Is having a ministry that is not under the covering of a local church biblical? How can we know if our actions in general are Biblical? How should we look at the work done by a publicly or privately acclaimed atheist? How can we know whether or not God approves of what a person is doing? This question is simple enough to answer one might say; but because we are asking if it is biblical or not means we are measuring the actions by standards listed in the Bible. I am also assuming my reader respects the Bible as an authority in determining approved standards; and even if my reader does not approve of the Bible, he or she, at least, can safely view our discussion from the perspective of a Christian believer. A discussion on the Bible being the best possible standard for absolute truth is a different discussion.
Let us now ask: Can an atheist do anything that is Biblically correct? This may seem obviously ridiculous since even the fair-minded atheist who does not believe in God, may well view the Christian Bible (with some respect) as merely an excellent, literary work or book of the Christian religion. He may see the Bible similar to the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran and the key writings of other religions. This book, the Bible, the atheist may claim as providing wonderful stories of how Christian believers should live in a society of mixed cultures and customs in the world. To the Christian, the Bible is God’s word and it is the truth (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; John 17:17). To the Christian the Holy Bible makes it clear why and how we live. It describes and states how we must conduct ourselves; and it gives us examples of righteous attitudes and behaviour as well as it provides us with a comprehensive picture of the supreme example of lifestyle in Jesus Christ. It tells us of the divine plan for humanity and what happens after death.
The atheist, being a humanist, naturally has his or her views of the world in which we live and may well feel compassion for his or her fellow humans. The atheist may believe that the survival of the fittest view, got humanity to the social level where we are now. With this atheistic or humanist view of the world, the atheist may see it only normal and logical as well as sensible to help his fellow human beings. There is no need for God in his or her world. Human experience in striving to survive overtime has forced humanity to realise that to progress and grow socially, humanity needs to compromise. Community is important. In this compromise we need to help each other, we need to look after the sick, the poor, the needy, and the weak. So where in this formula is God necessary, the atheists argue?
Regardless of our bias as Christian believers and our dislike for the claims of atheism, we must remember that one of the key qualities of God and which is repeatedly taught in the Holy Bible is love. This love incorporates much of the behaviour that the Bible prescribes. This means the Biblical love in action is shown in taking care of the poor, weak, sick, and needy—all these are included in what Jesus referred to as “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40). We remember the unbelieving Roman Centurion who asked Jesus Christ to heal his servant who was a believer in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The centurion was confident that if Jesus proclaimed healing at the distant—not visiting personally the believing servant—that the servant will be healed. Jesus did just that and the servant was indeed healed. Jesus pointed out that in all of Israel (the believing nation) there was no one with such demonstrable faith as displayed by an unbeliever (Matt 8:5-13, NIV).
Now here is the apostle Peter entering the house of a gentile and this was never done during the apostolic times. The Bible says, [As Peter entered the house; Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor,” (Acts 10:22-31, NIV). So God observed the gentile Cornelius’ gifts to the poor. Note that Cornelius the gentile would have normally been seen as impure and unclean, God showed the apostle Peter not to think him so. So God recognised the good done by the unbeliever, the atheist, the humanist, the skeptic, or the agnostic as well as the believer.
So why would some pastors think, a ministry not under the covering of a local church is unbiblical, though it is doing “good” to the poor or needy—whom Jesus calls “the least”? Clearly such a view by those pastors is wrong. Someone can do “good” even though they do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. What then is the advantage of doing good as a believer? Or is there any advantage at all? Surely God who created everything, all statues, and universal laws, is impartial and his laws he himself will never and cannot break. Thus for the “good” we do we will have blessings in accordance to what we do.
Even so, if we live a life of seeking to do good on every occasion, we will receive blessings for all that we do—without exception. But the Bible is clear that we all will die once as God has ordained (Heb 9:27) and then the judgement which determines where we will go after death. We are judged to be in heaven or hell for that is what Scripture says. This decision is based on other requirements which God has prescribed: repentance, acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour; in other words, salvation through Christ by God’s grace (Eph. 2:8, 9).
So how we live matters along with what or whom we have made Lord of our lives. We have more than guidelines for living in the Holy Bible. In fact the purpose of the Bible is clear: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Tim 3:16-17). It is therefore logical that to know if what we are doing is biblical; we should check its standards, purpose, and intent against the values of the Bible. This is how I know that CREM is a Biblically run ministry. Jesus encourages us to serve the needy, the poor, the imprisoned, the sick, and those needing shelter when he said, “if you do it to the least of these, you do it to me,” (Matt. 25:40). CREM does not need the covering of a church. In fact, no humanitarian work does, but it makes sense for church to get busy obeying our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and serving “the least.”