CHRISTIANITY AND RELIGION
We know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
1 John 5: 19.
Today evil has the upper hand.
Oh, me, the Calvinist, spoon-fed on “conceived and born into sin, and therefore a child of wrath”, quoting Psalm 51: 5.
Just as ‘good’ generates more of the kind, so too evil enhances evil. There definitely is a strong connection between our evil conduct and our entire world running on ‘evil’ fuel, our polluting poisonous petrol, initially seen as a godsend, but, now, after untold zillions of explosions in our beloved automobiles, revealing the dire consequences of our greed for speed. We, head over heels, are rushing toward Armageddon, spearheaded by our ‘evil’ leaders.
The three most powerful men in the world are a walking version of a dark triad: Trump is a textbook narcissist, Putin is a cold psychopath, and Xi Jinping came to rule [China] by being a confirmed autocrat.
The Church in the World: Christianity and Religion.
That brings me to the problem of ‘the church’, and in particular, the relationship between ‘Religion and Christianity’.
How do I see ‘religion’?
I see ‘religion’ as a cultural matter, inextricably bound up with the history, art, lifestyle, and shared values of a group of people or even a nation, leading us to label the USA a Christian nation, where ‘religion’ merges with Christianity, with their way of life and the prevailing culture. Religion makes us include some and excludes others, Jesus, among them.
Jesus hated religion, a factor in his killing.
His very last act, just before he died, was a direct signal: The ripping of the Jerusalem Temple curtain, from top to bottom, symbolized the end of the old covenant and the opening of direct access to God for all through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, removing the need for human mediators and human institutions, and signifying that Jesus is the new, true temple.
This divine action marked a new era of grace, where access to God replaced physical rituals and human effort, demonstrating that only God could provide the way to enter His presence. The fact that the curtain was torn from “top to bottom” indicates the tearing was a divine act, not a human one, highlighting that the way to God was opened by God’s initiative.
It marked the transition from the Old Covenant, with its laws and rituals, to a New Covenant based on grace and direct access to God through faith in Christ. Paul Tillich wrote: “We call Jesus the Christ not because he brought a new religion but because he is the end of religion.”
Jesus had a continuous battle with the ‘religious’ leaders of his day – read Matthew 23. His criticism of the super-religious leaders was fundamentally against the hardening into dogma of ritual and moral code, which made these the rules to live by, day by day. The church does the same when seeing women as inferior, not worthy of official functions, and excluding homosexuals from equality.
And then there is Amos.
“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5.
And Christianity?
Jesus’ last miracle signified ‘the END of Religion’, and the beginning of LIFE in Creation: John 10:10: “I have come to bring you LIFE, and that to the full”. Simply: Christianity is a total way of life, preparing us for the New Earth to come.
Prevailing view in the church.
Here is a quote by a Presbyterian minister, as recorded this week on the front page of the New York Times. “I believe that there are many Roman Catholics who are saved and going to heaven. I also believe there are many Presbyterians who aren’t.”
That HEAVEN HERESY is today at the very root of the Christian Religion. Yet, John 3: 13 explicitly proclaims: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven–the Son of Man.” A few verses later, verse 16, in that important dialogue with the theologian Nicodemus, Jesus emphasized that his death would be for the restitution of the ‘cosmos’, the world, created by God for his glory.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of John 3: 16: In a few words it explains the sole purpose of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection: Jesus came to redeem creation: His blood bought back God’s work of art, all that lives and moves and has a being. That’s why we will inherit the earth.
Here’s a song I made this week.
Can be sung on the tune: “By the Sea of Crystal”
IN THE NEW CREATION
In the new creation,
New humanity stands,
Robed in brand-new garments
Reflecting many lands.
Red and black: all colours
White and other strands
Ready to develop
The new creation stance.
Jesus is among us
First among us all,
First among us equals,
Whether tall or small.
Great is new earth’s beauty
Holding us in thrall,
Gripping us forever
Never more to fall.
All the world renewing
Never fails God’s plan:
Blessed with God’s own spirit,
Filled with pure elan.
Joyful, joyful, joyful,
Sing: humans, female, man,
Holy, holy, holy,
Is Christ’ Royal clan.
For now: We know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
1 John 5: 19.
But: Renewal is at hand. Soon.