Religion - Good, Bad, Ugly

Here's the scenario:

Guy 1 - "do you consider yourself a religious person?"

Guy 2 - "not at all. I am all about relationship, not religion. Religion is man trying to reach God by his own actions, relationship is God reaching out to man despite his actions."

Guy 1 - "cool. So is religion a bad thing, then?"

Guy 2 - "yes, very. Religion is what nailed Christ to the cross, and it has been at the heart of so many tragedies of war, from the crusades all the way up to current times." 

Guy 1 - "that's interesting, and seems true. But is there any positive aspects of religion? Or is it all negative?"

Yep. Religion. What a buzz word these days. Most Christian young people who are even slightly charismatic have an aversion to the word, and will vehemently defend their individual stance by citing their relationship with Christ, as though that relationship is devoid of religion. Another common term is the "religious spirit", which is another buzz-phrase.

My personal examination of this has led me to some informal definitions, which might help for the sake of clarity. Religion - a belief system to which an individual chooses to adhere. This system includes the observance of rituals, performance of rites, and (in most cases) the communal gathering of like-minded people. 

The bible defines religion in some very interesting ways. The most commonly quoted is the one found in James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. But we all know that is a very narrow definition of religion, and it should be viewed in it's context as the antithesis of worthless religion, stated in v26 - Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

Without getting into the wider theological debate of the biblical definition of religion, I want to personalize this. This is, after all, my blog; not some online teaching forum. 

For me personally, the religious spirit is something I identify as a highly legalistic system of attempts to manipulate or shape God. Often times during the band's ministry with Impact World Tour, we came up against a strong religious spirit in that we often met with resistance from more traditional churches who felt we didn't "fit the mold" of what a ministry should look like. They saw us with our tattoos, wild hair, black clothes with skulls all over it, and automatically assumed that we hadn't truly encountered God. We didn't look like Christians, we didn't sound like Christians musically, so therefore we probably aren't. Occasionally, some would come and talk to us, or even attend one of the events. After hearing our hearts for lost young people, they would do a complete 180 and become avid supporters. Most often, though, there was a recoiling. Proverbially crossing the street to avoid walking on the same side as us sort-of-thing. Frequent encounters of that sort have made me both weary and wary in my dealings with churches, and to an extent, I have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. 

Here's the crux of what I'm processing right now. The religious spirit, or anything at all which speaks to us of some enabling of our own in accessing the gift of God's grace, is dead wrong. It is sin most abhorrent. Anything that places our salvation in our own hands removes it from God's hands, and goes so far as to nullify Christ's sacrifice on the cross, and the victory He won when God the Father raised him from the dead. 

But I feel somehow that there is something very much missing in our walk with the Lord if we simply dismiss all aspects of traditionalism, ritual, etc. The person who looks at our band and reacts strongly must have reason for that reaction. Do they see our ministry and our music as a sort of compromise to the holiness of God? Do they view our dress as somehow disrespectful? While their perspectives may be wrong, there is an element of their reaction which speaks of a depth of belief. That, I think, is to be commended. In fact, if I am able to separate that character out of the rest of the strong emotions being sent my way, I should be challenged by it. I like to recognize that character for what it is, and be fed by it. That character stands in opposition to the notion that "Jesus is my homeboy." (that's a topic that I will unleash in another blog, perhaps.) 

I think that what many define as a religious spirit is something in a person's life which may have started from a very good, very honest, very humble standpoint. Perhaps along the way it has been subtly twisted by the enemy into a list of do's and don'ts. My prayer is that next time I encounter a religious spirit, I would be able to look past the offense given, and see the deep character that it started out as, mining that rich field for the diamonds that will challenge my character.