Have religions been corrupted through the ages by the people in charge of them?

Religions are all about power, and power corrupts.

Thank God that you don't need a religion to follow Christ.

Absolutly they have. God never intended for there to be rulers in his church, only servants. For whatever reason, people seem to jump at the oportunity to be ordained because they feel that there is some sort of rank that goes with it. Every church has had this problem, although I would mainly blame Chatholosism, and Judaisim.

I use to attend World Wide Church of God. From day one we had the problem of giving all the power to one guy at the top. Wolrd Wide was special because we were different from the "main stream" so called christian churches. We kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days. We did what was commanded in the Bible, and we stayed away from the traditions of man.

Well, here's what happened. One guy, founded the church, then he died. The next guy in line took over. He died, and his Son took over. That guy decided that we would go main stream, and they fired all miniters who wouldn't hand down the changes.

The problem was very simple and something I've been trying to tell my current church for years. A church should not be run by one man, but through every man and women who attends and pays tithe. Like a democracy. That is what I believe God wants.

Why this doesn't happen? Cause it's easier for people to let one man make all the choices. If a person wants to know who to blame when their church or their country is screwed up, they should look in the mirror.

Definetly, Religion was invented by men, and therefore it would eventually manifest and express the weakness of the human race, it's incredible that all religions have something in common, the saying says that all religions take you to the same end. But in reality all religions proceed from the same source the Human Spirit, and that's why they are so vulnerable to corruption, as men without God tend to corrupt themselves. So the valuable lesson is that you don't need a religion, you need a relationship with God.

I think that religions have been used for corrupt means, that it is used to move the masses to produce or get ride of them for purposes of one or group gaining power, riches and glory. But religions on a whole, have a message that cannot be corrupted and it is the percepts that are built upon that keep man believing. The doctrine can absolutely be corrupted. This is why our Creator gave us FREE WILL, to discern the truth and follow it.

Yes and no. People interpret God's word. Although well intentioned, they sometimes make mistakes. I know that in my personal walk with God, I sometimes make mistakes. If "religion" weren't corrupted, to at least a small extent, there wouldn't be so many religions in existence.

I do continue to go to church. We are instructed in the Bible to fellowship with other believers. I evaluate any church I join in several ways, the most important being whether they preach from the Bible

My answer to your Q. will be your answer to mine...

"if you tell someone a little secret then that person tells another and so on...next thing ya know 1000 people heard some version of this secret...now,by the time it gets back around to you...do you think there's a chance that the very same words that came out of your mouth...will be slightly/or entirely different when the secret is told back to you?"

If your answer is NO...then you may leave my palace and do not return ever!!!

We are human!!!!!!!! No matter if it is organized or individual, it will never be perfect!!!!!! on earth that is. You have to make mistakes and learn from them in order to stand up, dust yourself off and start over. Through the years of organized religion, the people have been fallible, but the faith has not.

The most dangerous place you can be is in a "church" (organized religion). The promoters of religion have developed many strategies to gain popularity and money. I would estimate that 99 9/10 of "Christians" are deceived into false religious denominations and are in for a rude awakening upon their first day out of body!

(Pentecostals, Catholic, Church of Christ, Baptist, Methodist, Christian, Pilgrim Holiness, Wesleyan, Unitarian, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Assembly of God, Disciples of Christ, etc.)

If you want to know the truth, you need to get out of all this rhetoric. These guys are professionals at "fleecing" the flock" but worse, they will take you with them to the unholy place one day!

The gospel of our salvation is found in Paul's epistles. (These are the words of the RISEN Christ... as opposed to the Earthly Christ.) Jesus said that he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that his message was not for the Gentiles. BELIEVE HIM!

Almost all of the false religions will "save" you according to Israel's plan of salvation (which isn't salvation to us Gentiles according to Christ Himself!) We are saved by grace through faith in the one Lord, one Faith and one baptism (not of water).

Johnny

The very fact that men (aka mankind, not simply xy chromosomed individuals) are in charge of these on earth means that there will be corruption, as mankind is imperfect.

Yes, I think so. That is probably why there are so many denominations: people were unhappy with corruption going on in one, so made another. That's also probably why so many people become reborn into new faiths.

Every single one of them, because that is what religion is about, telling others how to think and what to do. Thats why they all have laws and rules. Its all about power and control.