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From: root@topaz.ARPA (Root)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Peter and churches
Message-ID: <1131@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 5-Apr-85 19:09:56 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.1131
Posted: Fri Apr  5 19:09:56 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Apr-85 06:01:22 EST
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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> he thought Peter had done to deny Christ. His reply was that Peter went
> and set up a church, and that there was nothing that could deny Christ's
> teachings more than setting up a church.

This depends upon what you mean by a church.  If you mean an organization
that is into exercizing power over people, and excluding people they don't
like, then he is right.  This is exactly the kind of organization that
arranged for Jesus to be crucified.  (NB: I am not accusing the Jews as a
whole of crucifying Jesus.  I am saying that a certain Jewish bureacracy,
which looks suspiciously similar to later Christian bureacracies, did it.
The best Christian piety has always maintained that if Jesus came again, he
would be crucified again, but this time by good Christians.)  

But it would certainly be going too far to say that Jesus was somehow
opposed to people gathering in congregations to worship together.  Jesus is
shown going to services in a synagogue (Mk 6:2).  He seems to be interested
in worship at the Jerusalem Temple.  (The cleansing of the temple, Mk
11:15-19 does not show opposition to the idea of a temple, just to the
corruption that was currently attached to it.)  He trained his disciples for
leadership (Mat 10:5-15).

In summary, I think it would be more accurate to say that Jesus was opposed
to the sort of things that religious (and other) bureacracies do all too
often, but not to the idea of people gathering together.  Consider for
example Mat 18:20: "For where two or three come together in my name, I am
there with them."  And consider the fact that he instituted the Lord's
Supper, which is a community activity.  I think true Christianity includes
the idea that we each represent Christ to each other.  Also we each try to
help them other when someone goes astray (Mat 18:15-17, although I should
warn you that some scholars consider that the current form of this passage
has been influenced by the needs of the church).  

The idea that you can be a Christian by sitting at home reading the Bible is
absurd.  Christianity is about your relationship with other people.  The
problem is that dealing with people is difficult.  So is keeping groups of
people in line with their original ideals, and resisting the natural
pressures that make organizations grow rigid and intolerant.  But just
because something is difficulty doesn't mean we can avoid it.

To answer your original question, I think Christ assumed that his followers
would gather together, and made some provisions for the worship and
leadership of the resulting body of believers.  However I do not think he
had anything specific to say about church organization.  I do not see that
he either supported or opposed nationwide bodies, or organizations such as
the Council of Churches.  He most certainly opposed many of the things that
such bodies do, however.