[OBW]

Going with more recent posts by both Nell and ZNP, the fact of Christians is the fact of church. And I agree that Christians together are church. But that is in the sense that the verse about loving the church and giving himself for "her." In this sense the church is not the meeting, but the members.

(I would add here that while I understand the popularity of the "personal" aspects of the Christian life, church, etc., there is little that makes even this particular verse really about "me" with respect to the church, but more about the church without borders. It is really about the whole of it, not the "personal" of it. The context in which the meeting is not relevant does not appear to make it about the components as much as it makes it about the whole without reference to the meeting.)

This is the universal sense of the church. And in this sense, whether or how we meet is not the issue. But when we get back to brass tacks of continuing in our faith over a long period of time, it is the meeting of the members (that is also isolated from the whole by reference to the church in places, cities, houses, regions). And when it referred to regions, it used the plural "churches." So in that use it was not the same at the one where Christ "gave himself for her" because that one was about the whole, not the meetings.

I do not dismiss the partial use of online meetings of one kind or another as being anything about the church. But if that is simply what you call "church" then I think that there is something missing that is important. If, as ZNP has since indicated, that online is "part of a balanced diet" or physical and online meetings, then they can clearly have their place.

But at the same time I feel that the lack of real contact will result in a tendency to take such meetings less seriously. If it requires no personal commitment to be other than online, only those who are (at least at the time) "sold out" zealots for Jesus will continue with it in a serious way for very long. They will instead wear a decent shirt (if their web cam is on) and otherwise mute their microphone because they don't want anyone to hear the sound of the fingernail clippers. Or whatever.

When I refer to sold out zealots, I am not demeaning them. But the Christian life is not only for sold out zealots. Full salvation and sanctification is for those who simply believe, obey, and grow. Anyone who thinks that being a believer is about "extreme Christianity" or whatever the latest buzzword is for being one of the disciples (the few) rather than the many that Jesus taught about their living. Told them to go home and live right. Not everyone was told to follow as a disciple. Even the rich young ruler was not denied the ability to believe. Just to follow. He didn't have it.

Christianity (the collection of believers in Christ, not some negative overlay like the LCM throws around) is about believing and obeying. And for some, there is an additional call to follow like the disciples/apostles. If Christianity is only about disciples/apostles, then it isn't much because there never were many. But if it is about all who believe and obey, then it has been growing and multiplying from the beginning until this day. Even in the Dark Ages. They may have lost sight of assurance. But they did not lose sight of believing and obeying.