Confusing God With Religion

I recall it as if it were yesterday. After a particularly tedious three-hour contract meeting, I was driving home. It was a late September afternoon, and the by-pass was still quite empty. The sky was a stunning cerulean blue with no clouds in sight.

I recall it as if it were yesterday. After a particularly tedious three-hour contract meeting, I was driving home. It was a late September afternoon, and the by-pass was still quite empty. The sky was a stunning cerulean blue with no clouds in sight. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly in the world. I reached for the radio's ON button out of habit. While driving, I enjoy listening to talk radio. As I glanced at the dashboard clock, I could hear the droning of an interview. It was 3:42 p.m. on the clock. Without the air conditioner blowing in my face, the automobile was warm but not hot - comfortable. It was one of those rare lovely journeys home after a long day at work. Just this time, I might be able to get home without tying my back and neck in knots from stress. I determined that today was not the day to fight traffic, so if the guy on my left wants to get in front of me, he can.

 

As I tuned in to the radio, I noticed that the familiar interviewer was discussing God with yet another authority. At the very least, that's what they were bragging about. It was actually about religion, not God, in the end. The author revealed that she was a nun at one time in her life. Her reasons for abandoning that profession, like those of everyone who leaves their life's job, were many.

 

However, she mentioned two factors as being the final straw. It was the classic straw that broke the camel's back, and it had an impact on me. They bothered me  the more I thought about them.

She first announced as a nun that she had to pray for an hour every morning. She noticed that maintaining one's thoughts on the topic at hand was a difficult chore during these prayers. She couldn't keep her thoughts from straying during her prayers, no matter how hard she tried. She interpreted this as a sign that she wasn't cut out to be a nun.

Second, she claimed that she had always believed that God was an ethereal being who would, when she prayed, magically join her in some kind of relationship. She finally knew something was wrong.

Extremely She was disappointed, and she understood it would never happen, so she resigned from from her job. She also abandoned her belief in a personal God in favour of religious studies as her god.

So, what's the point? Why is this person being singled out? I promise I'm not picking on anyone, but she stands out as an excellent illustration of folks who have a common misconception about God.

Let me state that I believe she has the right to select whatever religion she wants and to believe whatever she wants. That wasn't what bothered me, although the interview did.

 

I've discovered that until one is in a -death scenario, most of us find it difficult to be brave. Without having to draw our minds back into the effort every five (maybe two) minutes or so, we can pray for an hour. I'm afraid I won't be able to do it. In my life, there are far too many diversions. In that amount of time, no matter what time of day it is, all sorts of things enter my mind. I might fall asleep if it's late. That was still not my issue with the whole thing. I swear I'll get to the subject shortly.

 

The constant allusion to religion as God was my second issue with the entire interview. There was no differentiation between the two, in other words. Religion and God were the samee two creatures. At one point during the conversation, the interviewer questioned the former nun how she reconciled her great devotion to religious studies with Dawkin's scientific denial of God. With that remark, they had my attention. I must confess that I've never heard of Dawkin's book, in which he claims to prove that God does not exist through science.

 

Again, I believe Mr. Dawkins has the right to believe whatever he wants, and I'm not going to fight with him. There are countless books claiming to be able to deny God. The issue is that they all appear to be arguing against religion rather than God. Some are fairly venomous, while others are simply the rants of an agnostic attempting to spread his or her el of enlightenment, i.e. religion.

The subject emerges once more. When I do read one of these books, I notice something called syncretism, which refers to one's deity's diverse beliefs and practices. One man wrote an entire book about how religion ruins everything, which was quickly followed by a slew of books about how amazing religion is. Where is God in all of this religious strife, I wonder?

All deities, according to the author of this interview, are the same. It didn't matter if your god was Buddha, Brahman, or Jah; what mattered was that you believed in and practiced ligion. She stated that what matters to a person's spirit and soul is a a religious practice. I believe her viewpoints are similar to mine. Far too many Christians in the world today share these sentiments.

 

Now, I'm not sure if you noticed, but the entire discussion revolved around the fact that religion and God are the samescovering that the world has conflated or blended God and religion as if they were the same. I'm here to argue that this concept is rruption and that the idea that religion poisons everything isn't so far-fetched after all.

 

IS RELIGION THE WAY TO GOD?

Religion (Grk. Theresia is not God - it is not Divine - but rather the beliefs and behaviors that a person employs tothe object of their choice. Religion is made up of a variety of rituals, and if that's the case, Certain disciplines are desired.

We have a plethora of denominations, sects, cults, and fanatical schisms as a result of religion. Religion is what was rammed down the throats of so many people as children, and which they now regard as God ise source of all bad in the world. Yes, you read that right. In most cases, those of us who have had this experience of forced religion as a child, it was not God, but someone's belief about God. Many people consider God to be the source of all evil in the world, yet they mix up God with religion. As a result, we have publications declaring religion to be the world's poison.

 

Am I implying that religion is erroneous? Of course not, but what I'm implying is that it's similar to a rifle. It's a possibility. In the hands of the untrained, this is a dangerous weapon. God isn't our adversary. The Bible is neither an adversary nor a religion. Those who teach terrible theology about God, who build their hs, and then demand that others follow their perspective and distortion of what they believe is their foundation, God, are the adversary.

I'll say it again: a religion based on God (rather than god) is a positive thing. I consider myself religious, yet I can state categorically that my religion is not the denomination or community organization to which I belong. My foundational religion is a spiritual relationship with the God I worship, who in this case is Yahweh, in the Old Testament.  Jesus the Christ is a person. That was a personal choice made available to me, and I accepted it. Someone had to have told me that He was offering this relationship at some point, and that's how I found out about Him. However, I can state categorically that I was never forced to accept my belief in His presence.

Pay attention: my religion is how I choose to act in that relationship. It does not weaken God in any way if I do nothing with that religion. He remains God. In truth, my devotion to Him accomplishes nothing to improve Him - with one exception: He does enjoy our friendship. Aside from that, he'll be OK without me.

The world has changed.   God is some sad, needy old Geezer who sits in heaven and begs for our love, worship, and attention, according to this view. He would simply crumble if it weren't for our praise. In the Universe, he is a lonely, desolate, and empty Being. Forget about it! He appreciates but does not require our worship of Him. His love for us is not conditional on our sentiments for Him, nor does it rise or decrease as our feelings for Him change. Someone's self-esteem is unaffected by someone penning a book that he can't possibly exist in. He isn't a glorified person who is impacted by his ings.

 

THE OLD TESTAMENT AND RELIGION

Is religion taught in the Bible? Yes, it does, but we have perverted it so much that it is difficult to recognize. It is no longer considered scriptural.

Religion, as said, is a set of ideas and activities that pay homage to whatever we are worshiping. God established religion with a group of Hebrews in the Old Testament. Because He had a big plan, He chose exceptional people to be part of it. They were the race He chose to use to identify Himself to the rest of the world as their exclusive Deity. They were to designate themselves as belonging solely to Him as a result. Instead of some warped human, he would be more than their God; he would also be their National King.

The state of Israel, as we know it today, was founded as a theocracy. The Law, sometimes known as the Ten Commandments, was given to Moses by God.'Declaration of Dependence' was their declaration of dependence. That Law, which became their Constitution, was elaborated upon by Moses. God did a religion at the time so that the people would know how to treat and pray to Him appropriately. It established the correct foundation for the relationship He intended with His country's citizens.

Please keep in mind that God did not give the Law to the entire world, but rather to a single nation. If you were a non-Hebrew who wanted to join them, you had to follow the same Law and serve God as your King through the same style of worship/religion.

If you read the Pentateuch, you'll notice that God was quite clear so that these people wouldn't have to guess what he was talking about.  They ought to do so. They wouldn't have to make educated guesses about when, where, or how to worship (practice His religion). He didn't even give them the option of choosing their type of worship.

God talked directly to Moses during his time, so that if there was any misunderstanding or divergence from this predetermined form of religion, Moses would rectify it right away. The difficulty is that Moses couldn't live indefinitely, and he died ultimately. All that remained for the nation was the written Word and those who dedicated their lives to studying it. The men who sat next to Moses initially did an excellent job of maintaining everything in perfect alignment. They, too, are victims of the way of life.  Finally, he died. Then there was a new generation in charge of interpreting - and that was all there was - what had been written.

It's incredible how two people may read the same book and come up with completely different conclusions. I'm not sure why this happens, but it does. People have asked me about a reported comment I made at a lecture, but that statement did not exist when I reran the recording of that speech. Even though there was no trace of it, they assumed I said it. It's all about human nature, I suppose.

 

As a result, the Law of Israel and the religion that God established eventually split into different factions. Different teachers mean different things to different students. When did denominations begin to exist? how did they come to be? Before the birth of Christ, there was a time when Anyone who has read the Gospels in the New Testament will be familiar with the Pharisees and Sadducees, as well as the Essenes and other lesser-known sects. This is only a list of denominations. My point is that a wide range of religious rituals is not exclusive to Christianity. Even Islam, which is in the news a lot these days, has various sects or denominations. These are all religions because they are all based on a belief in whatever God they choose to call God.

The vast majority of people reading this article are not Jewish and do not follow the Hebrew Law. Thank God, we live in a new world (albeit some individuals seem to forget this).


Ogedengbe Tobiloba

122 Blog posts

Comments
Favour 2 yrs

Very comprehensible