Sanity Check Posted August 21 I've been thinking on whether the social hierarchy of christianity in the bible is sub optimal. A single leader or prophet attempting to nurture & guide large groups of people may not be the most efficient design. The best format would be individuals learning to nurture and guide themselves, making prophets and leaders (somewhat) obsolete. Walmart enjoyed some success cutting middle men from their supply chains. Perhaps organized religion can enjoy similar success by following a similar strategy. Believers cease listening to priest and prophet middle men. Individuals become their own priests and prophets. Perhaps this is the way God desired it from the beginning. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted August 21 (edited) Thats one of the schools of Gnosticism ; self gnosis , direct experience, no 'mediator' needed . Its also the path of Magick and a few other things . Even with the Baha'i religion ( which does have a prophet and acknowledges the previous prophets and does not want to cut out the middle man , as they believe in three tiers ; God, prophets and people ) but still they do not have priests or clergy , instead , sort of like what you suggest , each community comes together and elects 9 people to form a council to direct their affairs to replace priests and clergy ; the LSA ( Local Spiritual Assembly). In 'western culture' they are often a mix of various ethnic types , its very popular system in third world where it is similar to a tribal council . . Edited August 21 by Nungali 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites