Why Religion?

For many, this term is a positive one, bringing to mind a solemn reverence for God and the rules and routines associated with that. For many others, however, it brings to mind a system of worship that tends to make one rely on (and brag about) one’s own work and worthiness. In this system, there is a “hierarchy of holiness” where few are able to bear up for very long under the pressure of trying to please the Almighty and earn His love. Prayer, Bible study, and spiritual disciplines become ends instead of means. New rules are always being added making Christianity a very heavy burden. This is the very system that Jesus Himself observed among the “religious” of His day and taught against.

It seems that every major Christian denomination began with noble intent, but many seem to have strayed from the kind of religion that God approves. For example, the book of James says that if you don’t control your words, your religion is worthless. It then says that the kind of religion that pleases God is about staying unspotted from the world (See Why Holiness?), but it is first about meeting the needs of orphans and widows. Jesus healed people on days when “religion” said “you can’t do that!” He sat and ate with people that “religion” said were “unclean” and therefore unworthy of His presence or concern. In other words, Jesus taught us to be free of religious bondage and to be alive to the Spirit of God. Since He paid the price for all sin, we are free!
(Matthew 5:18-20, Matthew 11:25-30, Matthew 23:23, James 1:26-27, Colossians 2:8, Colossians 2:16-23, 1 Corinthians 6:12,10:23, Romans 6:10-22)