RELIGION FALLS SHORT

I suppose that many, after reading the title of this page, wonder just what part religion has played in my life. I have always had a saying that goes thus: “The first religion was the Fig Leaf Religion.”(remember Adam's fig leaf) Religion has always been the idea of Man. It was invented as a way to make ourselves appear to be worthy of the Creator’s love. Man has never felt worthy of the perfect love of Christ.

Religion says, “Do This, Don’t do that.” God has only one rule, by which we are to live, and it is found in Matthew 22:37, “ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength.” Jesus says, in the 39th verse, that the second Commandment is like it, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Man cannot accept these Commandments as the ultimate guide to worthiness. That is why mankind will always try to add to it. This is the idea of Faith that has been handed down through our churches. The men who wrote the Bible injected their own ideas of Morality. God’s concept has always been love and acceptance.

God, alone, knows what is inside each of us. He, alone, knows if we love Him. When we do, and show it, we can experience acceptance. Acceptance is what we all require in order to be happy with ourselves and to be able to love others. We all need to learn, how to love, from the one that originated the concept.

What has religion done for me? The answer to that question is the same as what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians. It put me in bondage! What has my Creator done for me? I respond to that question with an emphatic everything! He created me and what I am. He knows the struggles that I have gone through. He knows the reason I was such a loner for my entire life. He knows how my heart has longed for the courage to be real. He gave me that courage.

It took me forty-two years to find that courage. I did everything that religion told me to do. I went to church services regularly, read the Bible daily, and went witnessing and testified of my love for God. Above all else, I prayed. My goodness! How I prayed!

I prayed for guidance continually. I prayed that my Mom and Dad would recognize the turmoil in my life. I asked for people to love me for who I am. I began to think that all of the praise I received from my parents was because they did see the real me. I thought they realized the sense of unworthiness that I suffered with during childhood. I was filled with hope that they would take me to the right people to correct my feelings.

All I was told in church was I should be a man. That is like telling a cat to live in a doghouse. We had a cat that I bought a playhouse for. It was carpeted inside and out so it served as a scratching post. It met the cat’s need to scratch, however it failed to meet it’s every need. My cat would not stay inside it. He would climb inside, but never stay long. The cat could never feel at home there. It is not the nature of a cat to live in such a confined space. The cat does not always realize why he is uncomfortable, he only knows that he is not at peace. He becomes restless and desires to be outside.

The Human soul is in a similar condition, until it is freed. Our souls must be free to develop. Sometimes, religion can act like a house. Why do we think that God needs a church house? I believe it is because we feel uncomfortable, as humans, if everything is not in an acceptable order. Man’s reasoning says that if everything is well ordered and in the proper box, all is right with the world.

The Bible says that God’s ways are not the same as Man’s, and yet religion has tried to put, even Him in a box. It has determined that if a person is born who does not conform to the normal it has established, that it is contrary to God’s will. If we dress, speak, or behave improperly, then we must adjust and fit in the box.

Church does not allow for men to feel love, unless it is in the right direction. Man must dress like men, love women, and never vary from the standards that religion sets up. Is it any wonder that we see the “great falling-away” that the bible speaks of? Would you go to church if all you felt or desired were frowned upon. If you received rejection from people who preach love, would you have a strong inclination to be with them? This is why great numbers of believers are leaving those churches. They are fed-up with being in a box.

People who truly love God are finding that hate and rejection have no place in His plan. They have discovered that love comes in many varieties and that “…all who cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” (John 6:37) They have become weary of feeling like outcasts just because they are revealing their inner thoughts and feelings. Secrets are stressful and happiness comes when we are open to live, as we desire. People have begun to do what God spoke about through Moses. He told them, “This day I set before you life and death, so choose life.” (Deut. 30:19)

For myself, religion was becoming a slow death. Despite my church involvement, I found life elusive. I loved music so I searched for life there. I led hymns, did special music, joined choirs, and sang in a Gospel quartet. The more I searched the more I discovered what I was lacking, wholeness.

Religion can never satisfy the soul. Only God’s love and acceptance will meet needs. James wrote that if you see a person, who is destitute and starving, and say “be warmed and filled,” but do not give them their needs, that you show no faith. Faith reigns when you choose to look at people as individuals and don’t expect them to conform to your own image. A satisfied soul is the outcome of true love.

Return to Home Page

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page