Before I say anything, I should say this: I used to be a
very religious person.
But now, for me there’s almost nothing as repulsive as this:
religion. By ‘Religion’ here I mean a ritualistic, legalistic conception of God
and worship which always reveals itself, in those who have it, as judgemental, arrogant,
sanctimonious, closed-minded, hypocritical and outright annoying.
It is religion that has got some Muslims blowing up cities and
wreaking dastardly havoc in ‘holy’ jihad as a means to heaven where it is
claimed scores of eager virgins await them. It is religion that has had Christians
execute violence on lesbians and homosexuals in a bid to defend their faith and
stamp out the ‘abomination’.
Because I believe and worship Jesus, I will here focus on Christian
‘religion’ and how irritating it is. You meet someone for the first time and in
less than three minutes they have said ‘God bless you’ ‘we bless God, and ‘it
is well’, almost half a dozen times all unsolicited and often needless. As a
personal note, I never take such people seriously. Not even as serious
Christians.
Christian ‘religion’ is a sin hunter always searching for,
pointing fingers and detecting ‘new’ sins in people. Many of our pulpits play host
to men and women very experienced and well versed in the art of filthy rags. I
speak of the art of self righteousness. They preach more of what THEY do, how
much THEY pray, fast, give thanks, praise, etc, to get results and they rarely
ever talk of what Jesus our Christ has already done for ALL OF US on that
sinner’s cross He endured, which really is the fountain and source of EVERY
result/blessing we will ever get.
It is such religious Christians who instruct the polygamous
man who receives Christ in a polygamous state and joins their church to discard
his other legally married wives and maintain only the first. Please if your
pastor is like that, ask them to show you where that is in the Bible. It is such
people who say there are no genuinely saved people in the mainstream entertainment
industry (as a pastor of a popular church denomination said to me on my first
day of marriage counselling), it is such people who say women/men who wear gold
or other jewellery are condemned, it is such people who say those of us who are
not teetotallers are committing a sin as some senior pastor friend of mine of
the same denomination recently accused me of. I do not advocate drunkenness or
irresponsible drinking and guess what, nobody does! Even the ‘world’ abhors
drunkenness! But when you say that the very drinking of alcohol is a sin, then
you are the sinner because you are a liar! No where does the Bible say that.
You know what I have found out? Mahatma Gandhi was right
when he said ‘the whole world would be Christians but for the Christians
themselves’. I sincerely believe in the potency of Jesus’ death and
resurrection to save the lost, heal all brokenness and addictions and give us
eternal life, but we, Christians, have ceased to present Christ’s liberty and
salvation, insisting on the proclamation of laws, doctrines and superficial character
modification which lands us right in the lap of that thing called religion.
Religion is a demon and when we let religion possess us, we become the very enemies
of the gospel we claim to love.
