The irony of that would be, it resulted in a schism, only with both sides sticking with the church.

The “through” that people throw around is a disputed translation… a much more proper translation would be “as”… which changes the meaning entirely. To me it says “live a good life and do good unto others, and that’s the path to God”.

However, you have made some very bad points. It sounds to me that you’re making the issue of “Christ fulfilled the law, so we don’t need organized religion” into a new law of “organized religion is evil!”

Point by point:

whether they’re Catholic or not - most Christians expect a man to mediate their relationship with God and tell them what to do

That is a pretty broad claim. The view among protestant churches is that people have a direct relationship with God. The pastor/minister is someone who teaches or leads worship. Is your piano instructor a mediator between you and the piano?

Also, look back at the early church. The apostles were travelling around the empire preaching to people. Congregations were structured with deacons and elders. It’s all over Acts and Paul’s letters.

In other words, the idea to salary preachers is a human invention that goes against the lifestyle that Jesus taught and demonstrated

Again, look at the early church. In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about how other apostles (such as Peter) were rightly collecting salaries for their work. However, Paul chose not to collect a salary so that he could focus better on his ministry and having to rely on others for housing/food.

In fact, Jesus told His followers not to be called “leaders” or “fathers” or assume any position of authority over each other because we are all brothers having the same Heavenly Father and Jesus is to be the only Leader we (who are Christians) follow

Please give us a reference here. We are definitely told not to hold any spiritual authority over eachother, but we are definitely called to encourage, teach, and rebuke one another. That is exactly what the Protestant and Catholic clergy do.

Most Christians today have completely forgotten that Jesus said that HE would build HIS Church. Yet, somehow, they think this is now their job to take over.

And it’s totally impossible for him to build the church by guiding our actions? In my experience, people who are called to start a ministry or church don’t do it because they think, “hey, I bet Jesus never thought of this!” Rather, they feel that God is telling them this is what he wants them to do to further his kingdom.

Did you know that the word “church” is not even in the original text of Scripture?

That’s because the word “church” is a Germanic/English word. You can find the word all over Matthew and Acts. The Greek word used was “ekklesia” or, “those who are called or summoned forth”. It’s a word that refers to a specific group of people, namely Christians. It was replaced in English translations with the word “church.” Today, we have to differentiate between my local “church” and Christ’s “Church” because the word “church” became a common word for a specific building or institution. So in a sense, a church building or structure is never mentioned in scripture, but that doesn’t preclude the existence of a church building or institution.

Some of my “Protestant” Christian friends would be shocked to discover that virtually everything they do in church Sunday morning is a product derived from Roman Catholicism (a religion they think they are so different from)

Perhaps because even though people have sought to redefine the “church” it always comes back to a system that requires teachers and students.

Too many Christians are quick and ready to lop off heads for sin, while they forget that God forgave them of theirs! They still want sinners to suffer hell and pay. But justice belongs to God, not man and He knows the hearts whereas we cannot see into people’s hearts.

Right on.

Don’t throw away the church. Christ died for the church, no matter how imperfect she is. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, we just have to keep encouraging and praying for eachother. As soon as we start bringing in some rules about how a church should or shouldn’t be, we’re missing the point.