If you think the church is so bad that you no longer care to be a part of it, let me ask you, "How would you like to rear your children in a country where churches were not allowed?" If it came to a vote, would you vote to do away with the church in this country? I doubt it. I doubt that one tenth of one per cent would want to do away with the church. As bad as you may think the church to be, it is a fact that cannot be successfully disputed that without the church Christianity would not survive. In fact, real Christianity is the church. Christ is the head and Christians are the body. The church is the fullness of Christ, and Christ is the fullness of God (Eph. 1:22, Col. 2:9). When you turn from the church you turn from Christ, and there is no alternative but eternal damnation. Whatever you may find wrong with the church, it is still the body of Christ, the kingdom of heaven, the called out people of God, and there is no salvation out of it.

You cannot be good enough out of Christ to pass the test at the bar of judgment. And I would prefer to have my association with the imperfect and the hypocrites now than in eternity. If the church is marred by the sins of men like you and me, and if the Lord thought enough of it to die for it, I think enough of it to live in it.

Truth Magazine, XVIII:1, p. 9
November 1, 1973