by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor Since the early days of Christianity, followers of Jesus have struggled to find a balance between working to obey God in order to receive their salvation or relaxing and accepting God’s gift of His grace. That dilemma seems to have divided early church leaders Paul and James. It was a major difference between the Vatican and Martin Luther – and resulted in the great split between Catholics and Protestants. Can we be good enough? So, can we be "good" enough to please God by our own efforts? “Sadly, most of us end up carrying a burden God never intended for us to bear,” writes author Fritz Ridenour in his 1960s classic How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious. “An old question ... or is it? Let's define terms. Your faith is what you believe, the guiding principles and hope for your life. Can we be good enough? "Dead faith," writes Ridenour, is the kind that rests on little more than an intellectual system, dry and dusty credos, meaningless dogmas that have little to do with life as it really is. A ‘live faith’ is just the opposite. To have a living faith means more than mental assent to a statement of beliefs. A living faith puts you in touch with God. A living faith has power.” Can we be good enough? Ridenour says that humans have corrupted Christianity over the centuries so that the brand of Christianity in which we earn God’s approval by following endless and complex rules “ends up looking like any other religion of the world – 'bound by joyless rules and rituals.'” Can we be good enough? Ridenour says we have to step away from the man-made rules and regulations. He says Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. “It is not man reaching up,” he writes, “it is God reaching down.” Can we be good enough? "Jesus came to abolish religion," agrees Washington-based poet and evangelist Jefferson Bethke. His YouTube poem Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus received 16 million views within two weeks of being released. “He's right,” writes Giles Fraser, blogging for The Guardian. “The New Testament must be one of the most thoroughly anti-religious books ever written. It makes Richard Dawkins look very tame fare indeed.” Can we be good enough? “Jesus spent much of his time laying into the pious and the holy and lambasting the religious professionals of his day,” notes Fraser – who points out that God has never wanted the legalism that humans have invented on His behalf. Centuries before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to God's people this word from the Almighty: “‘The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New moons, sabbaths and convocations – I cannot bear your worthless assemblies’” (Isaiah 1:11). Can we be good enough? “When it comes to Christianity,” writes Fraser, “just being a little bit religious is being too religious. So the answer is 'yes' – it is not only possible to be a Christian without being religious, but it’s required.” Can we be good enough? And in case you think he’s slamming Catholics and other Christians whose worship services follow a formal liturgy, that’s not what he has in mind at all. “You cannot be 'too' Christian. If being 'too' Christian’ makes you think of Christian fundamentalists, I'd want to insist that they are simply not Christian enough,” writes Fraser. “Indeed, that it's their lack of faith that makes them cling to a bogus form of certainty and literalism. Mostly, Christian fundamentalists worship a book. They like the safety of having pat answers. But this is just another form of idolatry of which the Hebrew scriptures regularly warn. Worshipping a book and worshipping God are two totally different things.” Can we be good enough? “You hear a lot these days about people being less than happy with religion,” writes David Morris in Guideposts magazine. “They say that they are spiritual, not religious, or that they want more Jesus, less religion. Novelist Anne Rice drew a lot of attention by saying that she was quitting Christianity, but still believes in Christ. Her lament, if you consider it closely, is against people who use religion as a means of hurting or oppressing others, which doesn’t match up with the ideals of Jesus." Can we be good enough? “While Rice is perhaps reacting to the recent controversies in Roman Catholicism, there are others who come from the Protestant evangelical world who are likewise so frustrated with what sometimes passes for Christianity that even they no longer want to be called Christians,” writes Morris. Can we be good enough? Biblically speaking, what is a Christian? There are many definitions. A Christian is someone who follows the teachings of Jesus. There are a great many Christians who are enormously religious – believing that God requires such things of them as weekly church attendance. Can we be good enough? Even Christians have difficulty defining who is a Christian and who is not. There are those in the independent Churches of Christ who make a case that they are the only true Christians – that everybody else is disobedient, particularly if they have not followed a stern formula to become a Christian, which includes these formal steps 1) Hearing the message of salvation; 2) Believing that Jesus is Lord; 3) Repenting of one’s evil deeds; 4) Confessing aloud the new belief in Jesus; 5) Being immersed in water for the specific purpose of washing away one’s sins; and 6) Living a godly life thereafter – which includes faithful church attendance at a Church of Christ congregation. Can we be good enough? Others follow the list, adding or subtracting according to their church’s theology. Southern Baptists exclude the last two steps: one can be a Christian without baptism (although baptism is necessary before one can join the church) and even if one is not living a godly life (since believers enjoy eternal security and cannot lose their salvation). Members of the Assemblies of God add to the list receiving the Holy Spirit, proven by the new convert speaking in a heavenly tongue – glossolalia or “speaking in tongues.” Can we be good enough? Then there are those who say that such rules and legalism is exactly what Jesus shunned – and is contrary to everything that He taught. Can we be good enough? They would say that a Christian is not someone who merely holds to a set of beliefs or someone who was born into a ‘Christian’ family, but is someone who has met with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, has repented from all of his sins, placed all of his faith and trust in Him – and as a result, God has given him the gift of eternal life and the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of him. Can we be good enough? “Can you be a Christian without being religious?” asks pastor Dr. George Calhoun in a sermon posted on the website Sermon Central. “It almost sounds like a contradiction in terms. However, Christianity makes the bold claim that mankind has not found God, but that God has found mankind. Christianity differs from all others in that it’s not about us finding God, but about us responding to God who has been reaching out to us.” Can we be good enough? “Christianity is not religious striving. It’s not a cycle of forms, formalism or formulas. It’s not a series of does and don’t, rules, rituals, or regulations. It’s not trying to ease, please, or appease the Almighty. Christianity, simply put, is about a relationship, a personal, individual, and privileged relationship with God that is induced, initiated and instigated by Him. And this is what makes Christianity inherently different from all other world religions. Can we be good enough? “Religion produces a god that is easy to handle,” writes Calhoun, “compact enough to tuck in a dresser drawer and tailor to size. But a relationship is something totally different. A relationship is not something we do, it’s something we respond to and God is the initiator. Christianity not about appeasing or trying to please God to win His love. It’s all about responding as He reaches out to you and me.” Can we be good enough? So, bottom line: Can you be a Christian without being religious? Yes. In fact, it’s pretty much required.
