From my experience of church life in London and Birmingham, spread over 40 years across several denominations, there is as much conflict within churches as there is in the world.
I have seen many people of a nervous, sensitive disposition become overwhelmed by cliques, an inner core of Christians lording it over others as if the laity were of a lower status.
The ‘us’ and ‘them’ syndrome, created by a hierarchical status structure that is totally contrary to the personal example given by Christ, inevitably leads to one form of alienation or another.
I have seen a hemorrhaging of life in churches, like a dissipation of self worth, a constant falling away of people too broken within themselves to have a meaningful relationship with egos that are not.
Wherever the Bible goes it brings with it a spirit that is contrary to Christ, because the Bible contains words and ideas spoken by sinners that have not been inspired by him. It is this spirit that infects the life of every church that feeds on these contrary ideas as truth.
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