We don't need a top down organization because believers ARE the church. And we don't need to go to church to attain salvation.
Believers need each other, it is true. Even for Adam, it was not good for him to be alone.
However, the Holy Spirit is up to the task of enlightening people as to what Scripture means when it needs interpretation.
Most of Scripture is pretty clear. Certainly enough of it that it doesn't need to be *interpreted* but simply read and applied.
Yes, all those voices are competing for our attention, but we can discern which voice is the Holy Spirit by whether what He's telling us lines up with Scripture or not, usually simply by reading it.
Avoid sexual immorality is not hard.
Let the thief steal no more but work honestly with his own hands.
Not a biggie that needs interpretation.
“Most of Scripture is pretty clear.”
I just can’t agree with you that Scripture is as simple as all that. Paul says some parts of Scripture are difficult to understand and that people misinterpret it to their destruction.
“Avoid sexual morality is not hard.”
Then why do so many Christians, including Catholics, say contraceptive use is okay? Contraceptives can act as abortifacients. Why do so many Christians have ridiculously broad interpretations for grounds for divorce?
Once I saw two Christians on television, a man and his wife with crosses around their necks, talking about how God led them through the in-vitro fertilization process. God most certainly DID NOT lead them through the in-vitro fertilization process which involves masturbation, the destruction of countless human embryos, and the increasing belief among even Christians that human life something that can be created in a lab. This is why I have such a problem with you saying discernment of the “Holy Spirit” is not hard. This couple, carrying the admittedly heavy cross of childlessness, said it was God leading them through this. No, it was them thinking their own desires were the voice of God. Without a teaching Church, how are people to know what the moral thing to do is when new technologies arise? To say the words “in-vitro fertilization” aren’t in my Bible and so it’s okay is erroneous. The “magic potions” condemned in Revelation 9:21 is interpreted by the early church to have meant contraceptives and abortifacients which the pagans liked to mix. Indeed, witches got their bad name for their reputation for brewing potions to prevent or destroy human life in the womb. But how can people know this if they cut themselves off from the writings of the early church and later and say, I’ll figure it out for myself?