Do We Need Religion?

Religion is not God. God is not religion. The notion that God and religion are one and the same is just that: a notion! God is a Person upon whom the image and likeness of  the human person was patterned. Religion is a belief. God is the object of adoration and worship of religion. Religion, being a belief, is a mere human perception. There is only one God but there are a lot of diverse human perceptions of God or differing perspectives of God called religion.

Religion is not divine. Far from it. It is merely the human understanding of the divine. It is basically the human perception of the divine Person that Adam and Eve turned their backs from with reckless impunity in favor of a wily ancient serpent markedly inferior to them. How then can the human person understand the divine Person whom their ancestors unjustifiably betrayed and backstabbed? No traitor ever understood the Person whom it assaulted treacherously.

Christians have their own theories and concepts of God distinct and separate from the perception of Non-Christians. Within the Christian religion is further division and wrangling, and hence, varying and diverse understanding of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST as God. The same thing applies with the Moslem religion. There is also dissociation within its ranks. There is a Sunni sect and there is a Shiite group and other smaller breakaway sects.

The more the mushrooming of religions and the more fragmentations within its ranks, the more the truth is broken to pieces, the hazier and ambiguous the truth becomes; the murkier the mad, the darker the dark, faith in God recedes precipitously and the apostasy is intensified. Religions, then, become totally irrelevant and meaningless. Who then needs religion?

Religion is restrictive. It encloses and limits God in a box. It puts the truth in a box. It could be a Buddhist box, a Jehovah Witness box, a Roman Catholic box, an Eastern Catholic box, a Protestant box and so on and so forth until the believer ends up in a box of its own. Each religion looks at the one and only God differently and then they compare notes and debate furiously and then later on its fanatics kill each other not for God but for religion.

Religion is divisive. Unanimity and oneness cannot be achieved. It will be a perpetual dream because each religion will vigorously insist that theirs is the true and right religion. Instead of coming together for God, the more they drift away from each other. Each religion oftentimes develop bad blood with one another for the sake of religion and not God. The result is bloodshed. The exploits of King Richard the lion-hearted and El Cid are just  few of the historical proofs. Religion always ended up playing God and not loving God as God commanded and thirst for..

Each religion is unquestionably imperfect. Each religion has its own established standards distinct and separate from each other. The standards of God are divine and impeccable. All religions are human terrestrial ventures. Because, they are human and terrestrial, they cannot be expected to tell the whole truth about God. The element of error is a given.

The Sacred Scriptures is the embodiment of the elusive truth that must be followed and fulfilled. However, the religions conceptualize and theorize the truth as Jewish truth, Catholic truth, Protestant truth or whatever truth the business-minded human mind can conceive. They then propagandize and market it as such. Religions, then, instead of evangelizers of the word of God convert themselves as merchants of the word of their respective religions. Their human authorities are businessmen in disguise. They do not bring us closer to the truth. They just make us feel good about ourselves. It is a mere placebo effect. That is what religions do and the fooled believers give them money for it.

The Sacred Scriptures is pregnant with narratives of verbal clashes between the Rabbi and the high and mighty authorities of the prevailing religion He got intertwined with in His epoch of a visit. The recidivist lot of Judaism He got entangled with hatched a plot to erase Him from the face of the earth. Imagine religious authorities conspiring to commit murder for the sake of religion and not God. It was a blatant violation of the Ten Commandments handed down to their revered ancestors by Moses. “Thou shall not kill.” They killed! They became felons of the highest order because of their religion. Granted, for the sake of argument, that Jesus was not God, the recalcitrant lot of the Jewish Sanhedrin of the time cannot justify the barbaric butchery they committed against a Person whose only irritating offense was its claim to Godliness. They were not content with just the verdict of “reclusion perpetua” in a prison cell or perpetual incarceration in a mental facility. They were threatened no end by His immense popularity that they lost their sanity. The beastly slaughter of the Son of Man was a demonic rather than a religious ritual. It was meant to be for the sake of a business enterprise called religion. Suffice to say that the religious fanatics by virtue of their religion will argue with anybody even God just to maintain their leechlike hold on their religion and would even go to the extent of committing murder. It was done with the Son of Man who is God. Therefore, nobody is exempt. Such is the extent of what religion can do. It can do evil in the guise of good.

Upon approaching Jesus they petitioned him earnestly, “He deserves this favor from you they said, “ because he loves our people, and even built our synagogues for us.” Jesus set out with them. When he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him: Sir, do not trouble yourself for I am not worthy to have you enter my house. That is why I did not presume to come to you myself. Just give the order and my servant will be cured.” Jesus showed amazement on hearing this, and turned to the crowd which was following him to say, “I tell you, I have never found so much faith among the Israelites.” when the deputation returned to the house, they found the servant in perfect health. (Luke 7:1-7,9-10)

From the preceding gospel narrative, it is an irrefutable and undeniable fact that the faith that is pleasing to God is not measured by the religion that the believer possess and profess. God does not look at the religion of the human person. He looks at the heart of the human person.

The Roman centurion was a human person in authority. He was an officer of an empire that occupied all Israel at the time when God was on earth in the divine person of the Rabbi. All Israelites within his area of jurisdiction are subject to him. Yet, he humbled himself before a carpenter’s son in front of the human authorities of the Jewish Sanhedrin who were subject to him and who woos financial assistance from him for the setting up of synagogues. The pagan centurion recognized the carpenter’s son as God and not as a mere mortal like him. As a Roman officer, he will not bow down or humble himself before the religious authorities of Judaism that is subject to him. Nonetheless, the Roman officer humbled himself before the carpenter’s son in front of the religious authorities and the crowd. God read his heart. The Roman officer threw away his pagan religion for OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Hence, the Rabbi’s astounding remark, “I have never found so much faith among the Israelites.”  On that basis alone, does the human person need religion?

Simply put, God looks at the heart of the human person, He does not give premium to its religion. The yardstick is the Roman Centurion.