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The Allegory of the Church
By Ryan Huling
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4/28/2009
Intro to Philosophy
Professor Cramer
1826 words
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Introduction
In this paper I am going to analyze and challenge the practices traditional church by
comparing it to the Allegory of the Cave. I have constructed a fictional story that is a parallel to
Plato’s allegory. I have substituted the various elements of the cave allegory with those
associated with the traditional church. Afterwards I will look in to the implications and
challenges my story presents. I will also present some arguments to validate my story.
John Q. Christian is a faithful Christian according to the standards of his church. He goes
to church service every Sunday. He faithfully gives his tithe. He’s a deacon on the church board.
He cleans the church once a month. He has a small group that meets in his home bi-weekly.
He’s a well respected member of his church. He holds fast to the membership covenant he
signed when he joined the church. He faithfully attends. He faithfully serves and he faithfully
gives. He is a card carrying member of the Stained Glass Fellowship in Façade, North Dakota.
John is also married with three kids and works fifty hours a week. After around 4 years
of keeping up this kind of busy schedule, he starts wondering about his church activities. He
starts thinking things like: “Why am I doing all this? Am I really making a difference? “Why don’t
I have any close friends within the church? Am I really doing this stuff for the Lord?” At the
same time John is having some family troubles. He is largely disconnected from his wife and
kids. He again looks at how much time his church activities take away from his family life. He
comes to the realization that he needs to somehow make more time for his family or he’ll lose
them.
At the same time John feels disconnected from God. He doesn’t get it. “I’m doing all this
stuff for the church yet I don’t feel connected with God or with anyone else, at least not in a
substantial way.” John’s been faithful for years doing all the church wanted him to do. He
thought: “surely this will bring me closer to God. Surely this will cause me to become a more
Christ like person.” But after an examination of himself he finds no evidence of growth in his
life. If anything he’s worse than before. His life is filled with stress. He has a shorter temper
than ever and his family life is miserable.
He cries out to God in desperation. “I’m doing all you want me to! “ John says.
A small voice inside of him says, “No John, you’re doing all the church wants you to.”
At first John is bewildered. He is confused. “What do you mean? Tell me what you
mean. I don’t understand!” In all his pleading he gets no reply. After this John slowly starts
seeing things in a new light. He starts to understand what the voice told him. He starts
questioning the motives behind all of his church activities. He discovers that most of it is done
to impress and not out of love for God. This humbles John severely. He searches the scriptures
on these matters and finds little if any scripture to support much of what his church is telling
him.
After a long hard process of trying to tell others in his church of his new found
revelation, John and his family leave the church because no one understands him. They even
accuse him of causing division and of being a heretic. After leaving religion behind John has
mixed emotions. He is hurt yet feels a freedom unlike anything he has ever felt before. A
disorienting, confusing time ensues. He’s not sure what to do now. He thinks maybe he’s made
a mistake and should go back to his old church, or maybe find another church. Before they take
any action John and his wife pray about it. They come to the place in the scripture where Jesus
says that the greatest commandments are to love God and love people (my paraphrase of
Matthew 22:37-40). They are amazed by the simplicity of the statements of Jesus. They
compare this with the practice and teachings of their former church and are reenergized in
their quest towards what God has for them.
The next thing they do is take a fresh and prayerful look at what the New Testament
teaches about church. They asked God: “What is church; shows us through your word.” After
some careful study and time with God they came to the conclusion that church is believers
coming together with Jesus Christ as the focus and leader. “Love God and love one another,”
came to John’s mind. The Christians realized that the church is people not a structure or an
organization. And also that the church is relationally driven and focused with Jesus Christ as the
functioning leader. They learned it was about following and knowing The Lord Jesus Christ, not
simply about learning and obeying teachings about him. They had not learned how to know and
follow Jesus. They had learned to know about Jesus and follow the teachings of the church.
The Christians now set out to find others who shared the same heart to really know and
follow Christ in community. This does not happen overnight. Many months pass before they
finally connect with other believers to share this journey with. After awhile, with much difficulty
a close knit community forms. Strong bonds are made and Christ is behind it all. The Christians
and the others in the group experience God and life in ways they had never even dreamed
possible. A strange thing this fellowship, as compared to most churches. They have no paid
staff. They don’t take up regular offerings and yet they give freely as needs arise. They have no
official leadership, yet somehow there is an organization to things. Jesus Christ is made
manifest among them and he is the leader. Lives are touched, changed and transformed. New
believers are added to their number. The group grows and multiplies and new fellowships are
formed.
Some time later, the Christians go back and visit their former church with the intention
of sharing their new found joy and freedom in Christ centered community. They find the church
service excruciating. They are by now accustomed to being able to freely participate in
meetings. Here they are forced to sit and watch, feeling their creativity and spiritual instincts
stifled. Some members are happy to see them. Others are distant and don’t even make eye
contact. The Christians miss their regular home fellowship. They miss the authenticity of it.
They miss seeing Christ shared together. They don’t get much but frustration out of the
meeting. They sorely want to share the good news they’ve found with the other members.
After the service they stay and chat with folks in the foyer. Some express joy at their
return. “We’ve been praying for you, we knew you’d come to you senses,” said Joe Deacon.
“Wow! Wasn’t that a great sermon!” said Patty Pewsitter. The Christians didn’t now
how to respond to that. They looked confused. They had so many things they wanted to say but
had no clue where to start or even how. The Christians press through the awkwardness they
feel and share with the members the great news of their new experience of Christ and his
church. The Christians try to tell them what they are missing. This really angers Patty and Joe.
Their joyful countenance changes and the Christians can tell that they are not welcome. On
their way out Pastor Sham says, “You’re always welcome here at the Stained Glass Fellowship.”
Out the Christians go, never to return to their old church. They continue on in their new
fellowship and form lifelong bonds within their new community of faith. Many lives are touched
through this community of believers. Most important of all the members love God and each
other, really. Meanwhile the Stained Glass Church continued in much the same way it always
had. They get a new Pastor every 3-5 years. The attendance fluctuates from 150 -300 never
getting beyond 300. They try many different approaches to church growth and ministry and yet
nothing really changes.
Conclusion
The elements in this story are parallel to that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The church
members represent the cave dwellers shackled in place at the bottom of the cave. 1 The
puppeteers are the church leaders and tradition.2 The shadows they project are the things the
church teaches the members about God.3 Ultimately the shadows represent religion. John Q is
like a cave dweller that breaks out or really pulled out by God.4 He journeys away from religion
toward relationship with God and others. He comes to an authentic relationship with God and
other believers and this is the true substance of things. Much like the liberated cave dweller
John experiences a disorienting time after his leaving the church. His eyes have to adjust to the
light.5 Later on He reenters the church to share the good news with the cave dwellers still in
bondage. He experiences another time of confusion upon reentry, as John can no longer
experience the shadows of church tradition as the substance.6 Much like the liberated cave
dweller he tries to share his message of hope with the other church members. Of course he is
1
C.D.C. Reeve, Plato Republic (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2004), p.208.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Reeve, p.209.
5
Ibid.
6
Reeve, p.210.
then rejected by the other members.7 John is thought of by those still entrenched in the
religious system to be a backslider and a heretic.
This story is meant to challenge the status quo mentality of the church today. Statistics
state that upwards of 1 million people in this country are leaving the traditional church every
year.8 The way we do church needs to be seriously challenged and many are doing this. Most
that do are labeled as heretic or other derogatory things. In reality most of these people Love
God and his church. They want to see it flourish under Christ’s leadership not flounder under a
religious, business like leadership model. Doing things the way they’ve always been done just
because that’s the way we’ve always done it is no longer producing followers of Jesus Christ.
It’s time to scrutinize what’s going on here and make some serious changes for the better. It’s
time to examine the various teachings and practices of the church and find out where did they
come from? Which ones are scriptural and which ones aren’t? If we do this we will clearly see
that many of the practices in church structures are not really supported by the teachings of the
Bible. The Bible is used to support them. It’s plain that the church in the U.S. is no longer
effective in connecting people to God and making Disciples of Christ. Changes need to be made
and we need to go back to the book to do it.
7
Ibid.
8
Frank Viola, “House Church Resource,” http://housechurchresource.org/, April 28, 2009
Bibliography
Reeve, C.D.C. Plato Republic. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Co., 2004.
Viola, Frank. housechurchresource.org. http://housechurchresource.org/ (accessed April 28, 2009).