Sometimes I want to make a shirt that says “religion kills.’ and see what people’s reactions are. It’s merely for the shock-value and it’s a great proponent into conversation. And it seems that this has been a hot topic the last several years – from what I can muster up anyway. It’s a truth that everybody knows but Christians continually deny out of fear or comfort or something else equally ridiculous.
I have to be honest before I go any further though: I just want to bash the snot out of religion and I would love to write a book telling about the failings of the American Church because it’s so full of the religious spirit, but that’s merely judgment and condemnation, and deep down, I’m not like that anymore. I’m learning how NOT to point fingers but the subtlety of what I want to say is still going to be there, so take it as I mean it. Like Jesus casts the religion out of me, I have this great desire to beat the religion out of the “sleeping giant” (as Bono refers to the American Church). I’d love to be the Lord’s instrument for that, but He knows of the pride that would birth within me if that would happen, so until then, I’ll wait patiently inside my case.
Point being: I don’t know where to begin so I’m just going to write of a “heretical” revelation I had the other day that I just can’t get out of my mind. It rocked me to my core because I’m not sure why it rocked me there. It probably had to do with the fact that it was so new and fresh and the way that God meant it to be. Maybe. I don’t know. I just know it’s contrary to what is taught in most churches and the way that most people are raised and the way that practically ever Christian I know lives.
And I’m baffled by this because it’s the very thing that God freed us from: the letter of the law! I’m almost at a loss for words because I’m not entirely confident in how I should explain myself concerning this, but it seems to me that we – as the Church – have made the New Testament into the new law, a set of rules and regulations to be followed post-Jesus-presence on earth.
If the letter kills, why do we still live that way? Why have we made a new list of ‘rules’ to live under? If we’re to live under the law of the Spirit, then why don’t we? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Basically, we’re going from slavery back into slavery again – like we couldn’t get enough of it or something. Frankly, I don’t believe that there’s freedom in slavery. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.” A new covenant of the Spirit? Hmm… so… why do we still bind ourselves to our own self-induced law when God abolished it for us because we couldn’t even live up to THAT standard in the first place? Didn’t we learn anything? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Are Christians beaconing Christ back down to die for another law that we created ourselves?
I sure hope not.
Where’s the freedom and grace?
I think it’s because we’re such creatures of habit. We’ve been raised in this system of living our faith that’s based on rules, regulations, do’s, don’ts, etc. that we can’t break free from it. This is why we must continually renew our minds; to change them into something Spirit-centered.
You might be wondering why I’m blaming this on the ‘spirit of religion’; it’s because it’s the one to blame… and us because we’ve allowed it to infiltrate the system that shouldn’t have even been a system in the first place. Think about it this: religion is form without power.
When we say there’s power in religion, even power in Christianity as a religion, we’re buying into a false reality…
I’ll be the first to admit that I am, personally, a recovering relig-o-holic. The first step to recovering is to get over the self-denial. God’s been breaking me from this the last few weeks and now that all of the ‘crap’ is floating to the surface, I want to get it off and share what God is freeing me from. Yes, it’s challenging, but so worth the fight. When we strip ourselves of everything we ever knew, including those things that we thought were ‘right’, it’s amazing how much clearer God comes into focus (sidebar: there’s no right and wrong in the Kingdom, only life and death).
I have a feeling this is the first of ‘many’ drunken ramblings from a recovering relig-o-holic. Extend me some grace as I’ve extended you some already (in other words, I’ve been anxiously anticipating your responses). So please excuse the mess of this, of the lack of form and ideas. I realize I’ve probably broken every rule in blog-writing and A.I.M. protocol, but in many ways, my intention is just to share my heart with you… no matter how messy, ugly, and jacked-up it is in comparison with what the world desires.
