Interesting question. And I have opined on it a couple of times in different ways. I frame the question as two questions:
- Is Lee’s use of “Babylon” valid?
- Are there problems with Christianity in general?
I disagree with Lee’s view of Babylon. First, he has treated it as something that is chosen by pathetic Jews. He has ignored the biblical record that all of the Jews were sent there due to general sins, most prominently of idolatry. The nation as a whole was only free of idols for a few limited periods of time. So they were exiled to Babylon. After that time, idolatry is not seen among the people again.
But most interesting is that when the 70 years had ended and the Persian rulers decreed that they could return, only some did. And nowhere near all of the leaders. Several years later, Nehemiah returned for a purpose with a promise to return to Babylon and resume his service to the king. There is nothing indicating that there was a spiritual failure for doing this.
And for a race of people who are supposed to bless all of the people of the earth, staying cooped up in that little strip of land at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea is not very effective. But after the exile, those that did not go back began to spread out across the empire. That is how there were synagogues or other Jewish gatherings all over the Roman empire for Paul to start off in when he did his ministry. Rather than some horrible problem, Babylon was the proverbial sower of the people of God.
As for the problem with Christianity in general, it’s just not there. They don’t do a lot of things in the LRC way. So if you think that is the end-all of Christian worship and living, then they are deficient. But I don’t see it that way. While I attend a rather normal “Bible church,” I have come to appreciate a broad spectrum of other worship styles. There is something positive about any of them. There are advantages to larger churches and to smaller churches. Certain denominations are good at digging through the scripture. Others have that for those who want it, but are more focused in their worship. There is value in the old hymns and in the new choruses. All of that is “style” and none of it is prescribed in scripture. More current ways speak to those of the current culture better than ways that seem archaic and odd.
And yet the liturgy of the Lutherans, Episcopals, Orthodox, and even RCC is not without meaning. I realize that last one will raise eyebrows. Surely there is something amiss with the RCC, at least in terms of prayer to Saints and to Mary. But if we accept the warnings to Thyatira as being to the RCC it is still a church. The open reviling of it somehow fails the 1 Corinthians 13 test (IMHO).
Babylon was a tool of God in the history of Israel. And it figuratively plays into some of the prophecies of Revelation. Outside of that, I don’t see it in the church (or the Church).
As for pastors, elders, etc., it takes something like rejecting portions of the New Testament as being the Word of God to reject them the way some have. Very much like Lee rejecting the epistle of James and relegating it to the status of warning sign for what
not to do. I accept James over Lee any day of the week on any subject.