Buffet Religion

While waiting for some videos for a job application to upload onto YouTube, I was reading through some of my E-mails. I've been so busy with family and job hunting that I have many E-mails that I haven't read yet. Actually, truth be told, I have many E-mails (mostly commentaries that have not been high priority most days) have piled up for several months. Any ways...

The article that I will be talking about is from BreakPoint.com, with the actual article called God Kits. As I read it, I was reminded of many conversations that I've had with different people over the years. Many people that I've talked with over the years often describe themselves as 'religious.' But, their actual 'religious beliefs' are picked from many different sources. Some others claim 'Christian,' but instead of accepting all of Scripture, they pick and choose what they like.

Our country typically prides itself on its individualism, creativity, adaptability, and resourcefulness. And, that is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, when the pioneers settled this Nation, they had to be very creative and resourceful to be able to have a chance to survive. When I was with the 82nd Airborne and 'went north' from Kuwait into Iraq, there were many times where we had to be very resourceful. I remember one guy from my unit who made a good shelf out of pieces of wood and duct tape.

But, when it comes to one's religious beliefs, is that a wise thing? I do not think that it is a wise idea at all. First of all, when you pick and choose what you want to believe from a variety of sources, you are in danger of two things. The first one being either not understanding the historical context and original meaning of the 'belief' that you are adopting. And, when you take something out of context, that can be very unflattering at best, or even dangerous. The second thing is, if you adopt various beliefs from religions that are very contrary to each other, then you can look the fool. For example, claim something like Jesus' love and forgiveness, and also adopt a Satanist idea that it's good to gratify your desires.

Then, there's also the importance of the context of the beliefs that you've adopted.' For example, let's take Jesus and the Holy Bible. I have talked with many people over the years who claim to be 'followers of Christ Jesus.' But, some of these people regularly had sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman, regularly cheated on their finances, thought it was 'evil' to give money to the church, didn't go to church at all (private religion), etc. According to Matthew 5:18 (NAS), Jesus said: "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." What Jesus was referring to were the different accent marks used in the Hebrew and Aramaic writings. If something so minor as accent marks were not going to change, then the rest of the laws and prophecies were definitely not going to change. But, that's not the only thing I want to look at.

Another important thing that Jesus said was in John 1:1-5, 14. To summarize, God literately spoke Himself into being. Just as our words reflect who we are and what our values are, so Jesus would literately reflect who God is and what God values. To emphasize this, in John 8:31-59, Jesus is teaching in Jerusalem about Him being the Truth. During the ensuing argument between Him and the people, He references Abraham, who logically is dead. When Jesus claims that whomever keeps His words will never see death, they mock Him. He then says, in verse 58: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Here, Jesus was referring to what God said to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14. For Jesus to claim such a thing, to be God, He was either a liar, a lunatic or He was, indeed, telling the Truth.

So, for someone to claim that they are a 'follower of Christ' but yet reject what Scripture says, they are either purposefully lying or do not realize that they are only following a god of their own making. That is, a Jesus in the image that they want, not the Jesus of the Old and New Testaments.

Now, no one will be perfect followers of Christ, because we are all sinners and fall short of God's glory/expectations. (Romans 3:23) But, because of His love for us, God reaches down to us, gave us a perfect way of redemption through Himself (Christ Jesus' life, death and resurrection) and provides a way to follow Him in obedience. That is, by having the Holy Spirit dwell within them. Like a seed taking root and growing up into a plant, so does God's Spirit take root within us and, as time goes and we purposely allow God to cultivate His will in our lives, we grow to be more and more like Him.

When we pick and choose what we want to believe, whether from one religion or from several, we really short change ourselves. Most importantly, when we pick and choose, we neglect or even totally ignore the historical significance of what was written and why. Like misquoting people, we misquote our values and expectations of others and life itself. If we are going to be serious about or 'spiritual beliefs,' let’s make sure we are accurate in what we believe, and why. If not, we set ourselves up for looking the fool. And, who wants to wear some dorky 'dunce cap' just because he or she is to lazy to really understand what they claim to believe? I don't!