When I first saw this graphic, generously shared on an atheist internet community, my first reaction was “Hmm…wonder where I could buy a great shirt like this?”
I’m a person of faith who knows the world needs a cure for “religion”. You know, all that stuff that says you can torture, rape and kill ‘unbelievers’. (Or worse still, people who leave my “religion” for another “religion”.)
Am I overstating it? Then let’s examine the “religious” part of just one faith, Christianity. You may have experienced it:
- People who appear to have it all together sitting in cold-hearted judgement of others.
- People who sniff their disapproval of those with tattoos or nose rings.
- People who claim they welcome others to their churches — as long as those people fit in, ’cause hey, we’re certainly NOT going to change for YOU.
- People who seem to spend more time angrily opposing things than lovingly offering an alternative.
All this is how I see “religion”.
Is there a cure? Absolutely, but it’s controversial. It’s Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is God’s divine Son.
Still with me, but wondering what the heck I’m writing about? Good.
During His physical time on earth, Jesus had little use for the rituals of “religion” and the self-righteous, soulless lives it so often produces.
In one of the four original-source biographies of Jesus’ life, He says this to people like you and me: “Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.”
In his book The End of Religion, Canadian pastor Bruxy Cavey writes “Notice how Jesus is not pointing toward a different and better religion, but instead He invites us to Himself as an alternative to the weary way of religion.”
Exactly. That’s the thing you might not know: being a Jesus follower isn’t about a religion. It’s about a person and how you and I can have a relationship with Him that starts in this life and stretches into eternity.
That means no guilt-induced rituals that create nothing but spiritual fatigue. It also means thoughtfully, consciously turning away from the elitism of “us versus them” and the smugness of judgmentalism.
When people honestly, humbly come to Jesus, they come knowing they are every bit as imperfect as the people they are tempted to judge. They come with the realization that it’s them who must change.
That was the case for me when I decided to believe in and follow Jesus at age 42. And it’s made me a better person.
Do you want to be a better person without the shackles of religion? Then check out Jesus, because He tells everyone who will listen that “anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.”
Sound interesting? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 