You're ignorant.
I've learned that the church isn't perfect, because people are perfect.
Yet, the best churches incorporates doctrines based on Biblical scriptures, -I believe THE VERY BEST source for spiritual development.
As you corrctly noted that SOME people changed what Christ said. However, when people pervert the scriptures, no reasonable person would use that as an excuse to condemn ALL churches; that's the same perverted thinking that creates hate groups, and losers who refuse to work within the parameters of the law to get what they want.
Of course, if you don't believe in spirits, you're that much further behind the curve. People do not believe in spirits, mostly because they've never seen, heard, or felt one.
Well, we can "see" oxygen, but without it, we can't live (although we can feel it);
we've never touched our hearts, or "heard" our brains, but that doesn't mean that we don't have them (*I guess these last two parallels apply, but it depends on whom we're speaking with).
In the final analysis, with so much more that we have yet to learn about our mortal bodies, is it really reasonable to dismiss the concept of spiritual development? Remember, people in certain parts of europe believed that the world was flat, just because they couldn't see beyond their own horizon.
The church isn't perfect, but it provides us with an organized system and order in which WE WORK TOGETHER to reconnect with the One, true God; proper doctrines and order help to reduce the opportunities for those who would exploit the vulnerable for their own perverted purposes.
