a layman's thoughts - Is Christianity just another Ideology?

I had to think about this a bit and figure out is our faith really just another set of moral codes? Is it another ideology? If it is, then I would have to say as some of my friends already have said: "Why do I need the Church to be a good person? I can be kind and moral outside the Church just as well as if inside it, right?" After all, the intellectual argument goes like this: can't an atheist, agnostic, secularist, etc., be a good person? And if the answer is yes they can, then why do they need the Church?
   Christopher Hitchens once asked a crowd, discussing and debating God or no God, what is it that I as an atheist cannot do that a Christian can do? I don't think the debater against him answered that question and no one from the crowd fired back an answer either. So what are we to think now? If there is no difference between a Church attending Christian and a non-church attending atheist and, they are both good people by following morals and the mores of society,  then what is the difference between them? In other words, does it make me a better person if I attend Church then if I do not? If the answer is no and it does not matter, then we should conclude that the Church is not necessary for moral goodness. Because I can be good outside of the Church.
   I think if we pose the question like this, then it changes the game a bit: Can I be Christ-like or a "new" person without being part of the Body-of-Christ? The way the ancient Church understood what the Church is in relation to an Ideology was that it was a spiritual hospital for the formation of the "new" person in Christ and not an ideology or moral conduct code. And by being a participant in the mysteries of Christ or the Sacraments, a person begins to be more like Christ or as the ancient Church understood the process called Theosis. This then, logically, and more directly, mysteriously, transforms the person so they become other-worldly or not of this world. They are in the process of Theosis, a change in the inward man so they experience Christ's presence in the now and not only after death or in Heaven.
   This way or life of the Church changes it from an ideology to a participatory way of living in the Body of Christ which is the Church and the life in Him. The early Church therefore separated itself from ideology and looked instead to divine transformation and the early Church proves this through the lives of the Saints and Patriarchs.
   So when (God rest his soul) Christopher Hitchens asked what was it that he could not do and a Christian could... I guess the answer was and is that he could not become a Saint. He could not participate in the Life of Christ, which is not an outward moral code of living but a real living Sacramental life, Eucharistic life, and eternal life; a life to be lived now in the present.
   Now the big question comes: do all churches agree on the sacramental life of the Church as it was understood by the early Church? The clear response to this is a big no! And therefore, the staggering conclusion has to follow: all current churches therefore are incorrect or only one can be correct, one can be the truth, one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. We see and realize the current confusion of a fragmented idea of Church as it exists today in multiple-denominations and many others. Either the Eucharist is the Presence of Christ and real communion with Him or it is a symbol. Either the Sacraments are a mysterious unity with God or not. We can't have it both ways: Yes or No.The Church of Heaven cannot be divided and the Church on earth cannot be divided if it partakes of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. There is no such thing as a divided Church as there is no such thing as a divided Trinity. The Church of Christ is visible, invisible, and indivisible... forever and ever unto the ages of ages.
  Furthermore, If we assume then that all the Churches are wrong, then what Christ said here is proved to be false... ¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18-19). ¹⁹  



In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and with the prayers of Saint Peter, the intercession prayers of St. Demetrios and blessed Elder Paisios of the Mount Athos. May we all be changed by the divine love of Jesus Christ to a good account before the awesome judgment seat of Christ unto life everlasting. Glory to God.