The church is a broad spectrum between extremes. On one extreme there are very strict guidelines and standards, with restricted flexibility when dealing with perceived violations of those standards. The other extreme is a virtual loss of moral compass, sailing to and fro within the winds of whatever is blowing ...yet, still singing Kumbaya.

I abhor abuse, so I would not favor going back to the time before unions existed, but I don't think much of what today's unions have become either.

And often churches still far into both extremes ...yet, today there are many more liberal ones than strict ones.

Choice is involved in both, so what is the biggest difference?

Unions are often forced upon you by the populace of workers ...churches are not.

I suppose you could say someone can always get another job, but it is easier to find another church.  And though it may be difficult at times to find a good church, it is much easier to steer away from the bad ones.

And it is often easy to distinguish the churches that are influenced by society, and those influenced by the Word of God ...if you have read the Bible, that is.

So, you search & choose ...and it might even be fun meeting the people.  

My first experience at the church I now go to ...well, I almost didn't return. But, I realized that I can't judge the character of a church by a couple people ...especially if they are not the pastor, or even elders. And sometimes those same people that we may not at first understand can be part of an enriched experience later ...if you also understand the balance of not just getting fed, but also helping others.

I really think highly of Pastor Tom, and Pastor Myron ...and they attend to what I believe, that Jesus loves each and every one of us.

We are in no ways going to be able to love God so constant and fully as He loves us ...and we can't come close to comprehending that love, but He does ask us to follow His statutes and commandments.

In no way do I believe we lose our salvation if we are having an unloving moment ...but I also don't believe God to be like Sigmund Freud either, looking to our past to reason away all our behaviors.  I believe in responsible behavior, not the rally cry of those seeking only that others understand them.

I hold fast to the ambition that we all attempt to understand God.

Life is not supposed to be an investigation to find out whose guilty; therefore we don't need to explain away the reasons why we do what we do.

Life is more like a Math problem ...not that we should multiply our problems and cause division among ourselves, but in the sense that we have an absolute.  We have an absolute God.  And for the most part, we know when something is wrong.  When things are right, the feeling of peace surrounds us.

My brother was once asked to fly to Atlanta, Georgia.  He was given a folder to read in flight. He was told that once he arrived, he was to be the authority on the subject, but not to worry because no one there would know more than what was in that folder.

If I were in a meeting, I would not claim to know more than what's in the Bible ...and no one else there could either.  Together we can discuss it, but the Bible, the Word of God, is the authority.