really experience the story of the tax collector or how Zacchaeus    climbs a ladder to see Jesus?  A lot of the sermons treat the stories as metaphorical.   I was thinking the other day of the pharisees.  The heir-achy of the church.  The learned and holy.  I haven't heard many sermons covering the corruption or delusionment of the governing temple.  You would think that with technology and advanced knowledge that it should not occur in out modern times.

But we have many distortions that I overlook, Later Day Saints, Scientology, Universalism, etc. I always thought it would come from outside the church, through society, and the government.  Not within.  At what point does it consume and take over our basic faith.  At what point do we become self delusional and at what point do we justify everything in the name of God.  

I understand the dynamic in business.  It occurs everyday (so much for my theory on societal advancement).  Profit, greed and ego (power) often overcomes decency.  But it seems like those ingredients are ever-present and are becoming more common in the age of the megachurch.  

Justification in the name of God, discourages evaluation and review.  It labels those who question the proclamation implying a lack of faith.  It is usually followed by a reprimand of unfaithfulness and unchristian like behavior.  There are many warnings in the Bible.  Are we implored to think, evaluate, review, compare, before we leap?

I find it ironic that what is motivating me now is to read the Bible not so much for my faith in Christ, but to research and verify what I'm being taught from the pulpit. That worries me.  It also worries me that more Christians become more suspicious of the established man created church governing institutions.    

What encourages me is that many have not lost their faith, but strengthened as they move away from those established institutions, in the name of God.