Religion and Slavery

There’s something you hear every year, especially around Christmas time. Inevitably you’re going to come across someone who is going off about how Religion is spreading these lies with the intention of causing society to submit or conform to a certain behavior. The thing is, they’re not wrong. Think about it: Religion is believing that ritual begets results. Ritual is a set of actions ascribed for a particular purpose. What they are wrong about, is that Christianity has very little to do with Religion.

Let’s call Christianity the study, or worship, of Christ, and Science the study, or worship, of understanding. I think that’s fair; if you don’t, just bare with me, it’s just an example. In Science let’s say your ritual is the Scientific Method and by repeating this ritual you hope to come closer to understanding. In Christianity let’s say your ritual is meeting with the Church on Sunday and by repeating this ritual hope to come closer to Christ. I think we can say, yes, both of these have a religious precedence: they believe a ritual begets a result.

The Bible refers to Religion as The Law. No Jesus was a revolutionary in his day. His take on everything was so genuine and relatable, that people thought he was getting rid of the Law altogether. To the point that he had to clarify, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus, and therefore Christianity, was not about Religion, but about Relationships. How do I know? In Romans 13 we read “Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” The whole purpose of the Law, the whole purpose of all the Religion in the Bible, is to point to the one person who could fulfill the Law, who could take Religion out of the picture by doing what the ritual hoped to do permanently. He broke down the barriers. We’re told in Scripture that, when Christ died, the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the people, the separation between the presence of God and all of us, was torn. He fulfilled the law, did all that the religion hoped to do, and removed the separation between Himself and us. Love is the fulfillment of the law. It defeats Religion. “No greater love has any man than this: that he lay down his life for a friend.”

Religion is the greatest lie the Devil has ever created. Anything that says that you have to do something in order to connect to your Salvation…it’s just a guilt trip that beats you down and causes you to submit to an idea. Love frees you. It allows you to be messed up and still be saved. I love Christmas. I love how commercialized it is, even. Thousands of people singing worship songs and wishing for peace on earth and goodwill toward men…yeah I like that. It should never be called a Religious holiday, though. Jesus coming to earth as a baby is the greatest symbol of the Relationship…love overcoming Religion…ritual.

If you don’t feel loved, if you feel judged, if you feel like you can’t make a mistake or be honest about the mistakes you’ve made, if you’re frustrated with life, or with God, or with yourself, come to church. You won’t find Religion, except to give us a little organization. I think we can agree that some organization is good. You’ll find love, and relationships, and a bunch of messed people who just want to love you and accept you for who you are in the same way that they were accepted.