Why I Hate Religion: 10 Reasons to Break Free from the Bondage of Religious Tradition (11 page)

H
ave you ever been to a church where the Word of grace was “watered down” in order to appease the people? In other words, the preacher danced around the key issues of what the congregation needed to know, just so he could avoid offending anyone. There are a lot of churches like this.

They don’t explain what grace is and what grace is not. They fail to mention how grace completely transforms lives because they fear the message won’t be accepted, or their membership will decrease. Instead of preaching the truth and letting people know about God’s favor, they promote the idea that “God understands” and that as long as you are a “good” person, you can sin all you want and still experience the good life. This is simply another religious tactic of the enemy that is designed to keep people in bondage to the law of sin and death.

A lot of things are politically correct, but the question is, are they spiritual and scripturally correct? This has become a challenge in the Body of Christ. Many times, people are willing to compromise the truth of God’s Word in order to pacify popular worldly mind-sets and ideals. For example, certain pastors may say that God loves you, and certainly He wouldn’t expect you to be perfect; after all, you’re human, right? But they omit preaching about grace, which is an important aspect of God’s personality.

The obsession with political correctness in our culture and society is responsible for keeping people blinded from the truth they need to be set free from bondage. It masks the commandments of God with religious excuses that enable the people of God to continue in deception and sin. Even when you’re born again and Jesus is living inside you, He understands that you’re going to slip up sometimes and sin. But He doesn’t want you to
stay
in sin.

Instead of trying to gloss over this issue with religious ideas, let’s find out what the Bible has to say about it. Jude 1:3–4 says, “Dear friends, I wanted very much to write to you concerning the salvation we share. Instead, I must write to urge you to fight for the faith delivered once and for all to God’s holy people. Godless people have slipped in among you. They turn the grace of our
God into unrestrained immorality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Judgment was passed against them a long time ago” (
CEV
).

Grace is not a license to keep sinning. This kind of thinking was a problem then, and it continues to be a problem today. If you continue in sin, you open the back door for Satan to wreak havoc in your life. Jesus dealt with sin on the cross of Calvary, but we must believe His sacrifice in order to be cleansed of our sin.

When we receive Jesus, grace empowers us and enables us to live for God and carry out His Word in our lives. God will never withdraw His love from you. However, sin has consequences that you don’t want to deal with.

Religion promotes condemnation and makes people feel as if they can’t ever truly break out of those old mind-sets. Religion embraces the parts of the Word that feel good, but it doesn’t focus on the source of all these blessings. Child of God, the source is Jesus, Who is grace—unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor from God—in human form.

Contrary to traditional religious concepts and teachings, holiness doesn’t come from wearing long skirts and going without makeup. “We have been made holy by God’s will through the
offering of Jesus Christ’s body once for all” (Hebrews 10:10
CEV
). Accepting by faith Jesus’ death and resurrection is what gives us our right standing with God, not our own deeds or actions.

Religion has turned holiness into an unattainable ideal that has to do with outer appearance, but that is far from the truth. Until grace arrived on the scene, the world was trapped in sin and death. What Jesus did for you and me on the cross was a game changer, and made victory and eternal life possible for everyone. When you accept and believe in the works of grace and the power they wield, holiness becomes completely attainable, and your outer appearance, conduct, and mind-set will begin to change.

Another misconception is that when you’re living under grace, you’ll always be the tail and not the head. Grace is not an excuse to settle for miserable circumstances. Life can throw some real curve balls, but when you feel like you’re a victim of circumstances, grace strengthens you in the midst of your situation. Whether your lights have been turned off, your car’s been repossessed, or you’re about to be evicted, grace will give you what you need to improve the situation and ultimately succeed.

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17
NIV
). During His earthly
ministry, Jesus wasn’t concerned about being politically correct at the expense of the truth. He called a spade a spade, and He didn’t get along with the religious folks. Coming out of religion, which is based on works and rituals, and accepting what God’s Word has for you, is a liberating experience. “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, ‘You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31–32
NLT
).

Trusting God and His Word positions you to receive the fullness of God’s promises in every area of your life. You see, everything goes back to you having a genuine relationship with Him, and not how well you can look like a Christian in church. Following God’s instructions to us is optional, because we are free moral agents. However, following His instructions to us is the key to living a successful life.

Religion requires us to perform work after work, but a grace-based relationship with God encourages us to rest in Him. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). This is where some people get confused. As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, grace is not a license to be lazy and “resting in God” doesn’t mean inactivity. What it does mean is that when we trust grace to work for us, in us, and through us, our determination and resolve to work harder than others with less effort to achieve vastly superior results comes from God.

When you receive God’s love for you, you’ll turn away from the sins you used to enjoy because He loves you so much. With grace living in you, you won’t
want
to sin anymore, because it just won’t feel right. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit working on you from the inside, and no amount of religious church doctrine can change you like that!

I have a problem with the hymn “Gimme That Old Time Religion,” something you’ve probably grown up hearing and sung many times in church. You see, some—though not all—traditional religions are in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus, and the danger is that most people haven’t given this much thought. They just mindlessly accept whatever the preacher throws at them from the pulpit, without questioning it. When I leave this earth and go to heaven, I want people to remember me for the relationship I had with Jesus, not how religious I was.

Religious teachings lean toward instilling fear and self-effort in us, and church leaders have used them for centuries to control the people and keep them in subjugation. They love to condemn, in order to keep folks in line. Compare this with what the Scriptures say and make your own decisions. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

This freedom from fear is something you don’t hear too much about, maybe because many don’t even believe this promise themselves. It’s available as part of a grace-based package of salvation, victory, and eternal life. If you believe, it automatically becomes available at no cost to you, although Jesus paid the ultimate price on the cross for this freedom. Which brings me to another point—grace is not cheap.

No doubt you hear the popular slogan “Freedom is not free” every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, but the biblical meaning of this phrase goes even deeper than its earthly meaning. The freedom that grace brings you includes freedom from fear, from death, from failure, from lack and insufficiency, from poverty, from addictions, and from so many other evils that defeat the world. This free gift to you is something Jesus bought with His own blood, and when you believe in the power of what He did, you are made righteous and holy in God’s eyes.

Too often, churchgoers get caught up with gossip and playing church roles, pretending to be outwardly religious. You’ve probably seen it in others’ selfish or judgmental attitudes, and it happens when people lose sight of who they should focus on. This is not what God wants for His church. “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (James 1:26). Distractions like these are one of the tactics the devil uses to divide God’s church, but grace brings everything back into perspective.

The last point I want to make here is that grace comes from a God full of grace. The first thing that jumps out at me is how God sought out Mary, a young, unwed girl, to give birth to Jesus. God offers us His grace out of love for us, with no regard as to whether we’re worthy of it or not. This girl was most likely a nobody in the world’s eyes, but God sent an angel to deliver a different message. “And he came to her and said, Hail, O favored one [endued with grace]! The Lord is with you! Blessed (favored of God) are you before all other women! But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what he said and kept revolving in her mind what such a greeting might mean. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace (free, spontaneous, absolute favor and loving-kindness) with God” (Luke 1:28–30
AMP
).

Most likely, the religious leaders of the time never would have thought that God’s favor would descend on someone with such a lowly social standing. To endue is to bestow or provide a gift, and in this case the gift was the Son of God Himself.

Now, if grace can seek out someone like Mary, who was invisible to the high church leaders, He can certainly find you. Religion will try and convince you that you’re not worth God’s favor, condemn you for all your past mistakes, and use scare tactics to keep you from realizing the love God has for you. But check out what the angel told Mary—not to fear.

Jesus, who is truth (see John 14:6), sees right though us, and He sees what’s in our hearts. That’s something empty religious practices could never do. Don’t let religion blind you to the truth, and don’t let it mislead you about the true nature of God. When you’re not afraid to embrace His grace, He’ll surely show up and abundantly bless your life.