Religion And Religious Statements Just Need To Go

“This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will bring disaster upon this city and its surrounding towns as I promised, because you have stubbornly refused to listen to me.’” [Jeremiah 19.15]

Above is what the Word of God says.

Here is what religious people say:

"But the disaster might be because we are serving God and, in His pleasure with us, He is trying to make us better..."

I just thought about all the instances I have read so far this year in the Bible about God bringing disaster upon disobedience. In no case, Job included, was God's hand of disaster a sign of love and affection, It was, without exception (again, this is in my recollection of what I have read this year so far) that disasters were the result of sin that needed to be repented of and turned away from (yes, Job had to repent in the end).

The danger of uneducated statements like the one made before the previous paragraph is that they confuse good and evil. They confuse love and justice. They confuse right and wrong.

As a child, I grew up in a home that exercised corporal punishment. In other words, if my brothers and I disobeyed or did wrong, we got a spanking. Never, did my dad spank me that I didn't deserve it. Never. I never had to wonder if his spankings were because I was good or because I was bad. ALWAYS I got spanked because I had disobeyed or had done wrong.

Why in the world do people make up silly religious statements like the one mentioned above that are uncharacteristic of God and love? Religion and religious statements just need to go. People need a real relationship with God - to know God and be known by Him.

We need to review all we know about God versus all we think we know about God. We need to devour the life and ministry of Jesus because no other person in all of history more accurately reveals God's character and Kingdom. If we are in doubt about anything any other person says or does, and it conflicts with something Jesus said (or did), then we need to go with Jesus and let what the other person said or did be "unknown" to us.

The things I write in this blog might be good. But, on the other hand, they might be wrong. Jesus should be the first litmus test of everything I have recorded here. Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Forgiver, Jesus who detested religion, Jesus Who embraced the lowly and humble. Jesus.

Father, I just see the need today, with a repentant heart, to allow You to purge my mind of unfounded religious ideas. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and  heart to understand... Jesus.