I personally have nothing against religion being organized. God is not a God of confusion. He himself organizes his heavenly realm into a hierarchy of angels.

1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

So organization per se is really not what the problem is. After all, the option would be disorganization. Yet organization is always referred to when people speak negatively about religion. Why is that?

Because "God does not dwell in a house built by hands" and, God is a "personal God." It's sort of like what I was trying to explain in another thread (it's there somewhere ), if a plant of it's own accord does not receive the sun, given that the other climatic controls are in place, it will perish.

But then again I suppose it's reasonable to ask, why is a forest composed of so many trees?

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So when the body dies, and consciousness departs, where do "we" go? ... Off to define another "reality" perhaps?

I think that the very important thing to keep in mind for Christians is as you said--a personal relationship with God above all things. If we begin believing that mere church attendance means more than that relationship, then we run the risk of becoming spiritually impoverished. Even worse, we become carnal minded and will tend to judge other by the same faulty criterion by which we evaluate ourselves.

Well, I just botched up your post, Sorry! It looks like I'm going to have to restrict my moderator options to keep from doing this again. I keep hitting "Edit" instead of "Quote!" Feel free to change it back if you can remember what all was there. Once again, Sorry ...

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So when the body dies, and consciousness departs, where do "we" go? ... Off to define another "reality" perhaps?

Yes, I think this is what most people tend to view as the problem here. However, I don't see anything wrong (necessarily) with going to Church merely for the sake of getting together socially, rather than staying home and feeling isolated, so long as one understands this is what one's doing. But then again if they start preaching stuff you're unprepared to accept, then you have to ask yourself what you're doing there.

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So when the body dies, and consciousness departs, where do "we" go? ... Off to define another "reality" perhaps?

I guess that's why people visit different churches until they find a church they feel "at home" in and the message is "generally" in line with what one believes. No one necessarily agrees with everything the "preacher" says but they can use what they need and overlook the rest.