Why I Hate Religion

Posted by Otter at 10:33pm Jan 22 '09
You must sign in to send Otter a message

Why I Hate Religion

This is a short essay written by me… it’s not taken from anyone else’s work. You can blame me if it’s wrong or doesn’t make sense. I fully confess that I’m human and flawed and it’s likely I have a few things wrong. It’s based on a number of things I have read and understood lately and the concept itself is certainly not original to me. The writing of this though is something I’ve felt compelled to do for a few weeks now.

The Etymology of the word Religion:

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary traces the word back to an old Latin word religio meaning "taboo, restraint." A deeper study discovers the word comes from the two words re and ligare. Re is a prefix meaning "return," and ligare means "to bind;" in other words, "return to bondage."

The literal Greek translation of this word from use in early biblical times is also “to bind back�.

Return to Bondage…. To Bind Back….

What does this mean for modern-day religions?

To me it’s very simple. First we must analyze another question.

How do you get to Heaven? If you don’t believe in Heaven or at least the possibility of one, then obviously this doesn’t apply to you and your time is better served thinking about a different argument.

Many people subscribe to this idea that you must be good or do good to get into Heaven. They see God as a big judge on a bench in Heaven waiting to tell you how badly you’ve messed-up your life when you get there and assessing whether or not you were “good enough� to get in.

What kind of sense does this make? If Heaven is perfect, why would imperfect people get in?

Is anyone perfect? I’m certainly not. I’m full of sin and error. It’s in my very flesh, my very core desire has a bent to failure and sin. If I am to rely on my good deeds alone, certainly I cannot get into Heaven.

Romans 3:23 -- For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Some people think of Christianity and/or Judaism as the set of rules in the Old Testament. Islam is very similar – in fact – where you have a set of rules in the Q’ran that you must follow in order to get into Heaven. Many believe this is the core of God and they don’t want anything to do with him because they know they are far to failed to achieve such quality dedication to “doing good�. Others simply don’t see the point. If we, as humans, are made to be flawed and with sin… how could we possibly live a perfect-enough life to please a perfect God? They believe this makes no sense, and they’re right, it doesn’t make any sense.

If you think Humans ARE God… as some religions and modern mysticisms would support… I present you the problem of Evil: Genocide, Corruption, Greed, Murder, Rape, etc…

God is perfect, he would want nothing to do with us sinners…. Except that he loves us. Love is not logical. It does not make sense.

God loves us so much that he sent us Jesus. He doesn’t want to be some crazy mad overlord judging us for our actions. He loves us like a mother loves her baby… only even moreso… such that he wants to have a REAL relationship with us. He wants us to keep him closest to our hearts and our thoughts, not distant. The distance illusion is a trick by the enemy.

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts.� - A.W. Tozer

Jesus actually takes this a step further though at one point… making it even harder to be perfect. Look at this from his famous “sermon on the mount� (the words of Jesus himself):

Matthew 5

21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

C*ap! Anyone who is angry with his brother? In this context “his brother� means anyone at all. Oh man… I am so subject to judgment.

27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully is subject to judgment too?! Oh man… all those days on 4chan… all those summer days… every day, actually… every single day.

43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Love your enemy what?!? This is mind-blowing to me. Jesus wants us to LOVE our ENEMIES?!

Enemy could mean… the guy that raped your sister. It could mean those people that blew up the World Trade Center in NYC.

Is Jesus seriously giving us a new set of rules to follow that are even MORE impossible than the rules in the old testament? With these rules – there is no human on earth that could be good enough to get into Heaven. It’s a good thing that Jesus went on to tell us about God’s grace.

This is why I Hate Religion.

Religion – to bind back. To return to bondage.

Religion to me means any man or set of men who decide on a set or rules that you must follow in order to be accepted by God, Christ, or his Church.

A quick and very important aside. Church and Religion are not mutually inclusive – or at least they don’t HAVE to be.

Some Church’s are…. Some entire denominations are…. But not all of them. A true Church that follows the teachings of Jesus Christ… is not a church that requires you to follow any particular rules in order to be saved.

That’s right, saving is free. God loves us so much that he knows it would be impossible for us to be perfect-enough for him on our own accord. So he gives us Jesus to set us free from sin, he gives us his power through the Holy Spirit to defeat sin, and he gives us his word to tell us all this (and much more) about him.

Romans 3:21-28 (a better picture of the whole story):

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

I really like 27 – we are given freedom from sin as a free gift so that we can never boast and become prideful about our own meager achievements in the light of his Glory. This is not meant to put us down but rather lift us up to God.

Also 24 “undeserved kindness�… no doubt.

The inevitable question – “You can’t tell me that Charles Manson might be in Heaven just because he accepted Christ into his heart�

Oh yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. It’s between him and God, and it’s not for any of us to Judge. If he truly accepted the love of Christ into his heart – he is definitely in Heaven today.

It’s really that simple. Some would say it’s too simple… I don’t think it’s too simple. It can be very hard for a self-sufficient intelligent man (or woman) to believe. The only thing you have to do is truly accept the love of Jesus Christ into your heart. That’s it. You’re in. Only you and God know if it’s true. I won’t know. I can’t know. I’m only human. Any human that tells you otherwise is wrong.

What’s the motivation then for people to do good? For a Christian – a real follower of Christ as you say it… to do good?

The motivation is gratitude. The man who truly has God’s grace in his heart is so thankful for the gift that he WANTS to do good. He wants to be a better man to show God that he is thankful for his FREE GIFT. A gift of such amazing insurmountable value that it’s too great for us as humans to even truly conceive. What greater motivation could be than that?

Just because you are saved does not mean you are free from the desires of sin. We are, after all, still humans on earth. Half spirit and half flesh… we are forced to do battle.

It just means you are free from the BONDAGE of sin. You are free from it’s control. You are free to call on God to help you defeat it. He will be your strength. Part of being human and flesh means that we will always have this battle within us for control… It’s our curse of humanity… and it’s why we can’t wait for redemption.

Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength… and he will set you free.

He will not BIND you into man’s rules. This is why I hate Religion. It’s man’s attempt to put rules on God’s love. There are no rules for his love. He loves you even if you don’t love him back. It’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s what makes it so AWEsome.

Why is Church not mutually inclusive to religion? Church is an amazing way to learn about God’s love, to hang out with other people who understand it or who are learning about it, and it’s designed to help bring you closer to God. That’s Church as God designed it… not Church as man’s institution. It comes in a lot of forms and in a lot of places.

The most important thing about picking a right church is making sure that they are a people who trust wholly in the word alone. If you are at a church where someone is clearly adding-to or taking-away from the word, leave.

Church is not for people who consider themselves to be perfect Christians or those with pious superiority complexes. It’s for people who are broken, flawed, weak, and in need of his grace. In other words, all of us. God uses us to help each-other and Church creates an avenue for this to happen. Don’t be confused… God can do anything.

Ephesians 3:20 -- Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Want to get right with God today? How? Pray. You don’t have to say anything special. Just get alone, get focused, and talk to God out loud like he’s your best friend. No special words, no special drills or practices… just talk. He can hear you. He’s right here….. with you right now.

sorry about the special character substitutions for ' guys... that's what I get for copy/pasting from Word.