Inhale 8.7.2013

Prompt: "We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives." - Anonymous

Spent some time reading this morning and came across that wonderful gem. The idea is a bit strange, foreign to me seeing as the way that I was raised seemed to teach me something opposite - that faith is the sure way to know that one has God in their lives.

I've posted recently about how I believe that when people bash religion, they really should call it like it is - self-righteousness. religion bashing, especially from those who follow Christ, simply does not make sense. It's like Christianity is bringing back a coping mechanism that I used when I was 8 years old to make the mean boys stop teasing me - I'd tease myself. I'd make fun of myself. It was easier for me to make fun of myself than it was to listen to the taunting, the teasing. At this point in time, there are so many things that drive me crazy about religion bashing - that is one of those things. It's counter-productive. Who would want to join a religion where the members hate the religion? I certainly wouldn't; although, it seems now, I am.

I know I've ranted about this before, but it's still on my mind, and I truly think that my coping mechanism to get away from bullies when I was an 8 year old, scared, fearful girl isn't the best coping mechanism for the church. We will face persecution; we must stand tall, hold to our convictions and beliefs, and love our enemies.

My parents used to tell me that all the time - love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. It didn't seem to work. So I took matters into my own hands. Those 8 & 9 year old little boys didn't see it coming. All of a sudden, I wasn't a good target. I could laugh at myself for the very same reasons that they could laugh at me.

But it got me nowhere except hating myself. And I can only see that happening to the Church in a few years, maybe even shorter than that. And what is a church that hates itself? Does Christ's bride really need to hate herself when Christ loves her so much that he laid down his life for her?

Answer: No.

The Pharisees had faith. They, strangely, had more faith than the Saducees. They believed in spirits, in angels, in an afterlife. They truly believed that their actions were going to help them reach that afterlife, to be with the angels. But with their rules and regulations, they effectively kept God completely out of their lives. Their righteousness was theirs. it was on their own turf, for their own reasons. They couldn't have God in their lives while working all of their rules. They left God out. They had faith that there was a God and that God made the earth and sustained them; all other parts of their lives were theirs and theirs only, though.

We have become modern day pharisees, most of us, and that's why I think it's important to note the difference between "religion" and "self-righteousness." We can have a religion and have faith and have God in our lives. We can also have a religion and have faith and keep God out of our lives. Both of those things make one "religious." Only one of those things makes one "self-righteous."



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