04/27/2008 - Giving Religion a Bad Name

 

The Apostle Paul finds himself under personal verbal attack in the “high culture” of Athens, this cosmopolitan university town.  Rather than engage Paul in the arena of ideas, initially, the citizens whom he encounters participate in namecalling.  They put forth hackneyed arguments that are based on incorrect impressions of Christianity.  Clearly the great learning of Athens’ leading citizenry does not eliminate rudeness or false religion.  Their elite academic intellectualism has left them narrow-minded & parochial.  To Paul’s dismay, neither has the local synagogue helped erase this ignorance of God. 

(If you’re drawing contemporary parallels to many institutions of higher learning in our day, to the clergy & religious scholars in their midst, & to the new movie, “Expelled,” you realize the relevance of these 2000-year-old scriptures!)

The apostle is then escorted to the leading venue in Athens.  It is the areopagus, a town square of sorts, where trendy ideas are popularly debated.  Once there, Paul debates.  The word for debate which Luke, the writer of Acts, uses is one that denotes a collegial exchange of ideas leading toward a constructive end, as well as being an approach that is open & honest, not hostile (Hall in “Acts” in the New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 10, pa. 244).  In other words, Paul, despite his opponents’ insolent treatment of him, treats them with equanimity, as persons of merit & value.  He counters their disrespect “with reverence & gentleness,” just as our lesson from Peter recommends (albeit decades later) when Christians speak about our faith.

 

St. Paul engages in something called Christian apologetics.  Apologetics does not apologize for one’s faith, as we might think, but helpfully explains the truth about Jesus & Christianity.  For example, in the early days of the church, Romans believed that Christians were cannibals.  “Why, they partake of Christ’s body & blood!” they accused.  A vicious charge like that requires a frank, thoughtful response, otherwise a friendly relationship is impossible when folks think that they’re next on the menu!  More than addressing questions or countering misperceptions, Paul makes the case that Christianity is about relationships.  It is not religion as persons customarily know it.

 

How many times have we heard that all-too-familiar charge that the reason some folks don’t go to church is because they “don’t like organized religion?”  Outside of my Presbyterian friends from seminary, who brag that their denomination does everything “decently & in order,” I haven’t seen much in the way of organization in most churches.  Disorganization, yes, but not too much actual order & organization.  Don’t we wish things were a little better organized most days!?!

Christianity is not organized, but it’s also not a religion in the classic sense.  You see, religion is humans trying to work their way to God.  Christianity is God working His way to humans through a relationship with Jesus.  Let me explain.

How many religions entail acts of devotion, acts of obedience, acts of sacrifice that are done to appease a certain deity?  Persons don’t worship because they love the god, but because they abjectly fear the god or want to cajole the god to give them blessings.  These religions -- be they primitive spiritualism, forms of nature worship, veneration of ancestors, or idol worship -- mandate that their devotees do things to keep the god or gods happy.   Subsequently, these practices help adherents stay out of trouble, or be free of suffering.  This is religion; Keep the God happy; we’re happy; selfishness on both sides.  Religion.

I admit that there are persons who refer to themselves as Christians who have this same mistaken concept of God.  They are the God-fearers, not the God-reverers.  They’re often particularly superstitious persons whose image of God is of a “beat cop in the sky” who exists to keep humans in line, or a “heavenly sugar daddy” who blesses people with all sorts of goodies, or a tribal deity whose name is invoked in times of national crisis or good fortune.  These gods are not so much worshiped out of love, as placated out of fear.  This is religion.  This is bad religion.  This is unhealthy, tyrannical, fear-mongering religion.  It is, actually, spiritual slavery.
 

In John 15:15, Jesus says, “I do not call you slaves, but friends.”  Slaves fear their harsh master.  Friends love one another reciprocally.  My own understanding of both the Hebrew & English languages, as well as Jesus’ own words, suggest that “respect” & “reverence” are better translations of how to relate to God, than the word “fear.”  Translators have a bias.  Hence, God-revering serves a faith relationship, better than God-fearing, which serves religion.

Some persons could say that human imperfections give religion a bad name.  No, it already has a bad name.  Religion, as described, is bad from the “git go.”

 

Yes, there are certainly some “religious” things which Christians do, no doubt, but those religious rites & practices do not strike at the heart of our faith. (Take my vestments for an example:  whether I wear liturgical garb, a suit & tie, or jeans & a golf shirt is based on the preference of worshiping congregations, denominations, & the clergy.  My preaching & ability to honor God is not better or worse because of my attire.)   That’s why Quakers worship differently than Roman Catholics who express faith differently than United Methodists, yet we’re all Christians.  Christianity is a faith of the heart built on a personal relationship which God makes possible at Creation, brings to life in the redemptive life, death, & resurrection of Jesus Christ, & continues to nurture in the sustaining work of the Holy Spirit through believers.

Again, in religion, humans reach out to God.  In the Christian faith, God reaches out to us.  We don’t have to do works to get to God, although we often vainly try.  God does the work to get to us.  God sends the prophets to us.  God inspires the writing of Holy Scripture for us.  God comes in the form of His Son, Jesus of Nazareth the Christ, to be with us.  God’s Son lives with us & models the best life for us.  And Jesus Christ, rather than telling us to make sacrifices to him, sacrifices himself for us.  This is what a relational God is, does, & is all about.  A faith relationship is quite different than religion.

A God intent on a relationship with the persons He created does not require us to prove ourselves.   As persons created & redeemed & sanctified by God, we are created in God’s image, & therefore, are by our very nature  inherently valuable to God.  We don’t have to do anything.  We are cherished as the beloved children of a heavenly Father, One is who an exceptionally divine Parent.
 

Yes, we may feel inferior, & hence, possess the need to prove ourselves to God, but God has no such thoughts about us.  God has no instructions for us on how to prove ourselves to Him.  God requires no such proofs.  God is not fooled by such proofs.
 

We are the ones who too often feel like failures.  We, as the credit crunch & mortgage crisis reveal, spend money & overextend our budget on expensive purchases in order to feel better about ourselves & prove ourselves to self & others.  We push our children to excel so that we can feel better about ourselves or prove that we’re good parents.  We convince ourselves about untrue things regarding others & pass along such gossip to feel better about our lives.  Our ambitions seek that advanced degree or the noteworthy title or the high salary to impress & prove to others & ourselves that we’re okay & are successful.  When those things don’t prove satisfactory (& they cannot ever be satisfactory), we may have that drink or take a drug to feel better, while masking how bad we really feel.  We, humans, do all sorts of things to demonstrate to ourselves & one another that we’re not failures.
 

All of this is religion, too, but religion operating at a secular level, & perhaps, at its most destructive level.  We make new gods who influence us to replace the one, true God.  We give allegiance to these gods which motivate us, etc.  This religion cannot be helpful.  This is what we created religion to do.  So when persons charge that religion is a human creation, they’re correct.

God, however, didn’t create religion. God created us.  We are the offspring about whom God cares so much & wants a relationship with us.  God created faith & put wiring for spirituality right into our DNA.  In actuality, then, God does religion for us.  God takes our corrupted idea of faith, which we call religion, & says to each of us, “I love you, simply because I created you.  That’s reason enough to know you’re of value.  You don’t have to engage in this other lunacy.  Again, I created you in my image!   But if your inherent value as my beloved child is not convincing to you, then rather than have you think you can reach me through some artificial means & sacrifices, I’ll do the religion.  I’ll do the sacrificing.  I’ll sacrifice my lofty position in the heavens, my Son, myself, for you, so that you don’t need to engage in all of this unhealthy religion.  Have a faith lived sincerely in response to this relationship of love & grace, not out of an impersonal religion’s fear & loathing or selfishness.

“I’ve already proven that I love you,” God pronounces in Jesus & the resurrection.  “You don’t need to do anything else, or anything at all, to appease me, to reach me, to earn my love.  You already have it … in abundance.
 

“Know that my grace is sufficient for you (2nd Cor. 12:9).  Embrace it.  Accept it.  Receive my Son.  Claim my love for yourself.  I love you.” 

In the Name….                                             Copyright 2008 by G.D.Knerr at Lansdale, Pa.  All rights reserved.

 

 

I was at the far southern end of Morris Road, driving by the Germantown Academy.  There was on-going construction.  Standing in the street was a woman clad in a bright vest & hard hat holding an orange “Slow” sign, as I approached.  I heeded the placard’s instruction & slowed to a crawl.

 Proceeding past the woman, she yelled at the top of her lungs, severely berating me for not stopping.  There was no cursing, but it was almost as bad.  Nearly at a stop, anyway, I backed up, lowered the window, & indignantly announced to her that the sign said, “Slow,” not “Stop.”  She glanced upward &  realized that the two-sided sign with “Stop” printed on the other side had not been facing the on-coming traffic.
 

The flagwoman loudly exclaimed, “I’m sorry, sir,” to which I immediately responded, “I forgive you!”  The woman was temporarily rendered speechless.  When she overcame her abject surprise, she thanked me, & we held a brief conversation during the wait.             

There is a way to bring our Christian faith into daily life.  There is a way to practice faith outside of the church & home.  There is a way which Jesus’ model can be brought to bear that makes a difference.