RELIGION UNVEILED
From the dawn of time, humanity has grappled with the question about how to worship and
approach God. One could argue that the action of Eve in eating the forbidden fruit was founded
in a holy attempt to be more like God. The serpent told Eve that if she ate from the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, she would become like God. But isn’t that what we are all
supposed to want? Isn’t that what we are told to long for? Are not we all supposed to strive to
become more like God? Yes!
At least, that is what we have been told.
But what if …
What if what we have been told is all wrong?
What if the temptation in the Garden was not a temptation to rebel against God, but was the
temptation to become like God? We are often taught that the serpent used the desire to become
like God as the means by which Eve was tempted to rebel against God, but what if the desire to
become like God was the temptation itself? And what if all our religious impulses succumb to
the same temptation? What if original sin was birthed from religion? And what if all our sin
today is not cured by religion, but is caused by it instead? In religion, the original temptation
continues. Religion tells us that if we perform certain rituals, believe certain things, and say
certain things, we will know the right things to do and the wrong things to avoid, and in so doing,
will become more like God. The promises of religion sound shockingly similar to promises of
the serpent.
Yet before we can even begin to adjust our thinking to this sort of idea, our minds jump ahead
thousands of years to the life of Jesus, and what all this understanding of the events in the
Garden of Eden would imply about the words and works of Jesus Christ.
The ramifications of this are staggering.
Among other things, it would mean that Jesus did not come to start a new religion, nor did He
come to put His stamp of approval on one particular religion, but rather, He came to do away
with all religion by showing how He Himself if the true fulfillment of the longings, desires,
teachings, and stories inherent within religion. And He did this, not just with the religion of
Judaism, but with all religions.
Wait. What?
Too much too fast? Yes, let’s slow down and start over.
GENESIS 3 AND THE DAWN OF RELIGION
lkj
GENESIS 4 AND THE DEATH BY RELIGION
Religion has separated us all ever since, and led to more death, violence, and finger
pointing than anything else in human history or culture. Even today, in a “secularized” and
“modern” society, religion is behind most wars, and God is called upon to justify the bombing of
our enemies and the burning of their corpses.
So what are we to do? We must recognize that religion is not the cure to our problem, but the
cause of it, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
Yet we cannot just ban religion, for this simply puts humanity in the void that is left behind
and leaves us worse off than before.
The key, as we will see, is Jesus. But not the Jesus of religion, for that is a bastardized version
of Jesus. The key is to see why Jesus came and what He did about religion. Once we see this, we
will understand how Jesus redeemed religion so that we can live in peace.
THE HEBREW BIBLE AS A JEWISH
RELIGIOUS BOOK
The inspiration of the Hebrew Bible. The Whispering of God to their hearts.
Inspiration / Breath / Whispering
God whispers – the wind blows over the earth – as in Genesis 1 and John 3, moving where it
will. Who are we to say that God only whispered to a few Jews?
/ John 3 / 1 Kings 19:14 – lit., “a thin whisper of sound” the imperceptible whisper –
Cannanite Myth, p. 194
Eternity in their hearts.
2 Timothy 3:15-17
Timothy was trained in the “Holy Writings” (spoken tongue in cheek)
Scripture is the whisper of God (getting closer!)
But Jesus, whom we preach, is the Logos – the very Word of God made flesh! Not just breath,
but what we have seen, handled, and touched!
See posts from violence of God on 4 points about why God chose Hebrew Scriptures to fulfill
(or something like that)….
JESUS AS THE FULFILLMENT OF JUDIASM
Three key symbols – the land, the temple, the law.
How does Jesus fulfill the land?
I am the new temple. Destroy this temple, and I will build it up.
I have not come to abolish the law (i.e, Judaism) but fulfill it.
THE WHISPERING OF GOD IN WORLD
RELIGIONS
The Whispering of God in Greco-Roman Mythology
The Whispering of God in the Buddhist _____
The Whispering of God to Hindus _____________
The Whispering of God in Native American Tradition
The Whispering of God to Pagan Mythology
Books to Get for this project:
The Norse Myths - Kevin Holland
The Whispering of God in the Muslim Qu’ran
The Whispering of God in Christian Traditions
JESUS AS THE FULFILLMENT OF ALL
RELIGIONS
Whereas God had whispered to all, He know speaks to us through Jesus.
Matthew shows how Jesus fulfilled Judaism.
Luke shows how Jesus fulfilled the Roman Caesar cult.
Mark is just the plain history. John is about following Jesus.
The rest of the New Testament shows how the early followers of Jesus continued to live
within cultures that practiced other religions, but with a focus on following Jesus within those
cultures.
It is nearly impossible that the early church writers knew anything about Buddhism,
Hinduism, Northern European Paganism, or the North American Indian religions. They certainly
knew nothing of Islam, for it had not yet arrived on the scene. But based on what we see them
doing with Judaism and the Caesar cult, I am convinced that if they had known of these other
religions, they would have written gospels for them as well, showing how Jesus also fulfilled the
hopes, teachings, myths, and stories of these other religions as well.
Doesn’t Jesus’ birth and ministry as a Jew prove that Judaism is true?
Jesus’ fulfillment of Judaism was not an unqualified endorsement of Judaism (or else we
would all be Jewish today), but was instead a paradigm to follow for how Jesus fulfills all
religions.
I am not saying that these other religions are “true.” But then, I am not saying that Judaism is
“true” either. Would any Christian be willing to say that Judaism is true? Most would (rightly)
say that it contains truth, but not all the truth. Judaism, while based upon the truth, is missing the
key essential truth as found in Jesus Christ. And when the key of Jesus Christ is applied to the
perspectives, ideas, teachings, and stories of Judaism, all the pieces fall into place and the true
purpose and significance of Judaism becomes clear. Judaism, it is seen, becomes a tutor to lead
people to Jesus Christ. The law written on men’s hearts leads people to the grace and truth in
Jesus Christ.
Much the same thing could be said of other world religions. Much like Judaism, I am not
willing to say that Paganism, Buddhism, Islam, and other world religions are true, but I am
willing to say that these religions contain truth, though not all the truth. What is missing is the
truth found in Jesus Christ. When the key of Jesus Christ is applied to the perspectives, ideas,
teachings, and stories of Paganism, Buddhism, Islam, and other religions, all the pieces fall into
place and the true purpose and significance of these other religions become clear. Paganism,
Buddhism, Islam, and the other world religions were tutors to lead people to Jesus Christ. Their
laws and teachings were written on men’s heart to lead people to the grace and truth in Jesus
Christ.
Though he was innocent of all wrongdoing, Jesus bore the blood eagle for all humanity, and he
uttered not a word.
What has been done on these pages with Paganism can also be done with the other religions of
the world.
It is not that we make these other religions “Christian” but that we adopt, accept, and redeem
these other beliefs and myths into the fulfillment that is in Jesus Christ.
Again, the goal is not to make others “Christian.”
The “Christianity” that is most commonly practiced today is a nothing but a blend of Greek
philosophy, Roman paganism, Talmudic Judaism, Western democratic politics, Economic
capitalism, Industrialized individualism, and Jesus.
If this form of Christianity is “allowable,” then what would be wrong with allowing Jesus to sit
down with the Poetic Edda, saying, “This too points to me”? Or the Hindu Vedas? Or the
Muslim Quran?
THE ONE TRUE RELIGION?
It means that one does not need to join the Christian religion to become a follower of Jesus.
To think that one must join Christianity to become a Jesus-follower is similar to the argument
that was debated in the early church about whether or not a person needed to become Jewish to
become a follower of Jesus. The apostles clearly decided against such an idea (Acts 15), yet we
Christians have brought it back.
What are other religious documents? They also are the whisper of God.
Are we so arrogant to assume that for thousands of years, God only spoke to Jewish prophets?
That He only provided divine revelation to them?
Even the Bible shows this is wrong…. Melchizedek. Balaam. Seven sons of Sceva.
Are other religious writings full of incorrect ideas about God? Yes. Just like the Old
Testament.
Are other religious writings full of violent teachings? Yes. Just like the Old Testament.
Are other religious writings full of strange miraculous events which are hard to believe? Yes.
Just like the Old Testament.
It is not that the Bible is not true. It is.
The real truth, however, is that all other myths are just as true as the Bible.
Wait. How can you imply that the Bible is a myth if it is true? Call it a true myth, if you want,
a legend that turned out to be true. A prophecy, if you will.
As Girard points out, all myths have their origin in truth, and ultimately, finally, eventually,
point to the final truth of all, that is, to Jesus Christ. “The Scriptures speak of me,” said Jesus,
and I think He could have said this about any other “Scriptures” as well.
Let me state my problem more bluntly, specifically in regard to the Old Testament - the Torah. If
the Torah is little more than a historical account of people's experience of God in which they got
some things right about Him, but many things wrong, then how is the Torah any different than
the Qur'an, the Vedas, or the Poetic Edda?
I have read all those religious books, and I find much truth in them. I find many accurate
portrayals of God. But I also find a lot that is wrong. A lot of bloodshed (kind of like the Torah).
A lot of carrying out evil in God's name (kind of like the Torah). A lot petulance and jealousy on
the part of God (kind of like the Torah).
Do you see where I am going with this?
The Gospels could almost be tacked on to the end of any other religious text and seen as
fulfillments of those texts.
You could almost tack on the Gospel to the end of almost any modern movie, and see that
Jesus is the fulfillment of them as well.
The point is that by putting the Hebrew Torah and the Christian New Testament all into one
book we call the “Bible,” we have thought that this is a divine endorsement of the Hebrew Torah
as being a completely accurate and infallible revelation of the character and nature of God. When
it isn’t. Jesus alone gives us that, and you cannot put together Jesus of the Gospels with the God
of the Hebrew Scripture and come up with a coherent picture.
The gospels then, are not an endorsement of the Old Testament, but a paradigm or template to
follow, for how Jesus fulfills the hopes and dreams and myths of all human religions.
God has placed eternity in their hearts, and Jesus is eternal life, which means Jesus is the
fulfillment of eternity in our hearts.
Matthew, as Jewish Christian, was showing how Jesus fulfilled the Jewish Scriptures. But
this is not an endorsement of them all. Quite to the contrary, there are numerous places in the
Gospel where Jesus (and Matthew as the author) repudiate and contradict what is written in the
Bible. You have heard it said… but I say to you.
So also with Luke. In Luke 4, when Jesus preaches, he leaves off the part about God’s
retribution. Is this because that part was reserved for a second coming? No, it was because that
part was not true of Jesus, and therefore, not true of God. By leaving it off, Jesus was saying,
“God is not like that.” (See Jesus Driven Life, hardin, 66f).
Regarding the inspiration of the other religious texts…. The wind blows where it will. God
sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If so, why could not the Holy Spirit have
whispered His truth into the minds and hearts of other people in other cultures at other times, just
as He did to Moses, David, and the prophets for the writing of the Hebrew Torah?
The problem with Christianity as a religion is that it was never meant to be a religion at all.
We all know this. That is why it is popular to say that we don’t have a religion; we have a
relationship. Right. But words are one thing; actions are quite another. Despite our claim to have
a relationship and not a religion, the behavior and actions of the group of people known as
“Christians” scream nothing if not “religion.” By all definitions, Christianity is a leading world
religion.
So do we own up to the reality, or continue to pay lip service to the denial of what we are?
I propose a third option. I propose we start over.
Not from the beginning.
But near to it.
The problem is that the religion of Christianity stands of the shoulders of the religion of
Judaism. Nobody can deny it. Our founder, Jesus Himself, was a Jewish Rabbi, and nearly all of
the influential thinkers and writers whose documents make up the New Testament were Jewish.
And that is precisely where the problem began. Having been born out of Judaism, we
continued to build upon the foundation of Judaism, so that, as a result, it should be no surprise
that we have ended up with a religion that is very similar to the religion of Judaism. They have
the Talmud; we have commentary. They have The Rabbis. We have the Church Fathers. They
have codified law, we have creeds and councils.
Jesus was not giving us a set of beliefs to follow or practices to obey. He was giving us a
template. Yes, He came from Judaism, but not so that we could imitate Judiasm, but so that we
could imitate Him in coming out of Judaism.
But we are not Jews, and so we cannot come out Judaism. Right. It’s a template.
We must come out of whatever tradition and background we come out of. We follow the
template of Jesus and Paul in coming out of whatever religious and cultural tradition we find
ourselves within, just as Jesus and Paul came out of Judaism.
The NT is not a document to be obeyed, but a template to be followed as we see to redeem our
various world religions into the true relationship with Jesus Christ.
This is what Jesus meant by the parables of the new clothes and new wineskins. We must not try
to put what He was doing into the old wineskins, in His case, Judaism. We need something brand
new.
But what about his admission that “the old is better.” Yes, that is why we still have not
understood the radical truth He was teaching. We have spent 2000 years drinking the good, old
wine. But now it is time to pop the cork on the wine of Jesus and taste this vintage that is now
2000 years old. The old is better, and the wine of Jesus is now old, and now ready to be drunk.
A Modern-Day Reading of Acts 15
And certain men came from seminary and taught the people, “Unless you attend church and
get baptized according to the customs of Christianity, you cannot be saved.” Therefore, when
David and Steve had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that David and
Steve should get online to present this question to the people of the church.
And when they had set up a blog, many people read their posts and Facebook updates, and
they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the Southern Baptists who
believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary for them to get baptized, and to command them to keep
the traditions and customs of Christianity.”
Now the people of the church left many comments to discuss this matter. And when there had
been much dispute, David rose up and said to them, “Men and women, you know that when the
early church set out to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ to the world, many who were
not Jewish heard the gospel and believed. And without them becoming Jewish, these Gentiles
received the Holy Spirit, just as the Jewish people had. God made no distinction between Jews
and Gentiles, purifying the hearts of both by faith.
“Now, therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of believers today which
neither the Jews, nor the Gentiles, nor any believer since has been able to bear? We are saved not
through baptism, attending church, or by observing the customs and traditions of Christianity,
but by living life in the Spirit of God according to the love of Jesus Christ for one and all that we
experience the abundant life God has for us. Those who are outside Christianity often have a
greater experience of this life than those are within, and we believe that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have much to learn from these others about living the life of Jesus in this
world. We are saved in the same manner as they.”
Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Steve and David declare how many miracles
and wonders God had worked among those who were not Christians. After they had become
silent, Jake answered, saying, “Men and women, listen to me:
“When God first called a people out of this world for himself, He did so from among the
Gentiles. These called-out Gentiles became the Jewish people. Over the course of time, it
became their belief that if a person was to be accepted by God, they must become Jewish.
“So God sent His Son Jesus to show that He has accepted all people from every tongue, tribe,
and nation, and that Gentiles did not need to become Jewish in order to be received by God, but
they too were accepted into His family from within their own traditions and customs, just as God
had done with Abram. This newly added group of people to God’s family eventually became
known as Christians. Over the course of time, it became their belief that if a person was to be
accepted by God, they must become Christian.
“So God sent His Spirit into the world to whisper the truth of the Gospel to many people of
many tongues, tribes, and nations, that just as He had done with Abram, and just as He had done
with the Gentiles, so also, God accepted all people into His family by faith from within their own
traditions and customs, not requiring them to either adopt the customs and traditions of Judaism,
nor those of Christianity.
“Therefore, I judge that we should not trouble those from among other groups who are turning
to God, but that we ask them to refrain from things which are particularly offensive to us and
destructive to their own lives as followers of Jesus. We will ask them to abstain from orgies,
drug abuse, alcoholism, and violence.”
Then it pleased the people of the church to send chosen people from among themselves into
the other groups around the world to show them that they need not adopt Christian customs and
culture to be accepted by God, but could follow Jesus within their own customs and traditions,
for Jesus is the fulfillment of all of mankind’s hopes and dreams.
They wrote this letter and published it online:
The Christian church to all people everywhere:
Greetings.
We have often sent out people to you who have troubled you with words, unsettling your
souls, saying, “You must attend church, get baptized, and follow the traditions of Christianity!”
We, by our riches, military might, and political power, have sought to force all others to conform
to our traditions and ways. We are sorry. WE repent of this broken gospel message and beg for
your forgiveness.
We have recently learned that the Holy Spirit has been at work in you from the beginning, just
as He has been at work in us, and we want to partner with you in what God is doing in the world.
Toward this end, we ask that you refrain from certain things which we find to be damaging and
destructive, not only for general fellowship with each other, but also to our lives specifically. We
ask that you refrain from orgies, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and violence.
Farewell.
Do the same with Acts 17 – Paul takes their religion, pulls from it what pointed to Jesus, and
then points them to Jesus. But He does not tell them to become Jews, nor does he tell them to
become Christians. He just invites them to believe in Jesus and follow Him. Then he leaves.