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Posts Tagged ‘religion is evil’

REPLACING RELIGION WITH RELATIONSHIP

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2021| 7 Comments »

Maybe you’ve read a statement like this atheist meme (a fake quote which the actor and former Saturday Night Live member never said), or someone has simply told it to you and you’ve nodded in agreement then went on with your life.

But does stating something so boldly make it true? I decided to do some research and soon discovered that it’s impossible to come up with a credible number of people “killed by religion”.

Here’s why: one website tackled the topic and concluded that in the history of this planet, more than 195 million people have been killed in the name of religion. That is a truly sobering, astonishing number.

Then I looked at what was included. The list includes:

  • the 1990s Rwandan genocide (800,000 deaths)
  • several hundred years of slave trading (14 million deaths)
  • AIDS in Africa (30 million deaths).

What’s wrong with including these tragedies? Well, the first was tribal warfare, the second was horrific economic racism and the third was deliberate government ignorance and prejudice against gay people.

Did religion play a role in any of them? Possibly, but it certainly wasn’t the major factor.

But let’s set that aside and look at the bigger picture. That picture makes it clear: religion is an overwhelming negative force. It makes people judgmental, it creates an “us versus them” mentality and, in the end, it encourages people to think anyone not in their religion is inferior.

The inevitable result is Islamic terrorism (150,000 deaths since 2000, according to this same website),  the Jewish Holocaust (six million deaths), the Spanish Inquisition (5,000 deaths) and more unspeakable horrors.

If you’ve visited Frank’s Cottage before, you might know where I’m going with this: leave behind the nightmare of religion and look instead to one man. Two thousand years ago, this man came to earth in physical form and, without a single act of violence against another person, He:

  1. physically and spiritually restored broken lives;
  2. proposed – and demonstrated – an entirely new way to live and love;
  3. sacrificed His life for the eternal good of everyone who follows Him, then;
  4. showed His ultimate power over death by coming back to life.

I’m talking about Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God. His mission – then AND now – is to replace religion with a life-transforming relationship with the creator of time, space and the universe.

That relationship, made possible through faith in Jesus, can bring hope, change and restoration to every person who decides to follow Him. Just as important, anyone on this planet can say yes to this relationship, no matter what they’ve done or not done. That includes YOU.

Interested in knowing more? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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FROM ‘HATEFUL LEMMINGS’ TO AGENTS OF CHANGE

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2017| 17 Comments »

Elton John is being too kind here. The reality is, “organized religion” absolutely, overwhelmingly does not work.

In fact, “organized religion” is so wildly unsuccessful that just putting those two words together causes a negative reaction in people like me.

Because I follow Jesus of Nazareth — whom many people believe is the Son of God — you might not understand. Aren’t people like me all about “religion”? In a word, NO.

Serious followers of Jesus have zero interest in “religion” because it does exactly what Elton John says. Religious people seem addicted to:

  • harshly opposing anyone who doesn’t agree with them
  • judging others based on horribly superficial criteria like clothing, body jewelry, language and political positions
  • ignoring or downplaying their own weaknesses
  • isolating themselves from the world, instead of working to improve it

Where does this all lead? So often, it leads to religious people concluding that because they’re right, everyone else is wrong. It’s a pretty short trip from that conclusion to persecuting those “wrong” people.

Unfortunately, history overflows with horrifying examples of that thinking, from Christians rioting against Jews in the Middle Ages to present-day Islamic terrorists murdering Christians, Jews and anyone else who opposes their radical agenda.

There you have it; the hateful lemmings of “organized religion”.

Now let me advance to you the position of Jesus. In his book The End of Religion, Bruxy Cavey notes that in ancient biographries, Jesus “is not portrayed as the founder of a world religion, but the challenger of all religions. I am not suggesting that Jesus opposes all forms of organization, but that he opposes dependence on any one organization for our connection with God.”

Bruxy, a Canadian pastor, goes on to make this statement: “the primary mission of Jesus was to tear down religion as the foundation for people’s connection with God and to replace it with himself.”

Exactly. Being a Jesus follower is not about being part of a religion. It’s about establishing a relationship with the Son of God through prayer, reading the Bible and attending church. As that relationship deepens, Jesus followers open their heart, minds and souls to being led by Jesus to a place where we:

  1. Come to understand and support God’s position that all people, from terrorists to politicians, from blue-collar workers to billionaires, are worthy of His passionate love.
  2. Humbly agree that no one has the inside track on virtue; everyone has “sinned” — that is, missed the mark of what we can be — and that by following Jesus, God can and does change that through radical forgiveness.
  3. Recognize that we are Jesus’s loving ambassadors in a world that most of us will agree is not doing very well. In fact, as His ambassadors, Jesus followers are really God’s agents of change — allowing Him to work through us to make this planet a better place.

Do you want to be one of God’s agents of change? Yes or no, share your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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ESCAPING THE SLAVERY OF “RELIGION”

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 8, 2014| 22 Comments »

Religion+is+Slavery+-Robert+G.+Ingersoll-1I’m a person of faith, so what I’m going to write probably won’t make a lick of sense to you. But I’m gonna write it anyway.

1. “Religion” can never reform humanity. Ever.

2. Without a doubt, “religion” is slavery.

Religion is dogma, rules to follow, appearance to keep up, judgements to hand out. It all too often translates into numbing negativity that gives people of faith a bad reputation.

A quick example? You would be amazed at how many religious people spend their Halloweens telling followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) how deluded and misguided they are to be “celebrating” what one called a “pagan holiday about death”.

I feel quite safe in writing if I line up 100 North American parents who are taking their six-year-olds out to collect candy and tell them what these religious people said, they would look at me like I’m out of my mind.

Sadly, there are people who become addicted to this kind of thinking. In other words, they become slaves to religion. Some even go so far as to pass judgement on people’s clothes and hairstyles, declaring that today’s men and women look too much alike and it’s “one of the reasons we have this is the epidemic of homosexuality”. Yes, I’m actually quoting from a religious person who wrote this on the Internet.

Frankly, I’m embarrassed by it. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Jesus is embarrassed, too. The original-source documents about His physical life on earth don’t have a single quote from Him about Halloween or about people’s clothing and hairstyles. Not. One. Word.

But in one of those documents, Jesus does have this to say about people in love with religion: “They pile heavy burdens on people’s shoulders and won’t lift a finger to help. Everything they do is just to show off in front of others.”

I’m sure you’re as turned off by all of this as I am. Indeed, if people tried to attract me to Jesus with this kind of thinking, I would have run the other way.

So what attracted me? The prospect of a relationship with the Son of God that starts in this life and extends into eternity. The idea that God loves — yes, LOVES me so much that He offered me an extraordinary gift: Jesus — His life and incredible teachings, His sacrificial death to make up for all the bad things I’ve done and all the good things I’ve failed to do, and His game-changing resurrection.

I wanted this relationship. I wanted to be reformed in a way “religion” never can. And I wanted to be free of the slavery of our culture — the meaningless drive for money, power and prestige, the irrelevant obsession with looking good and earning the praise of judgmental people.

And I have it. By no means am I anywhere within shouting distance of “perfect”. But because I follow Jesus, I’m a better person than before. And I have the assurance of life with Him for all eternity.

Do you find this at all attractive? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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