I’ll go ahead and warn you that I don’t have any scriptural references to throw in this because this is one of those on a whim blog posts, but best believe there are some. Also, this got pretty long. Just so ya know
Ok. So I know that all of my adoring fans are curious as to what exactly I’m going to rant about. Especially with that title. ‘Religion can’t save me? Mary, stop.’
BUT REALLY…
Religion can’t save you. Religion won’t save you. Religion hasn’t saved you. So, if you think it has, if you think for a second that the religion you have chosen will or has chosen whether or not you’ll spend eternity worshiping our savior, or spend it separated from him PLEASE read this.
I’m a Southern Baptist, you’re a Pentecostal, she’s a Methodist, and they play with snakes and dance.
Who’s right?
Who’s wrong?
This isn’t a ten dollar bet you’re losing if you’re wrong, its ETERNITY.
Now me, myself, & Irene think none of them are right and none of them are wrong. Ya know what me myself & Irene think? We think that religion, and denominational boundary lines have separated, torn apart, and lied to believers. We think that wars have been fought and lines drawn in the sand that needn’t have been, predetermined notions and stereotypes. I think religion is a breeding ground for hate.
Now obviously, I don’t think that this was Christ’s intention. I know it wasn’t. I think it was Satan’s. What better tool to use than the very thing you believe in to separate yourselves. You break it down into the small details, and hate and arrogance are planted.
“Well I believe you can still speak in tongues”
“Well I believe you can’t. I believe it is no longer necessary and if you do its blasphemy.”
“Well I believe in God’s chosen elect.”
“Well I believe you’re an idiot.”
That escalated quickly. It usually does. My point is, is that if you believe in an all powerful, all knowing God, who sent His Son who was 100% man and 100% God, to die on the cross for ALL OF OUR sins, if you believe that He willingly sacrificed Himself for us so that we could live, so that we had a choice, if you believe that HE prayed for you, HE looked down while He was dying on that cross for you, saw you and loved you even then, if you believe that he died that day, and that he rose again on the third day FOR YOU, if you believe that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and has gone to heaven to prepare a place for you and that HE WILL come back for you, what I’m saying guys is what else matters? What, beyond the gospel, beyond the written raw truths in the bible, what else matters? They say truth is determined by point of view and the person’s standard of morality. Folks we have a written rule book. Written by God Himself. What do we have to argue with? The nitty gritty? The fine print? Anything we can find, anything Satan can find to separate believers? Satan knows he has lost. He knows we have won. But do you think for a second he will go down without a fight? No. He won’t. He will use you, me, believers. He will use us and the very word we base our beliefs off of and we will separate us. He will plant seeds of doubt, hate, confusion, ignorance, arrogance, the list goes on.
We are called to love. Our purpose on this earth is to glorify Christ and to serve him. Is calling your fellow believer an idiot because he speaks in tongues love? Is it service? Does it glorify Christ? Does calling him an idiot because he doesn’t believe in speaking tongues showing love? Is it service? Does it glorify Christ?
Religion won’t save you. It can’t. Only Jesus can do that. He is the way, the truth and life and NO MAN can come to the father but by HIM. Not your preacher, your grandma, NO MAN.
Religion isn’t the way. Being a southern baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, non-denominational WILL NOT SAVE YOU.
So please, brothers and sisters set aside your differences. Set aside your “I’m right and they are wrong, so therefore they are the enemy and I am superior” attitude. That is not who we were put here to be. That is what the world was put here to be. That is who we, as ambassadors for Christ were sent here to minister to. That’s who we are here to love. But how can we love them, if we can’t even love each other.
And if this post was a wake up call for you, if you thought having your own pew in church, being called upon to pray, or being a Southern Baptist had saved you, please understand that you are wrong. Jesus is the way.
Now, lets all take a moment to pray extra hard for the snake handling people.
HA! But really….
No hate or disrespect meant by this, if there is any somehow taken.
–Mary Auger
