Reconnecting the Dis/Connected Christian
Why the social media marvel needs Church
Have you ever watched an episode of Shark Tank?
After the product has been pitched, the inquisition begins: “Do you own the copyright?” “How soon do you think there will be imitators?” “Why is your product better than anything else already on the market?” “What makes your product offering unique?”
Imagine, for a moment, putting your brand of faith under this sort of microscope. Who owns the copyright? Are there any imitators? Why is your faith better than any other faith? What makes your faith unique?
Our world is being called “Connected,” and more devices are being added to the Internet of Things. Some, like Elon Musk, have warned of the dangers of opening Pandora’s Box of AI while promoting the Neuralink brain implant—the merging of all things internet with the human brain, a collective mind.
Never in modern history have we as a society thought ourselves more connected to information and the world yet been so socially disconnected. Face it, social media is no substitute for real face-to-face communication and care.
At one time, we wrote long letters and cards if we couldn’t see someone in person. After the dawn of email communications, many still wrote long Christmas letters to include with their cards. This year, we received fewer of those letters than ever. Social media has robbed many of us of creativity and in-depth communication. Now, everything is a short blurb to hold the ever-shorter attention spans of our modern connected world.
I’m willing to wager that most of us can count the number of handwritten letters we received in the mail this year on one hand.
I wrote an article earlier in 2024 titled “How Covid Helped Kill the Local Church.” Covid may have amplified the losses to local church congregations, but the push for a more connected world through technology is driving the nails into the casket sides. At the current pace, it shouldn’t be long before they’re fitting the lid and banging in the first nail.
Twisted Scriptures?
Obviously, the misuse and abuse of the oft-misinterpreted Hebrews 10:25 passage is nearing the end of its shelf life as a tool to guilt folks into going to church.
The passage in Hebrews isn’t about missing Church on Wednesday night or “Sunday go to meeting” services. It’s not about people forsaking attending Church at all. The genuine context is folks giving up on the imminent return of Christ and gathering to Him in the clouds before the Great Tribulation.
[Heb 10:22-25 KJV] 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some ; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
What day?
Any honest Bible teacher will look up and use the comparison passages to interpret a verse. Almost without fail, in every single commentary and sermon I’ve ever heard, the teacher or pastor never brings up the only other use of the words interpreted here as the “assembling of ourselves together.”
Let me ask you, are you aware of any other passages where this word or phrase is used in the entire rest of the New Testament? Would you like to know where to find it?
It’s in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse one.
Thessalonians 2:1-4
[2Th 2:1-4 KJV] 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Missing Church won’t send a genuine believer to hell or end their relationship with Christ
What day was Hebrews 10:25 referring to? “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together….so much the more as you see the day approaching.” What day, not forsaking the Sunday service or the Wednesday night bible study? Or is the day we should not forsake the Day of Christ and His Coming?
Consider the implications of this ridiculous scenario.
“Hey Joe, it’s Jim. It’s Saturday night, you better be at Church tomorrow”.
“Did you just ask “Why?” “
“Because Joe, if you keep reading Hebrews 10, if you think it's talking about going to Church, then it's also about going to hell. If you forsake the gathering of the Church, verse 26 says you can’t be forgiven for forsaking the day. Read it for yourself.”
[Heb 10:26-27 KJV] 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
“Joe, you better be at Church, or you’re going to hell….”
What a load of nonsense and bad doctrine. It’s like lyrics from a heavy metal band going by the name of “Twisted Scriptures”
If pastors want to continue guilt-tripping their flocks, they should at least finish exegeting the passage instead of cherry-picking one verse out of context.
Let’s get brutally honest with one another.
Missing Church won’t send a genuine believer to hell or end their relationship with Christ. If Hebrews 10:25 is about failing to attend Church, then there’s going to be a lot of Christians populating the depths of hell.
So what should pastors preach from the pulpit when the people in the pews are a paltry few? Maybe it's time to reconnect the connected Christians to one another again.
Part of God's curses on Egypt, when He was preparing Israel's deliverance from them, was to put deep darkness on the land. The curse came as the inability to see one another because of the darkness. While Egypt was in darkness and isolation, God’s people, Israel, had light in their dwellings.
[Exo 10:23 KJV] 23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
That light probably wasn’t from their cell phones or XBOX. Our connection to the outside world might be causing us to lose our connections with the visible world around us and the fellowship with other people in real and tangible ways. The ones under the curse couldn’t see one another, and they didn’t get up from their places for three days!
The early Church was known in part for its fellowship. (Acts 2:42)
1 John indicates that fellowship is one of the marks of a genuine believer, one who walks in the light as opposed to those who walk in darkness.
1 Corinthians 1:9-10 tells the believer that you were called into fellowship and that the communion cup and bread symbolize that fellowship with Christ and His body. Do you remember who is the body of Christ? Yes, you are the body of Christ if you are a genuine believer.
When we go to Church, we disconnect from our devices long enough to connect with God and with one another. Church is that place where we can practice some “one another-ing” and experience the koine love and fellowship of other genuine believers. It is a place where the outside world gets the opportunity to see how they can know we are Christians through our love and fellowship.
If you hunger and thirst for more genuine and realistic connections, then go to Church. If you want to be like the Egyptians, who were in complete darkness and unable to see anyone in the same room for three days, then keep staring at your phone and don’t go to Church.
Church is for genuine Christians who want to connect with both God and Man through their relationship and fellowship in Jesus Christ.
Want to find other genuine Christians?
Go to Church.
Make real relationships a priority
Get prayers, help, comfort, and fellowship at Church.
Find ways to bless other genuine Christians. Ask how you can pray for them, then do it immediately so you don’t become a liar. Offer them help financially or physically. Ask for help when you need it yourself. Hug somebody. Remember their names. Greet them the next time you see them by their first name. Even in a crowded store, somehow, we hear it when our names are called.
Connect. Reconnect. Rinse. Repeat.
Disconnect from this world long enough to get a glimpse of the world to come and the kingdom of God that is here and coming soon.
There are many distractions vying for our attention, but we have the choice to either connect with God and others in person and face to face or continue in darkness, not seeing others sitting right next to us.