Over at Huckleberries Online, this morning I read the following: Jesus wasn't religious, those who killed him were religious. If you look at the Bible, there is a definite difference in the pharisees and Jesus, here.
It's hard to know where to begin in unpacking how patently false and wrong minded this statement is.
Equating the Pharisees and those who crucified Jesus with being religious is not only wrong, but bizarre.
Underlying this pernicious equation is the idea that if I submit my life to the teachings, traditions, rites, and other religious aspects of Christianity, I will become a hypocrite and a crucifier. If I see the history of Christianity and Judaism as a developing body of thought and practice as a means of bringing people into a community of traditions as well as worship with one another, which is what religion is, then I am corrupting my self and my soul and my ability to love my neighbor and be of service to others.
That's bullshit.
Religion is the very body of writings, insights, practices, traditions, history, and institutions that enhance our understanding of how to serve Jesus and to follow the way in our relationships with others. Without religion, no matter what the religion, a person of faith is on his or her own, without the clarification of all that has come before to help guide his or her spiritual life in the present.
Jesus wasn't relgious?
That's bullshit.
Jesus was deeply religious.
He was deeply committed to reforming the Judaic tradition he was born into.
He was deeply committed to helping those he taught revise their understanding of the Jewish religion. He was opposed to corruption, laxity, hypocrisy, dysfunction, and abuse, not out of his opposition to religion, but out of his love for religion.
Yes, I would agree, the purest connection with the divine is in direct and prayerful relationship with God. Religion helps guide and understand this relationship.
Simply because religious institutions abuse power and misdirect members of the institution doesn't mean that the religious aspect of these institutions is bad.
People of faith need religion.
Jesus understood this profoundly.
He worked to elevate and purify religion.
Not eliminate it.
2 comments:
RP, don't beat around the bush, just tell us what you think. Oh, and...Amen, bro!
What a beautiful job of putting this into words. I couldn't agree more. Thank you.
Post a Comment