Ruthless Religion

I am sometimes asked why I so often speak against religion. The answer is easy: it's because of what religion does to people. It binds them up in a world of needless guilt and condemnation. The World Book Dictionary says that, "The word "religion" comes from the Latin word "religio" which has a meaning influenced by the verb "religare"- to bind, in the sense of "place an obligation on."

So the word "religion" means to bind people to a duty they must fulfill. It is always associated with an attempt to make ourselves acceptable to God. Some religious cultures have demanded that people offer their children as sacrifices to their gods. Some are less demanding and simply insist that followers get on their knees, face a certain direction and pray seven times a day. The one I'm most familiar with insists that to really be "in fellowship" with God, followers must do their daily Bible reading and have a quiet time - not to mention going to church, tithing, witnessing, ad nauseum.

The fact is that it makes little difference what the demands are, religion is a bankrupt attempt at trying to score brownie points with Somebody who isn't impressed in the slightest with our fanatical foolishness and, ironically, wishes we would stop this nonsense.

Jesus Christ came to set us right with God and contrary, to the way many Christians think and act, He did just that. His mission here on earth wasn't a failure but was a complete success. The Father's work, carried out through the Son by the power of the Spirit has given us an A-plus in God's book. No,wait. That's not true. To be exact, it caused Him to just throw away the grade book altogether. School's out for the summer and summer will never end.

He didn't start the ball toward Divine acceptance rolling and then leave it up to us to carry it the rest of the way by our religious disciplines. "It is finished" was His verdict on the matter. Shortly afterward, He went back to heaven and sat down by the right hand of the Father. He didn't sit down because He was tired from fulfilling His mission, but because there's nothing left to do.

"But what about our responsibilty?" the anxious legalistic mind cries out. I do grow weary in ministry of trying to reassure the legalist that grace doesn't lead to passivity. The bottom line is that it is precisely because of grace that we are response-able (responsible) and have the desire to honor our Father by our actions. Grace won't make a person lazy. Legalism, on the other hand, will destroy everything good that is the birthright of every grace walker.

So I speak against religion because I haven't met one yet that acknowledged there's nothing we have to do because it's already been done. Religion demands dedication to duty. Grace glorifies the One who has already done all things well.