If a\u00a0 Christian does not want to attend an incorporated church because he says it’s wrong, is it right for him and his wife to worship alone on the Lord’s day because he says an incorporated church is in sin, and he cannot find a church that is not incorporated?<\/p>\n\t
A person cannot decide what is or is not sinful. That is something that God alone teaches. To claim it is wrong for a church to incorporate, he must first prove who such action violates the Scriptures.<\/p>\n
Governments exist by the authority of God (Romans 13:1-2). So long as the demands of a government do not violate the laws of God, there is every reason for Christians to be obedient to the government under which they exist. When a congregation owns a building, the government requires that there be someone designated to own the land, whether it be one or more individuals or a corporation. The preferred method is a corporation because people come and go. The existence of a congregation generally exceeds the life of people. If individuals owned the property for the church it would have to be bought and sold as the people came and went. If someone died while owning the property, it would pass through that person’s inheritance. Such is both annoying and costly. Having a corporation own the property is more expedient under United States law because trustees can be named to fulfill the legal requirement and they are easily changed as time passes.<\/p>\n
There is nothing in the action of incorporating that conflicts with God’s law. It does not give the government any power that it did not already have. It doesn’t take away any authority that a church has.<\/p>\n
Therefore, to decide to not worship with the Lord’s people because an individual doesn’t like the fact that the church is complying with a government is foolish because it places an individual’s preference over what God has said.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: If a\u00a0 Christian does not want to attend an incorporated church because he says it’s wrong, is it right for him and his wife to worship alone on the Lord’s day because he says an incorporated church is in sin, and he cannot find a church that is not incorporated? Answer: A person cannot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,310],"class_list":["post-28900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-government"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32819,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-my-friend-wrong-to-be-baptized-even-though-it-was-after-curfew\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":0},"title":"Was my friend wrong to be baptized even though it was after curfew?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My friend possibly had to break the town curfew to be baptized.\u00a0 Is this an Acts 5:29 issue or a Romans 3:8 issue?\u00a0 I have a feeling I'm taking that a bit too seriously, but the law is the law. Although I doubt that law was created to stop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-a-501c-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":1},"title":"Are you a 501C church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I ran across your site after my daughter asked me where can she find a clear and concise list of God's statutes.\u00a0 I pondered that for a while and happened upon\u00a0your explanation. It's perfect. Thank you. As is stated in Isaiah, \"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36545,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-separation-of-church-and-state\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":2},"title":"The Separation of Church and State","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor There is an ongoing debate in our society about the \"separation of church and state.\" Though the phrase is not used in any of this country's founding documents, many understand it to be a fundamental principle upon which this nation was built. However, the debate springs from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/church-and-state-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-biblical-to-have-a-board-of-trustee\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":3},"title":"Is it biblical to have a board of trustees?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it biblical to have a board of trustees? Answer: Governments exist by the authority of God (Romans 13:1-2). So long as the demands of a government do not violate the laws of God, there is every reason for Christians to be obedient to the government under which they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54083,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-a-church-secretary-or-treasurer-a-permanent-position\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":4},"title":"Is a church secretary or treasurer a permanent position?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know whether a church secretary, treasurer, etc. once appointed or chosen to that post is permanent, or they can be rotated on a tenure basis. Answer: There is no such office in the church as a secretary or treasurer. Duties, such as these, are usually filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30981,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-church-to-give-out-a-form-letter-to-its-members-to-send-to-their-representatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":28900,"position":5},"title":"Is it wrong for a church to give out a form letter to its members to send to their representatives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I received a church bulletin with a sample letter to be sent to Senators and Representatives demanding the defeat of the Respect for Marriage Act since it broadens the definition of marriage beyond one man and one woman.\u00a0 Although I agree with the content of it, I am of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}