The following is a response to this video.
As far as Chad's admonition to "go to church" is concerned, the New Testament does not support the church structure we have today. Hebrews 13 17 was never intended to justify an authoritarian, hierarchical, indoctrinating, man-made set of organizations that largely use the Bible as a system or a set of principles to make one acceptable to God as opposed to teaching Christians how to have a relationship with God.
As far as accountability is concerned: Believers are accountable to Christ. If I don't want to face Christ in my prayer closet with the sin I'm involved in, how is going to church supposed to help?
As far as fellowship, there is no true fellowship of the family of God in most so-called churches. Church members talk to the same three people they talk to throughout the week. The young moms hang with the other young moms, the tradesmen with the tradesmen, the schoolteachers with the schoolteachers, etc.
Besides, if a person doesn't fit that church's particular culture they might as well stop attending since they're going to be totally shunned anyway.
In another video, Chad Davidson brings up Hebrews 10 25-31.
First of all, I have no doubt there were then, as there are some now, who feel they don't need any fellowship with other believers whatsoever. Those people are wrong. However, just because a Christian is not attending an institutional church doesn't mean they're going to fall away.
In fact, when I left the local Baptist church I'd been attending and started just fellowshipping with other believers four and a half years ago it brought me closer to God.
I started to read the Bible more because I realized I didn't need to be under the authority of a guy who had a piece of paper from a seminary saying he was allowed to write sermons. As a child of God, I have the Holy Spirit and there are more than enough good resources out there by men whom I respect according to Hebrews 13 17 who've put in the scholarly work to help explain the Word to the brothers and sisters who would come after.
I also was no longer heeding the lead of some pastor saying I was to be in such-and-such book of the Bible for the next several weeks so that motivated my personal Bible study, too.
I started praying more because I began to realize more fully what it meant to have a relationship with God. The way two people who have a relationship converse with each other, that's how I began to look at interaction with God. Institutional churches will talk about Christianity being a relationship with God but really you have to get to God through a man with the title pastor (or should that title be changed to Father) bestowed on him by a man-made school called a seminary.
I also found I fellowshipped and was friendlier to other believers because I realized that just because they went to another organizational branch calling itself a church than I did which believed a few different things about God that didn't automatically make them heretics and false Christians. I began to have a greater understanding of the true church of God, the eclesia, the church of my town.
By the way, it is institutional churches that are truly forsaking the assembling together. The church is to be one as Paul said in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians, but we've made it 43 thousand and more. Ultimately, Joe Schimmel, as much valuable truth as he puts forth, is trying to start his own denomination, however aware of this he is. Will we be talking about Schimmelism or the Blessed Hope movement in the future?
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