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How to Quit Church Without Quitting God: 7 Good Reasons to Escape the Box
Like no other book of its time, How to Quit Church Without Quitting God digs to the simple, easy-to-grasp root of the Christianity has become a self-righteous den of hypocrisy, a flaw that's transparent to all but itself. With childlike boldness, author Martin Zender turns the "how to" format on its head. What you hold in your hands is the boldest, plainest book you will ever read on the subject of "going to church", a book that may well change the spiritual landscape of Americal. It will certainly change the personal landscape of anyone bold enough to pick it up, and read it.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2002
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November 16, 2024
ADVICE FROM AN ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ FOLLOWER OF JESUS
Martin Zender bills himself as “the World's Most Outspoken Bible Scholar”; he also does a syndicated radio show with Dan Sheridan. He has written a number of other books, such as 'How to Be Free from Sin While Smoking a Cigarette,’ ‘The First Idiot in Heaven: Secrets of the Apostle Paul and Why the Meek Merely Inherit the Earth,' 'Martin Zender Goes to Hell,’ 'The Really Bad Thing About Free Will,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2002 book, “I write this preface in the wake of horrific terrorist attacks, having written the book and its introduction before. It occurred to me that some readers might wonder, ‘How can this author be so critical of organized religion, even while thousands of people gather to it? He must have written the book before the world changed.’ But the world has not changed. The attacks are more of a chronic condition… In fact, the book is now more relevant than ever… it’s true, some are returning to church. This movement should not be seen as a sudden endorsement of organized religions… but of God. It’s God that people want…[But] it shows how people instinctively associate God with organized religion and church buildings. Organized religion … can’t answer the big questions… I predict that… the people who returned to church will remember why they left, and those who started going for the first time will ask, ‘This is it?’ … We want spiritual assurance for ourselves, for our families, for the world. This, the nominal church cannot give.”
In the ‘Reason One’ chapter [‘God does not live in boxes’], he recalls, “How did I leave the church? I was listening to a sermon one day and it crashed into what I was learning on my own about the real, living Jesus. If I remembered what the sermon was about, I would print it… I was eighteen years old, otherwise I couldn’t have left. I had seen the movie ‘Jesus of Nazareth, and so I already felt some deep pull from God that raised me out of the pew while everyone else was still stuck there.” (Pg. 7)
He continues, “After I left the church, I started looking into scripture---or maybe I did that before I left… The church told me that I couldn’t eat meat on Fridays during lent. I always assumed this was in the Bible. It wasn’t… So what else was I taught that wasn’t in the Bible? Lots… Depending on how bad I was that month, I had to say ten Our Fathers, twenty Hail Marys, or some combination of the two…” (Pg. 10-11)
In the chapter on Reason Two [‘Church digs people into spiritual ruts’] he states, “Many people think: It’s either the institution or a life without Jesus. I can’t leave church and still have Christ. I have good news for you: You have more hope of finding the real Jesus outside of the institution than in it… when Jesus walked this earth…. Where did He find true fellowship? He found it outside the walls of the temple…” (Pg. 23) Later, he adds, “In 29 A.D., you did not … go to Jesus Christ’s church, because it did not have a settled location. What you did was you started following Him down the road.” (Pg. 36)
In the Reason Three [‘Church binds people to clocks and buildings’] chapter, he asserts, “when people tell you to ‘go to church,’ what they mean is that you should go to a specified building at a specified time to do specified things with specified people. Baloney. Who gave them the right to make church that? God Himself puts no such limits on the word…. The Bible contains no such phrase as ‘going to church’… The word ‘ekklesia’ engages people, not buildings…” (Pg. 51-52)
The Reason Four [‘Jesus Christ would not "go to church" or join a religion’] chapter argues, “Religion says: You must still work hard to please God in order to atone for your offenses and rescue yourself from eternal torment or never-ending death. But no. This amazing rescue is a done deal. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, God is now on friendly terms with the whole world. That’s not me talking. It’s 2 Corinthians 5:19.” (Pg. 69)
Later, he adds, “Here is Martin Zender’s definition of Christianity… Christianity is a religion of … people who are smart enough to save themselves by letting Jesus ‘save’ them. (If you e-mail this definition to your friends, don’t forget the quotation marks around the second ‘save.’)” (Pg. 76) He continues, “Answer ‘yes’ to ‘Are you a Christian?' And you stereotype yourself as a person who hassles homosexuals, disdains Democrats, is chained to a church, and damns King Agrippa to hell. I am not a Christian.” (Pg. 78)
The Reason Five [‘The Christian religion is confusing and full of hypocrites’] chapter advises, “Satan’s master agents … disguise themselves ministers of righteousness [2 Cor 11:12-15]. This means that Satan works chiefly in churches, not in bars. He trades in steeples and stained glass, not in alcohol and cigarettes…” (Pg. 95-96) He adds, “The churches are worshipping a different Jesus. The true Jesus is gone from the Christian religion.” (Pg. 99-100)
The Reason Six [‘The Christian religion fits its own definition of a cult’] chapter notes, “The disturbing thing about all this (the belonging, the system, the rites, the ceremonies, the food, the fun, the fellowship, the just-believe-what-we-tell-you mentality) is that it sounds an awful lot like a cult…” (Pg. 117)
He also advises, “What if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ right now? Relax. It is not your time to believe, but your time will come… God will one day give you belief. I know this because ‘God is the Savior of all mankind.’ [1 Tim 4:10, Concordant Literal New Testament]… You cannot believe in Jesus unless God moves you to believe. I have no idea when it will happen for you. It may not happen in this lifetime…. But it will happen.”
(Pg. 126-127)
He also argues, “Eternal torment is the most offensive belief ever…. That so many Christians have received it is proof of brainwashing… proof that Christianity is the most mind-altering drug on the face of the earth. The doctrine of eternal torment is not a scriptural doctrine. It’s where the King James and other versions… describe the chastisement of unbelievers… a false scriptural veneer is lent to an otherwise insane concept.” (Pg. 166-167)
Reason Seven [‘There’s no place like home’] is the shortest chapter.
More ‘traditional’ followers of Jesus would probably cite Heb 10:25, Matt 16:18-19, Lk 4:15-16, etc. to Zender (as well as the 'house church' tradition) in rebuttal, and this book will probably repel more readers than most of his other books. But it’s still an interesting read for various ‘unchurched’ Christians.
Martin Zender bills himself as “the World's Most Outspoken Bible Scholar”; he also does a syndicated radio show with Dan Sheridan. He has written a number of other books, such as 'How to Be Free from Sin While Smoking a Cigarette,’ ‘The First Idiot in Heaven: Secrets of the Apostle Paul and Why the Meek Merely Inherit the Earth,' 'Martin Zender Goes to Hell,’ 'The Really Bad Thing About Free Will,' etc.
He wrote in the Preface to this 2002 book, “I write this preface in the wake of horrific terrorist attacks, having written the book and its introduction before. It occurred to me that some readers might wonder, ‘How can this author be so critical of organized religion, even while thousands of people gather to it? He must have written the book before the world changed.’ But the world has not changed. The attacks are more of a chronic condition… In fact, the book is now more relevant than ever… it’s true, some are returning to church. This movement should not be seen as a sudden endorsement of organized religions… but of God. It’s God that people want…[But] it shows how people instinctively associate God with organized religion and church buildings. Organized religion … can’t answer the big questions… I predict that… the people who returned to church will remember why they left, and those who started going for the first time will ask, ‘This is it?’ … We want spiritual assurance for ourselves, for our families, for the world. This, the nominal church cannot give.”
In the ‘Reason One’ chapter [‘God does not live in boxes’], he recalls, “How did I leave the church? I was listening to a sermon one day and it crashed into what I was learning on my own about the real, living Jesus. If I remembered what the sermon was about, I would print it… I was eighteen years old, otherwise I couldn’t have left. I had seen the movie ‘Jesus of Nazareth, and so I already felt some deep pull from God that raised me out of the pew while everyone else was still stuck there.” (Pg. 7)
He continues, “After I left the church, I started looking into scripture---or maybe I did that before I left… The church told me that I couldn’t eat meat on Fridays during lent. I always assumed this was in the Bible. It wasn’t… So what else was I taught that wasn’t in the Bible? Lots… Depending on how bad I was that month, I had to say ten Our Fathers, twenty Hail Marys, or some combination of the two…” (Pg. 10-11)
In the chapter on Reason Two [‘Church digs people into spiritual ruts’] he states, “Many people think: It’s either the institution or a life without Jesus. I can’t leave church and still have Christ. I have good news for you: You have more hope of finding the real Jesus outside of the institution than in it… when Jesus walked this earth…. Where did He find true fellowship? He found it outside the walls of the temple…” (Pg. 23) Later, he adds, “In 29 A.D., you did not … go to Jesus Christ’s church, because it did not have a settled location. What you did was you started following Him down the road.” (Pg. 36)
In the Reason Three [‘Church binds people to clocks and buildings’] chapter, he asserts, “when people tell you to ‘go to church,’ what they mean is that you should go to a specified building at a specified time to do specified things with specified people. Baloney. Who gave them the right to make church that? God Himself puts no such limits on the word…. The Bible contains no such phrase as ‘going to church’… The word ‘ekklesia’ engages people, not buildings…” (Pg. 51-52)
The Reason Four [‘Jesus Christ would not "go to church" or join a religion’] chapter argues, “Religion says: You must still work hard to please God in order to atone for your offenses and rescue yourself from eternal torment or never-ending death. But no. This amazing rescue is a done deal. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, God is now on friendly terms with the whole world. That’s not me talking. It’s 2 Corinthians 5:19.” (Pg. 69)
Later, he adds, “Here is Martin Zender’s definition of Christianity… Christianity is a religion of … people who are smart enough to save themselves by letting Jesus ‘save’ them. (If you e-mail this definition to your friends, don’t forget the quotation marks around the second ‘save.’)” (Pg. 76) He continues, “Answer ‘yes’ to ‘Are you a Christian?' And you stereotype yourself as a person who hassles homosexuals, disdains Democrats, is chained to a church, and damns King Agrippa to hell. I am not a Christian.” (Pg. 78)
The Reason Five [‘The Christian religion is confusing and full of hypocrites’] chapter advises, “Satan’s master agents … disguise themselves ministers of righteousness [2 Cor 11:12-15]. This means that Satan works chiefly in churches, not in bars. He trades in steeples and stained glass, not in alcohol and cigarettes…” (Pg. 95-96) He adds, “The churches are worshipping a different Jesus. The true Jesus is gone from the Christian religion.” (Pg. 99-100)
The Reason Six [‘The Christian religion fits its own definition of a cult’] chapter notes, “The disturbing thing about all this (the belonging, the system, the rites, the ceremonies, the food, the fun, the fellowship, the just-believe-what-we-tell-you mentality) is that it sounds an awful lot like a cult…” (Pg. 117)
He also advises, “What if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ right now? Relax. It is not your time to believe, but your time will come… God will one day give you belief. I know this because ‘God is the Savior of all mankind.’ [1 Tim 4:10, Concordant Literal New Testament]… You cannot believe in Jesus unless God moves you to believe. I have no idea when it will happen for you. It may not happen in this lifetime…. But it will happen.”
(Pg. 126-127)
He also argues, “Eternal torment is the most offensive belief ever…. That so many Christians have received it is proof of brainwashing… proof that Christianity is the most mind-altering drug on the face of the earth. The doctrine of eternal torment is not a scriptural doctrine. It’s where the King James and other versions… describe the chastisement of unbelievers… a false scriptural veneer is lent to an otherwise insane concept.” (Pg. 166-167)
Reason Seven [‘There’s no place like home’] is the shortest chapter.
More ‘traditional’ followers of Jesus would probably cite Heb 10:25, Matt 16:18-19, Lk 4:15-16, etc. to Zender (as well as the 'house church' tradition) in rebuttal, and this book will probably repel more readers than most of his other books. But it’s still an interesting read for various ‘unchurched’ Christians.
April 14, 2024
4 Stars. This book is not for everyone. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Super quick read. It takes a hard look at the Christian church. A lot of his points confirm my own. I find myself a spiritual person, but no longer an organized religion person.
May 28, 2013
LOVED THIS BOOK!
February 7, 2022
One of Zender's best.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews