IQ,
You beat me to it. I was just about to ask the same question.
Human critters like CONTROL.
ESPECIALLY IN RELIGION. Was evident throughout all Scripture.
Groups are wonderful tools for control freaks.
Individuals AND GROUPS LOVE PREDICTABILITY, consistency, sameness. Helps individuals feel SAFE.
God died that we might have RESTORED DAILY INTIMATE DIALOGUE WITH HIM--A RESTORED WALK IN THE GARDEN IN THE COOL OF THE EVE sort of thing. Christ's Blood was an awful price for such RESTORED DIALOGUE, RELATIONSHIP.
But humans are persistently insistent--you talk to God, Moses/Bossman. We are afraid. We don't want to get that close to God.
So, we'll set up this organization here to do the RELIGIOUS thing for us and pretend that's relating rightly to God. But since we were made to worship something and worshipping CLOSE TO GOD is tooooo scary, we'll end up worshipping the organization as God--maybe not overtly but in practice, in our actions . . . and in our defenses of it. Much easier than doing what God says to us Day by Day.
Shoot HE EXPECTS ME TO GROW IN GRACE, IN LOVE, IN WALKING IN HIS SPIRIT! THAT'S SCARY! Thanks, anyway, Moses, You do it, bossman. I'll just continue to go through all these organizational hoop jumping exercises on occasion and then I'll imagine that THAT makes me righteous and I'll feel safe and comfortable. And God won't bother me that much about changing because I won't be close enough to hear Him. But I'll pretend the organization covers all that for me with The Big Man.