Religious People Are Scary

Boo! :)

Wouldn't it be fun to be an "extra" in a monster movie someday? Running in the street from nonexistent scary things and acting terrified reminds me of half of the games I played with my cousins when I was child, haha. Yes - sign me up! Sounds like good fun to me.



Say the word "religion" to some people and they immediately grab their heads, scream, and run for the hills like scenes from many of those larger-than-life monster movies. Images of boring, stuffy, hypocritical, self-righteous, holier-than-thou bible thumpers come to mind, and...well...I'm not going to lie, that sounds pretty scary to me too. I don't blame anyone for running away from that image as quickly as possible. Jesus didn't have a lot of time for the "religious" either. He spent most of his ministry thoroughly annoyed by the religious teachers and telling them all of the reasons why they were wrong and why he would much rather spend his time among the sinners.

Let's take a little quiz. Are you ready?? This one's called "Who is Jesus speaking to?"

1.) You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil?
2.) You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
3.) Woe to you, hypocrites!
4.) You blind fools!
5.) You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

I could keep going. It's actually kind of funny, but it's not. If you guessed that Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of his time, then you would be correct. Check out Matthew 23 for more of these amazing insults and to witness the exasperation that Jesus had with the people who thought they had it all together. Okay, and for those of you who are feeling lazy today, here are just some snippets of some of my favorite parts.

* For they preach but they do not practice.

*They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.

*They do all their deeds to be seen by others.

*"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside may also be clean."

*"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness."

Whoa, Jesus, tell us how you really feel!

Now, here's the deal...Christians: we all have a little Pharisee in us. Right? There are days we're thinking we're doing pretty okay. We look at other people's problems and think, "Well at least I'm not doing what they're doing!" How many times do we do something good and hope that someone else will notice and bring attention to it, or maybe we are happy to bring attention to it ourselves. How many times do we try to look so good on the outside when we know there is a lot of cleaning up to do on the inside? People see right through that hypocrisy, but it doesn't really matter what people see. God certainly sees through it. I am standing shoulder to shoulder with you on this one. I'm ashamed by some of the self-righteous thoughts that I have had. Sometimes the way we act makes people RUN from us like giant church-going Godzillas, because that's exactly what we are.

To those of you who don't really identify with Christianity right now: If anyone EVER tries to make you feel "less than" them for something you have done, I can assure you it is not from God. You are right to run from them. They don't actually represent the God from the bible, they are representing their own self-righteousness. These are things that I'm sure you're perfectly aware of, but I'm standing as a Christian person today and affirming to you that, Yes! You are right! ALL have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. ALL. No one is better than you. I don't care how many hours they have clocked in church this week or what good deeds they have done. Not a single person earns their way to Heaven, rest assured.

So then, what? What did Jesus say about the sinners since he can't seem to stand the religious people? We find out in Matthew 9.

"And as Jesus reclined at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' But when he heard it, he said, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.'"



A great example of this can be seen in the story of Zacchaeus, that wee little man. :) Zacchaeus was a super rich chief tax collector, totally reviled by the people and seen as a huge sinner. He wanted to catch a glimpse of Jesus one day as he was coming through Jericho, so he climbed up in a tree to get a good look at him. As Jesus passed, he looked up and called him out by name. "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." Wahoo! He climbed down and "received him joyfully." Nobody else was happy. Everyone began to grumble that Jesus chose to be the guest of a well-known sinner.

But something happened that day at Zacchaeus' house.

He stood up and said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Did you catch what happened there? Zacchaeus repented for the things he had done. Jesus didn't hang out with a sinner so he could partake in that sin or so that he could condone it; rather, he wanted to change Zacchaeus from the inside out, which is exactly what he did.

Remember the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus? Jesus drew in the sand and told the people, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Haha. Whoops. No one could throw a stone. Instead, they sheepishly started walking away. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." Jesus didn't condone her adultery, he told her to stop it. But he refused to condemn her. Why? Because the son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. SHE was the reason he came to earth in the first place. She was being given a second chance.

There is something we can all learn from this story. Namely, Jesus was the only one present who WOULD have been totally justified in picking up a stone and chucking it at her, as he really was without sin. But he didn't. He did not condemn her. Likewise Christians, we are not to condemn other people for what they do. (Do I dare use the j-j-j-judge word??) We are not the Holy Spirit. It is not our job to convict. We are to share the truth with love and mercy. Period. You will never win souls for the kingdom of God by being judgmental. When a fellow Christian falls, there are certain instructions we have been given for bringing them back into the fold, but those people already know the truth and are running from it, which is really saying, they already know Jesus and are running from HIM! Until He reveals himself to a person, your rebuke falls on deaf ears. Only love and mercy speaks to those Jesus calls "lost." Leave all other methods to God himself.

What is the moral of this story? If you are living with sin in your life right now, no, God is not happy with your situation. He desires for you to have a personal relationship with him, which is only possible if you turn away from your sin and repent. There is no hope of Heaven without repentance. But I am here to tell you from personal experience that there is nothing better...NOTHING...than living in God's will for your life. I have tried it both ways, and believe me you don't know what true peace in your soul really is until you give your life to God.

Religious ceremony isn't going to save your soul. Neither are your good deeds, which are simply not good enough, I'm afraid. Following the Law isn't going to do it for you, either. These were the things  the Pharisees thought had them covered, and well...we saw what God thought about THAT. :D Maybe the scariest thing about religion is that people think it's enough. Being religious means nothing. Being religious is cleaning the cup on the outside while leaving the inside dirty. What God wants is a personal relationship with us. He wants to change us from the inside out. If you have any questions about that or if it confuses you in any way, shoot me a message sometime!

Yes, "religious" people are scary...that's because they are often scared. Those who put their faith in their religion and not their personal relationship with Christ are scared that their salvation is up to them so they try to live an upright life and they are never quite sure if their good outweighs their bad. They often pick on other people to make themselves feel better. While I'm sure they mean well, don't let religious people keep you from the one who died for you...who covered your sin debt so that you don't HAVE to live that life of fear and wondering "What happens to me when I die??" Jesus is the gateway: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14

There are a ton of churches that uphold these ideas and won't bog you down with meaningless religious ritual. Let me know if you need help finding one in your area. Skip the deceptive religion of this world and walk through the narrow gate. Be one of the few.

Love!



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