Shedding Our Religious Skin

Throughout human history, religion has consistently remained one of the most powerful, influential forces on planet earth. More wars have been fought in the name of religion than any other single cause. Entire nations and empires have been founded and sustained on religious foundations. And, by and large, religion has spawned more institutions, organizations, building projects, and scholarly endeavors than other aspect of human culture and society.
So, what then is true religion? What is the difference between true religion and false religion? Are religious pursuits and institutions ordained by God? Did Christ come to start a new religion or was He doing something else? Is it possible to follow Christ while rejecting organized religion? Is religion necessary or is it a hindrance in pursuing a relationship with God?
To begin my attempt at answering these questions, I'll go right back to the place and time in which I believe religion has its genesis - that being the book of Genesis itself. I think the first roots of religion were planted with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the introduction of sin into this world. I would even go so far as to say that religion in all of its forms (excepting none) is the direct result and product of sin and has become a primary element of a fallen world system, right alongside politics and economics.
To say that religion is the product of sin might sound strange, irrational or even heretical, but I challenge you to consider the possibility.
The most tragic result of Adam and Eve's fall was the loss of direct relationship with their Creator. And that was not all - they also lost the purity of their relationship with each other. The fact that they sought to cover their nakedness with plant life gives evidence of this. At that point, they weren't hiding from God; He had not yet shown up on the scene. No, they were hiding from each other. Those same fangs that still poison our relationships today - insecurity, selfishness, fear, and the twisted desire to control one another - had entered that first marriage.
And when God came calling, they hid themselves altogether, initiating a rift in their relationship with God - a rift that would be widened into a great gulf by their descendants.
Still, the sense of loss and the deep-rooted need to restore these relationships has never left humankind, and over time humans developed a systematized way of trying to fill that hole - namely, religion. You see, while religion reflects man's desire to reconnect with God, it all too often serves as a substitute for actual relationship. Basically, it allows us to feel good about ourselves and imagine that God is pleased with us while, at the same time, we get to keep a measured distance from God.
And that, of course, goes back to the sin issue. The taint and shame of sin drives us to hide and run from the Lord, and, what's worse, sin makes it impossible for we fallen humans to close that distance and fix what was broken through our own power or wisdom.
I find it interesting that, after booting Adam and Eve out of the garden, God took the time to make clothes for them out of the skins of animals, apparently animals He slaughtered with His own hand. Beyond providing some much-needed protection against the elements, this also spoke symbolically to their spiritual state. Sin has to be covered before the eyes of a Holy God, and Adam and Eve's attempt to cover themselves and their own sin was not adequate to the task. Covering sin requires blood and sacrifice - a reality that gave rise to the animal sacrifices that were central in all the ancient religious systems, both pagan and Jewish. It also pointed forward prophetically to Christ, whose blood would eventually cover sin once and for all.
In the case of pagan religions, this reality was twisted to the point that their objects of worship became either blood-thirsty monsters or mere supernatural projections of fallen humanity.
But what about the ancient religion of the Jews? Wasn't that given to them by God?
Sure, but, if you examine Scripture closely, you'll find that He did not do this as His first choice. The history of the Jews began when God initiated a personal relationship with a guy named Abram (later called Abraham). A few centuries later, God entered a relationship with Mosses and, through Mosses, tried to establish relationship with the entire nation of Israel. The Israelites, however, made it very clear during their sojourn in the wilderness that they did not want to talk to God directly and they were still attached to the systematized religion of the Egyptians. Following God's direction day to day was just not enough for them.
At this point, God gave them the Ten Commandments, the civic laws of Mosses, and the Levitical rules and rituals by which to conduct this new religion. In essence, God gave them a more elaborate, detailed set of animal skins with which to cover themselves. But this was not meant to be a permanent state of affairs.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul makes it clear that the law cannot restore the relationship between God and man. The law was given as a curse for disobedience, and it was also given as a tutor to prepare the children of Israel for faith in Christ. Besides, practically every aspect, object, and ritual involved in the ancient Jewish religion pointed symbolically forward to Christ. God gave the Jews a religion specifically designed to serve as a temporary standby until He could reveal the fullness of His plans and purposes in Christ.
But when their Messiah finally showed up on the scene, offering restored relationship with God through Himself, many (particularly, the religious leaders of the day) were just not ready to give up their training pants for spiritual clothes. Sadly, they had come to love their religion and their position within that religion more than they loved God - though they would never consciously admit that (even to themselves). Christ offered them the opportunity to know God in a personal, intimate way, but they preferred their post as experts on the subjects of God and religion.
Christ also opened the door to restored, loving relationships between people. And that, as far as I see it, is why Christ established His church. Quite simply, the church is Christ infusing His supernatural brand of love into human relationships and presenting this collection of love-centered relationships as a picture of Himself for all the world to see.
Religion, at best, was only a prep school for real, loving, Spirit-led relationships, and, as far as I'm concerned, the need for religion, religious institutions, and religious structures all ended with Christ. He is our high priest, our king, and our bridegroom, and we are His temple, His people, and His blushing bride. Jesus is all in all, and no religious embellishments are needed.
The reality, however, is that this religion called Christianity has come into being in the centuries between us and the early church, and, unfortunately, this religious entity has arisen largely at the expense of love-centered relationships. Gradually, step by fateful step, the relational was replaced by ritual, intellectual constructs, and organizational structures. Belief systems were substituted for personally knowing God, and liturgies and programs were substituted in place of relating to each other in Christlike love. Even the absolute essential of salvation through faith was replaced by the ritualistic administration of sacraments within the Roman Catholic Church. Practically every real and living spiritual gift that Christ gave to His church was replaced by dead, man-manufactured imitations. In essence, the Body of Christ crawled right back under the same kind of religious oppression and legalistic curse that Jesus came to free us from.
Maybe, that's because (in some pathetic way) we're more comfortable there. As I stated earlier, a religious context (rather than a relational context) allows people to keep a measured distance from God while giving the appearance of serving God. It's a perverted preference that goes right back to the fall of man. There's just something about fallen human nature that prefers jumping though some religious hoops and following a set of rules and rituals to actually dealing with our fallenness one-on-one with the One who made us. Religion also makes room for what I call the separation of church and life - basically compartmentalizing your responsibilities to God as something separate from how you conduct yourself and relate to others outside a designated religious structure or meeting.
More than anything, I think religion is an instrument of control - or rather, it gives us the illusion of control over that which rightfully holds authority over us. A well-trained pet deity on a leash is much safer than a living God who just might move in ways that we're not used to or comfortable with. And subscribing to a set list of religious doctrines and dogmas is much easier than being a perpetual student of both Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Religion grants human beings the imaginary authority to determine what God will or will not do, and it endows some humans (namely those with religious titles and job descriptions) with the power to place limits on how others can relate to God and their fellow man.
Christ paid the price of our sin with His own blood, He opened the door wide for us to have restored relationship with God, and He went through a lot of trouble to teach us how to live in right relationship with each other. I think it's high time to shed the dead snakeskin of religion and get back to the simple life of love and fellowship that He intends for us.