Religion's Compass

I spent a lot of time thinking about religion during my time off from blogging. I read the whole Bible. I went to church services everyday during Holy Week, sometimes more than once. I probably put in 40 hours at church last week between services, rehearsals, vigils, and my own time alone in the church. I am in no way an expert on religion, but after spending so much time within my own church community recently, I have been reflecting a lot on what religion means to me.

Religion has a lot of creeds and rules. We spend a lot of time defining God, and seem to argue about things like whether Mary was really a virgin or not, whether Jesus was a Jew or not, and whether God prefers pie or cake.

And that's exactly where religion gets lost. When we talk about religion "dying" and people leaving the wider church en masse, what they're leaving is the creeds and the rules and the stiff-necked Israelites of today's churches. It's nothing new, actually. The Hebrew Scriptures consist of a lot of God getting frustrated because the "stiff-necked Israelites" are too stubborn to hear the really simple message God is sending: love your God and love each other.

It's no different today than it was in B.C. Egypt and Israel. I left the church when the creeds and rules and stiff-necked Israelites of today ruined religion for me. I got tired of being told that there was only one way to be a "Christian," and, more so, I loathed the idea that anyone who wasn't a "Christian" would be subject to eternal damnation.

But that's all what religion is not about. It is not about creeds and rules. It is not about where you go when you die, fire and brimstone, and eternal damnation. And it is definitely not about whether God looks like Gandalf or not. Because what religion really is, what it's real purpose and relevancy is, is to be a guide for how we treat ourselves, our friends, our enemies, and our world. Religion, when stripped down to the bare bones, is not a litany of unforgiving laws, but a moral compass to help us figure out where we're going. Religion spends a lot of time pretending to be a treasure map, but there is no "X marks the spot" in religion, except all of the arbitrary "facts" we've made up.

Jesus could have been a space alien with seven legs and a purple tail, and it wouldn't matter because Christianity is not about historical facts. What I get from Christianity is a compass for finding the person I want to be and the life for which I strive and, more importantly, a community in which I can exchange notes with others and work together to figure out which direction we want to go.

Jesus is a sign post, pointing toward the direction of love—love for God expressed through love for oneself, love for friends, love for enemies, and love for all of creation—and following Jesus means striving to follow his example of love for all. Arguing about what font was used on the signpost has nothing to do with Jesus and nothing to do with religion or Christianity, nor does Jesus-as-a-sign-post mean that it is impossible that there might be other signposts pointing in the same direction.

Jesus may have said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me," but everything else he said was that creeds and rules don't get you anywhere, especially not into "the kingdom of God." Maybe Jesus should have worded it a little more clearly: "No one comes to 'the kingdom of God' except through living as I do: in love."

Back!

And I'm back! The last two months flew by, and I cannot believe we're already a third of the way through the year! I have lots to say about the past two months, but all I'm going to say is that I really appreciate custodians. Again and again, custodians always seem to be saving my butt. Go hug a custodian.

Anyway, I'll have a real post up next Monday at the lastest, but I'll try to get something else up this week. I'm just in the midst of yet another tech week this week, and I'm trying to re-adjust to the real world, after my hermit fast.

Happy Easter!