Religion...

The beauty of opinion is we all have one, on most subjects anyway, and usually we aren't afraid to share it. Sometimes they're based on fact, sometimes on inistnct, sometimes on misinformation, but they are almost always present... This particular blog is my opinion, right or wrong, concerning "religion".
.. I am afraid of becoming religious, for I think it is dangerous and dibilitating to a Christ-follower... I don't think Jesus Christ was religious at all; in fact, he found his greatest opposition from the "religious leaders" of his day- the Pharisees and Sadduccess. They defined their religion well; it was a set of rules that they lived by, in essence, the legalistic "do's and don'ts" that still permeates so much of organized religion today. It was a strict adhehrence to their rules, their legalism, with consequences for failure to follow. Time after time Jesus violated their rules, whether eating, or healing, or traveling when it was forbidden- whatever the violation to their "rules" we can be sure that it wasn't a violation of God's law, for His son was perfect...
.. So why were rules so important then, and still today? I believe it stems from spiritual pride, and out of that pride comes a desire to be able to "measure" how good we are. The more rules we follow, the more obedient to our "religion" the higher our standing- in the eyes of men. Jesus taught the greatest is the one with the servant's heart, the one who does in secret rather than public, one who is willing to give out of their need and not their plenty... Christianity is a condition of the heart- the "Kingdom amoung us" that Jesus speaks about in Matthew 5 flows from within, not from our external acts. The recognition comes from God, and not man. This is not very desireable for most, for we live in the temporal, and the eternal rarely occupies our thinking, yet that is where we should seek to store up our treasure, for it is where we will spend the overwhelming amount of our time...
.. If Jesus were to return today, and walk the earth as he did some 2000 years ago, I would be highly surprised to find him in our churches today. I believe we would find him at concerts, or arenas, sports bars, shopping malls- anywhere that people congregate and have a need for him. I believe he wants his followers to walk the same. The church should function as an equipper, training it's members and equipping them with whatever they may need, then sending them out into the world. How many churches today struggle to get people in, when they should be sending them out? I think it's a symptom of being too religious and not being Christ-like enough. The desire is to "hold on" to their people and not lose them to another...
.. So how does this effect me? I tend to be a bit of a rebel, even as I serve in my own church (which is a very progressive, Acts 2 model church). We have a few guidelines that (and I understand the rationale for them) the church has in place, that I question how my adherence to (or not) will effect my serving, so at this time I don't follow them. It becomes the choice of the church to include me or not, to allow me to serve or not. I know, from past experience, not adhering to these rules would have significantly restricted my serving opportunities in several of the past churches I attended. Man's rules interfere with God's mandate. That is religion, and that is wrong. Man looks at the outside, God looks at the heart. We need to look at the intent, at the heart.
.. I believe we are called to be in tune spiritually, to strive to become more Christ-like. I used to believe my Christianity wasn't my religion, it was my lifestyle. Technically, I now think that's wrong. Choosing Christianity as a "lifestyle" could be construed in the same light as following the do's and don'ts of a religion. Our goal should not be choosing a lifestyle, it should be choosing to know Jesus Christ as intimately as possible, and out of our personal relationship with him adopting his teachings as our own. If we do this the outflowing of our life will naturally be Christ-like...