Free Indeed?

Free Indeed? Are Christians Free Indeed or Enslaved by Religion? by Shean Smith is a passionate and provocative call for believers to contemplate Christian life. All too often, suggests Smith, the expectations of the church shackle believers into following laws and manufactured traditions that really have nothing to do with the Lord's covenant with man. In clear, easy-to-understand prose, Smith explores how the church started, how it strayed and how any believer can move closer to God without the confines of an organized religious institution. He redefines words such as church and assembly, and he also addresses tithing, exploring how what is happening now in religious organizations is often at odds with its original purpose. Man, says Smith, has true freedom in Christ, and the religious rules, routines and methods that come from 1800 years of reinventing the gospel often muddy that relationship. Combining traditionalism with research, Smith attempts to cast new light on what Christianity really should be about. Question church customs instead of accepting the clergy's word for them, argues Smith. Lead a full spiritual life every day instead of relegating it to Sundays when the church fails to nourish people because it offers unsatisfying religion. Smith asks if the good news is such a simple concept, why are there so many different approaches to "witnessing" which require a good deal of money, time, and training? Nothing is more important than a relationship with Christ, says Smith, and to let the church get in the way of that is truly a sin.