The words “attend the church of your choice” greet readers searching for churches who advertise in newspapers. If it is true that one church is as good as another, then it is also true that one may confidently attend the church of his choice. Let us now search the Scriptures and see if they shed any light on the subject.
Is one founder as good as another? Jesus promised He would build his church (Matthew 16:18). Christ, and not a man nor a group of men, is the founder of His church. The apostle Paul affirms this truth by saying, “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
Think of all the different foundations that have been laid by religious groups. Will one accuse the Christ of laying different foundations? Our Lord is neither the author of division (1 Corinthians 1:10-13) nor confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Christ has made it clear that “every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matthew 15:13). If one founder is as good as another, then one can confidently attend the church of his choice!
Is the shedding of any person’s blood as good as the shedding of the blood of Christ? The church that Jesus promised to build was purchased by the shedding of His blood. The Lord’s church was not purchased by the blood of “bulls and goats” (Hebrews 10:4) or by the blood of any human being! In Acts 20:28, Paul reminds the Ephesian elders that they are to “feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.”
Who will presumptuously proclaim that his shed blood purchased the church of our Lord? Who will arrogantly boast that his blood can cleanse one of his sins? If it is true that anyone’s blood can be shed for our sins, the shedding of Christ’s blood was unnecessary.
Is Christ the only head of the church or is one head as good as another? Do those who attend man-made denominations really believe that Christ is the head of a church that a man or woman founded? Christ is only the head of His church, “which is his body” (Ephesians 1:22-23). How many “heads” are there? Only one — Christ! How many bodies should exist if there is only one head? Only one! The apostle Paul affirms such in saying, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).