Skip to main content

Brothers and Sisters, Let us Check our "Religion"

These are crazy times. What I am struck by, and have been struck by over the past number of years, is how incorrigibly religious we are. I'm not talking about what church we belong to or what organized faith we claim to ascribe to. I'm talking about how we turn literally anything into a "religion" in the worst sense of the word. I see it happen today with politics and with just about any social issue or cause that is out there.

What does it mean to "religionize" something? It means at least these three things:
1. We turn that thing into the way we mentally divide the world into good and bad, part of the solution of part of what is wrong in the world.
2. That thing is viewed as at least part of the solution for fixing the world. ("if we would all just... then everything would be better")
3. That thing becomes part of our sense of righteousness and identity. We're on the "good" side, and those other people aren't. We're the ones who see clearly, and those people are "sheep." We feel superior to them in some way -whether more correct, more objective, more compassionate, less fearful, or however else we seek to gauge and compare ourselves to others.

The hallmark of "religionization" is the belief that the problem is "out there."

I see this religious aspect in both secular people and highly religious people. And I see it in myself.

What ought to make belonging to Jesus Christ different from this, if we are indeed His?
1. The world is still divided into good and bad. But on the good side is God, not us. That doesn't mean there is no right and wrong to be decided on issues. It just means that while on any particular issue we might be correct and another wrong, we're all ultimately infected with the same problem that makes the world the way it is.
2. And since the problem is "in us" just as much as it is "out there", we're not the saviors of the world. We should indeed look for ways to better society, to love neighbor, to preserve rights, and to help those in need. But ultimately we know that our hope is not in our ability to fix everything. Our hope is in the One who will return some day (maybe soon) to restore all things and make all things right.
3. Our righteousness is not our own. It's not based on my position on various issues. It's not based on how many articles I read on the internet that support my point of view. It's not based on how "stupid" I think other people are for believing something that might truly be wrong and misguided. I might be correct on something, here or there, but none of those things make me "righteous" or better than anyone. There are none righteous, not in themselves. Our only righteousness is outside of us, based purely on what Jesus did for us and provided to us as a gift. Every time I depart from that I am very likely exacerbating my part in the human problem.

Lord, may our perspective on things happening in our world be seasoned and colored by the Good News of who You are and what You have done for us. Help me to maintain that perspective.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Drug of Being Offended

Being offended is the new pastime, but it doesn't have to be.  Long before it became cool on social media to be offended, I took up the sport of holding onto offense.  I've been a true pioneer in the art of brooding, a regular Tom Brady, a man ahead of his time, and I know I'm not alone in that.  But holding onto offense is like the worst kind of sport you can play.  The only ones involved in this game are you and those unwilling participants within the radius of the steam fuming out of your nostrils.  Any spectators who get close enough to watch are more like witnesses of a slow train-wreck.  Plus, there's no amazing come-back story where the score gets flipped in overtime and your team, the "good guys", win.  There are no wrongs righted in the making of this movie, and there's no happy ending to it. The only thing that happens, in our cosmic protest, is we hurt ourselves and those closest to us.   The offense game is  addictive, though...
Post a Comment
Read more

Law and Gospel Distinction Example

Below is an example of how the proper distinction between Law and Gospel is both practical and pastoral.   Chesterton's quote "We fear men so much because we fear God so little.  One fear cures another," is true, for all I understand.  I remember reading a whole book on this subject called "When People are Big and God is Small."  I was desperate to find a solution to what I was painfully experiencing, which some had diagnosed (and which I self-diagnosed from reading too many internet articles) as "fear of man."   I remember as I began reading the book, I was excited.  Many things written in the book resonated with me, and I had some hope.  But as I approached the end of the book, my countenance and hope had fallen.  Why?  In retrospect, I believe it's because though I had hoped for a solution, something I can do to change this, to free myself, and the truth is that the book was long on diagnosis and very short on a useful prescripti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Common Ground

I have at least three things in common with everyone I will meet, no matter what gender, race, sexual orientation, or political persuasion.   The first is that we're both created by God as His image-bearers and placed in this moment in human history.  The second is suffering.  This person before me either has suffered, is suffering, or will suffer.  The third is that we're both "sinners" -spiritually lost, dead, and bankrupt, in ourselves, in need of God's grace, forgiveness, and life found only in Jesus.
Post a Comment
Read more