And yet you still go to church on Sundays and subject yourself to a preacher, and you watch while that pastor baptizes other people, and performs the Lord's Supper.
If you really want what you say you want, then on Sunday mornings, don't place yourself under some other man. Why subject yourself to another man's interpretation of Scripture? Instead, stay home and preach to yourself, interpret the Bible for yourself. Perform your own Lord's Supper. Baptize yourself. As long as you continue to place yourself under a pastor, it is hard to take your anti-hierarchical sentiments seriously. Go all the way and take your individualism to its logical conclusion.
-A8
Now, now, for some reason you refuse to see a reasonable middle-ground. :) The Bible lays out positions of church authority and I am fine with that. However, all of them are still subject first to the scriptures. They are also subject to the will of God's people on interpretation, i.e. they are accountable. Obviously this is not so in Roman Catholicism, since the hierarchy proclaims and determines, on threat of excommunication, what the interpretation is and means.
Unlike other faiths, I do not "subject" myself to my pastor. Sometimes I do disagree with my own pastor on what he preaches, since I am a staunch Reformer. Most of his preaching is in line with my view of classic Reformed theology, and the few times it is not, it just isn't that big a deal. I also disagree with other good Reformers on minor matters. Again, no big deal. We are all learning and being sanctified.
If for some reason our pastor started preaching outside the faith, then we, as an autonomous laity, would have the right to remove him according to our church by-laws. Fortunately, this has never been an issue in our church. Our pastor understands that he is there to serve Christ, not the Southern Baptist Convention, in leading us in worship of Him.
One core of our pastor's preaching is a direct one-on-one personal relationship with Christ. Almost every Sunday he says that Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship. I think that's beautiful.