One commentator has aptly said that "no one is joined to Christ except together with a neighbor." We cannot therefore be "lone ranger Christians", and we cannot survive without the local church. It is incumbent upon all believers to become members of a local body wherein the gospel is preached, the sacraments are administered rightly, and discipline is carried out according to the standards of the Word of God.
There are many people today that I have witnessed to that consider themselves part of the 'invisible' church. What they mean by this is that they are believers that do not attend any church, but are none-the-less Christians. It is both obvious and apparent in scripture that we are to belong to a church body, that we are part of the body of Christ, and that we are to love one another and serve one another (Gal. 5:13). What seems most troubling to me is the number of 'baby-boomers' that hold to this idea. In my encounters with that age group, the statement "My faith is private, and everyone should keep their beliefs to themselves" is very prevalent. This is only possible to believe if you a) never go to a bible-believing church and b) never read your bible. If this describes you, I'm afraid you are not in the faith, for you don't even know your God and what He has commanded you to do.
We as Christians must be vocal and bold about our faith, and show the errors in the thinking of those that hold to this idea of being a "Lone Ranger Christian." If we love the lost, we must combat heresy and errors in belief and thinking in order to show people both the love of God, and His commandments to those that are called His. To keep quiet and leave people in their erroneous thinking is neither loving nor Christ-like.
Then again, in order to combat errors, you must have an understanding of the faith in the first place. This may require studying and reading your bible.
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