Thanks. Good analogy!
That's like a person purchasing do-it-yourself furniture but instead of following the instructions, he decides to put it together himself! Then the furniture gets all messed up. Its not the instruction's fault.
It's like purchasing furniture and finding out the instructions that you thought were based the original person who designed it to market and the people who helped him is actually based on and compiled by the marketed company trying to sell it by putting
their own instructions together and tell everyone these instructions are the words of the designer.
Then the reformers come in to try and pick a part
the same instructions to keep the ones they think are best but regardless of which instructions and pages they keep or add, the content though well-written wasn't correct in order for them to put the furniture together in one piece. So, they go in an uproar against the furniture company.
Then a group of people (and another group of people) decide, "hey, let's look at what the designer written" but not realizing that the designer did not write anything but told people what to write. So, basically, everything each group and company (who knows more than the groups afterward) are getting is second hand knowledge to which they think is first hand.
What happens then, when things don't work out as plan, people split up into groups and either one, create their own instructions, two, add commentary to the instruction that didn't work, or three toss out part of the pages saying they know which is right.
The problem isn't the person. The company got the instructions from the designer. The groups got the instructions from the company. Then you have individual people who don't want to be part of any contract company nor the company corporation who wrote the instructions.
Yet, all of these cases, everyone is still going by the same instructions the company wrote unless each person can read the designer's language which wasn't English nor French nor German.
Then, you think?
Ah ha! I got it, I don't need the instructions from the company, I can find it out myself. So, without knowing the language of the designer, you study what you
think is the right interpretation into your langauge not realizing that languages do not translate one hundred percent from one to another.
Then you have those who chuck the instructions and try to build the furniture herself. Which sounds like a good plan for people who don't follow the Book. Nothing wrong with that.
What I like about this idea is, one, if a screw is in the wrong spot, the person, say Jane, takes responsibility for it. She doesn't have to throw the instructions in the trash thinking
it or the designer had something to do with her construction of it. Then she can have positive feelings of building the furniture on her own as things are more authentic when you do it on your own.
But after all this:
The only things that's needed for this whole analogy is the designer (god) and the company (The Church/Apostles).
Take the designer out, you'd have no furniture. Take the Apostles out, you'd have no New Testament or in other words, the designers' words would be only oral messages floating in the wind and ears of the Apostles without them writing a thing.
Then we get mad at The Church saying they add things to the instructions.
I think, wait, what! THEY are the ones that put the instructions together in the first place.
Then others say, no we should look to the designer first!
I think, wait, you can't do that with the instructions (has the designer's name, by the way. Though copyrighted by The Church) -that's put together by the Church.
If you want to get to know the designer, chuck the instructions and learn about the furniture itself. Learning about the furniture and putting together is the same as knowing the designer who built it.
That's what ritual is and how I practice. It's not easy but learning to build things on your own in life is well worth the effort than taking 2,000th person's word for it.
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EDIT
By the way... "Most just aren't "following the instructions".But remember, the instructions aren't wrong."
The Church compose the scriptures (the Apostles and those who took after their lead) since some protestants say the body of Christ can't add their say to how god inspired them.
They may be right as in well-written. However, I always wondered why people use those instructions and at the same time say, "well, if we build the whole furniture, we would be the designer since the designer knows everything" and then others built but so much and study the instructions with faith rather than learning about the designer by action.
Step away from the instructions and get to know the designer personally.
Don't worry, the furniture can be built without the instructions. It just takes a bit more brain power and effort and *cough cough* faith.
