Rubanga kene

The End of Religion

August 23rd, 2009. Published under religion, thoughts and questions. 2 Comments.

I’m currently reading The End of Religion by Bruxy Cavey. This book is amazing. The premise of the book is that Jesus never intended to found a new religion; he hoped to break down the very idea of religion as a way to God. He says, “The primary mission of Jesus was to tear down religion as the foundation for people’s connection with God and to replace it with himself – the Divine coming to us in our own context and our own form. This is what Jesus called “the kingdom of God.” It is God and his people, living together the way he originally intended.”

Jesus completely broke down and turned upside down the religion that God set up, Judaism. He came as a “fulfillment” of the law. The Jewish religion told people that you had to do A, B, C and then D in order to be forgiven of sins, to pray, to be “clean” etc. But Jesus came and proclaimed something entirely different. He said anyone can pray, anywhere. He forgave sins in the middle of someone’s house or on the roadside. You didn’t have to go to the Temple and offer a sacrifice to be forgiven. He completely shattered the religion. He subverted virtually all of the traditions and widely held beliefs of his day, and completely dissed the religious scholars and leaders. These were people considered closest to God. In Mark 7:6-9 he says,

“Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips,

But their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;

Their teachings are but rules taught by men.’

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

I think Jesus’ rebukes of religion apply just as much to present-day Christianity as it did to ancient Judaism. We honor Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from him. We obey our tradition and rules over Jesus. We worship Christianity, not Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus you don’t have to go to a church building every Sunday morning, say the “sinner’s prayer”, be baptized by a pastor, speak in tongues, never speak in tongues, vote a certain way or obey any of the other rules we’ve set up.  The early Church never built buildings for themselves or had a “sinner’s prayer” to pray in order to be a follower of Christ. They just simply did what Jesus said; they subverted the religion of their day and were outsiders to religion.

In the book he says:

“By saying something as audacious as “I am the way” (John 14:6) to his disciples, Jesus fundamentally challenged all of the how-to-systems of the spiritual world. The way is not the Ten Commandments, the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, the Five Pillars of Action, the Six Articles of Belief, the Seven Sacraments, or any other of the systems of salvation stewarded by the religions of our planet. God himself is the way. He has come to earth to share this message, to show us his love, and to shut down religion once and for all. We can embrace this and the freedom it brings, or we can cling to our religious systems for the comfort and security they bring. But we cannot do both.”

There are good things about tradition and the rules we create, and he talks about it in the book. But the point is Christians generally worship Christianity and the comforts it brings. If we box ourselves in and obey certain rules and interpret the words of Jesus in a way that fits inside of that box, we’re safe, we’re Christian and we’re going to heaven. I don’t think Jesus intended us to do that, and I don’t think we’re safe.  If anything we should interpret them with a historical context, looking at what he said and did in terms of the norms of his day. Then he becomes even more scandalous and subversive than we’d ever like to believe.  I don’t think many people like it when Jesus said many people would call him Lord, Lord but he would reject them, saying he never knew them.  I think he was serious when he said “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  

Sorry if this has a critical tone to it, I usually try not to be critical.  But this is a critique from the inside.  I was raised a Christian.  As I have examined my faith, I’ve seen how my whole life, while proclaiming to believe and put my trust in Jesus, I’ve really put my faith in the religion that bares his name.  Jesus was not safe, he was not a conformist.  He was subversive and created scandals.

Now I’m only giving a cursory glance at something he dedicates 200+ pages to, so I highly recommend you read the book.