I think that's crap. You don't have to obey the church at all. You don't have to obey anyone in fact. But you didn't read the Bible carefully (probably because it's so long) . Basically, much of the Bible is about the Jews as an example people.
In the beginning, there were the first people. They decided rather than see the world as a mixed bag, to start labeling everything "good" and "evil". This duality thinking led to jealousy and greed. Fast forward a few years, and we have people trying to build a tower to the sky. Interestingly, I've read at least one article that proposed that thid time period actually wasn't like we think, and it was actually closer to a space station that was being built. Also that around the time of Joseph, the reason for the seven year famine wad nuclear winter. I mean, at least it's entertaining?
The First Global Nuclear War and a Coverup of historical proportions...
Anyway, the time around Noah was a horrible time to live. And humans were having to search for answers because we were this close to wiping everything out. Abraham had come before that, so Noah and his familt kept this tradition, but they were basically a small line of people who survived in a ship (spaceship?) and mixed with the survivors. if you study world religion, you find that in fact there wasn't just one ark, that thid happened around the world. So anyway, humanity picked up the pieces, and started over. The Jews found that when they lived according to their traditions, they mostly did okay. When they embraced the cultures of other people... (multiculturalism is not a good thing in this story, we'll say). This was true about 80% of their history. Of course, there were also writings about how God "does not delight in burnt offerings" so I imagine at certain points, just keeping tradition isn't the answer either.
We go to church not because of rules but because of connection. Because it makes us feel a part of something. There is nothing requiring you to go to a specific temple. In fact, you can probably get the same experience out of social clubs, if the people are friendly and such. To some extent anyway.
The thing about your mentality is, it's based on thinking that all there is to sin is rules, and that it's a label to justify these rules. But the best refute to that is the book of Ecclesiastes. This is, presumably Solomon, who decides to grab everything life has to offer except God (and we're defining God here not as his role as Creator, but in terms of meaningful relationships), planting a vineyard, studying all sorts of knowledge, probably having meaningless sex, and so on. He gets depressed. Very depressed. And he sort of sounds like Frodo at Mount Doom, not being about to remember the Shire, the taste of food, or the feel of the wind.
But Solomon snaps out of it and concludes that stuff like enjoying your life with your wife and family, doing whatever you do with your whole heart, and having God is in this equation (he says nothing about laws here, just relationships) makes it slightly more meaningful.
I've actually lived alot like this guy, actually. Played every video game I found, watched a ton of anime and films, gone on a date or two, researched online and read books, and really the most interesting times I ever had were when I was around other people. But despite me actually wanting to live a better life, I found that I would far more be benefited if I were actually able to go out and be around other people (introversion kinda sucks as does severe depression).
And then there's Tangled. Rapunzel, does everything from painting, to reading, to some serious arts and crafts, but she asks "when will my life begin?" Her problem isn't with not obeying. In fact, obeying her "mom" is the problem. Her problem is with disconnection. Also, I wanted an excuse to do Tangled videos. So there.
Which is why I've added "not living life fully" to my definition.
