MFCC | State of The Faith

State of The Faith

Here, at the Messiah Family Christian Church, our focus is on the interconnectivity between mankind and God, the creator of all. This is why we are particular about the difference between religion and faith. Let us take a moment to examine the difference and relationship between religion and faith.

Religion is the integration of the ways of life of mankind into the relationship of humans with God. It is therefore heavily influenced by culture and creativity, as well as the definitions of humans. Its origin may be traced to the very beginning of humans. The Bible tells us, in the book of Genesis 1:24-30, that after creating the supportive environment of mankind, God created humans on the sixth day. Established within Genesis 1:26 is the predefinition of mankind (in God’s own image), just before the creation of humans. This means that humans will be/have been endowed with the power of creativity like the God in Whose image the creation of this kind was based. To perform an act involves two things: first is the ability for which such act can be performed (established in Genesis 1:26), and second is the authority on which such act may be performed (established in Genesis 1:28). The ability and authority for humans to extend God’s creation established in the statements “Let us make humans in our image” and “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it” is continuous and explains mankind’s inventive ability which includes the endless generation of culture which breeds religion when interwoven with the relationship between man and God.

Religion offers assumed corrective steps in preventing errors observed by humans in their relationship with God. In doing so, religion itself often injects errors into itself, and over time, it builds more errors on the foundational errors of the same. In the book of Matthew 5:48, the Bible tells us that God is perfect, and that humans are to be perfect like the maker in Whose image they have been made. If humans were created perfect by a perfect God, their relationship must therefore have been perfect from the inception. The injection of anything into perfection therefore breeds dilution, or contamination.

Like religion, the root of the faith from God to humans can be traced to Genesis 1:24-30 when God entrusted His creation to humans despite His knowledge of the feeble (Ezekiel 45:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:14) and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) nature of the minds of humans. God’s faith to humans is therefore pure, and independent of His knowledge of the weakness of humans. Some may question how humans could be described in such negative light if they were created in the perfect image of God. The truth is, along with the ability and authority to create comes the power of free will of what, how, when, and where to create. Very often, humans chose the easy path which breeds destructive creation, and establish the ground for feeblemindedness as well as desperate wickedness. The faith of humans to God was established in Genesis 3:15 when God instituted war between humans and the serpent, and by so doing, paving a path for the redemption of those who believe and remain faithful to God. Faith is therefore the direct connection between God and humans, independent of the creative endowment of humans. Because faith was neither established nor defined by humans, it is devoid of human creativity and way of life. It is simply God’s trust in humans, and human’s direct trust in God.

The injection of culture into the faith results in the dilution and/or contamination of faith. Religion therefore is contaminated faith as by definition, it is the injection of human culture into the relationship between God and mankind. Amongst others, an example is the pronunciation by most religious groups today regarding marriage. Humans tend to want to redefine what God has already defined by injecting their own views to the word of God. In the book of Matthew 5:32 God, even in His hatred for divorce, established the only condition for it: adultery. Some religious groups today declare that God did not go far enough, and would prefer to ban it entirely, or inject their cultural views/creativity into this matter, rather than follow God’s simple instructions. Some reject calls to ministration, or continuation of calls to ministration on the basis of divorce, forgetting that ministers are called by God, and not by humans. The assumption is that humans are so smart that they are better equipped than God to further expatiate or tighten the definitions/directions of God.

In the book of Luke 18:9-14 God explains this using the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. In that instance, we see the Pharisee polluted his faith through religious practices as a result of his cultural observations, while the tax collector recognized the pollution brought about by his culture on his faith and strived to close the doors of his culture, so that his faith may take root. In the book of Luke 10:38-42 Martha was busy trying to entertain and feed the guests: a culturally honorable thing to do, but one that kept her distracted from God. Mary, on the other hand, despite her possible knowledge of the cultural value in entertaining the guest, knew that at that very point in time, such culture was a dilution and a distraction of her access to the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), so she chose to not allow culture stand in her way to connect as the branch to the vine (John 15:5).

At the Messiah Family Christian Church (MFCC), we like to keep our faith simple and true to God. We avoid letting our ways define God, rather, we thrive on God defining our ways. Our life is therefore instructed by God, and not the other way around. Because we are mindful of the slow and unconscious, but intentional injection of culture to faith, breeding religion, we have established the need for a continuous review of our connection to God in relation to the creative ability and authority He has endowed on us. This is the “State of The Faith”. Each individual disciple (for some churches: member) must periodically review and question the state of their faith, and that of the Messiah Family Christian Church (MFCC) at large. This becomes necessary as the collective state of the faith of individual disciples defines the larger state of the faith of the Messiah Family Christian Church (MFCC). In the same sense, we believe that the state of the faith of the Messiah Family Christian Church (MFCC) at large, is the hook on which individual disciples anchor their faith. It is our prayer that God continues to lead us in this path, in the name of Jesus.

We ask you to check in with us by revisiting this page as detailed periodic schedule and activities of the State of The Faith of the Messiah Family Christian Church (MFCC) shall be posted here in time.