Sorry, but I'm in a blunt and frustrated mood tonight and there's something that's just been bothering me lately. It's this whole idea of traditions mixed with religion. I'm not just bothered by this on the surface but in my heart of hearts, it saddens me to the core. What I mean by 'tradition mixed with religion' is that we are constantly mixing oil and water that don't belong together.
Oil being a heart felt relationship with Jesus Christ, an emotional, spiritual, natural, organic, intellectual, curious need-for-understanding and complete obsessive love for the Father God of Heaven.
Water being traditional, in-the-box, man-made, superstitious, judgmental, fundamentalist, routine, ritualistic and EMPTY social expectations.
I want to find a roof and scream this somewhere! It infuriates me to the point of tears tonight as I sit back and reflect on this topic and it breaks my heart. I am constantly baffled by the complete ignorance of so many people, namely westerners that I'm familiar with.
Our western society is stuck in the shackles of tradition and social expectations so much to the point that we are losing the battle against Satan himself for no reason. We are so set on which denomination in the Christian religion is more correct than the other, and we are so focused on nit-picking these things that we have lost sight of not only our Heavenly Father but His expectations for us on this earth while we are here.
Fundamentalist mentality: I have a "Message" Bible right now. It's the only Bible I've had where I look forward to reading it. Why? Cause it speaks in normal language- something someone might say to me across the table in a conversation. I look at verses in a new light, I understand things more, I read it quicker, it sinks in, and the language is colorful. And ya know what? It's bright flipping pink! I mean blinding pink. I got the color cause it was on sale, okay? My nephew saw it today and said, "What is that?" I said "A bible". He says, "But Bibles aren't pink!" I say "Why not?" But I run into so many people who are dead-set 100% against the Message translation because it's too "far from the original" and there's danger in that. It's like the Christian rebel's bible or something. Well by "original" they mean the King James version of NKJV. Who made a rule that said that the harder it is to understand, the better? I completely disagree with this notion that just because a Bible is translated into modern day language makes it any worse of a means to share or understand the Gospel- because I tell you what, 99% of people out there who are against the teachings of Christianity will not give the KJV the time of day! People are losing sight of the big picture here: these are God's words that have been translated in modern day language. Someone give me a legitimate reason why this is dangerous or evil? And don't tell me tradition!
Another fundamentalist mentality is that one particular denomination in the Christian faith is not only the best, but the only real means of becoming a true, devout, and mature Christian. Baptists think Presbyterians are wrong. Anglicans think Baptists are wrong. You get my point. Who has the right to presume that only one particular and specific denomination is false? I say this understanding that there is a thin line there- obviously I believe there are false religions and false teachings out there--but why dig such huge trenches in the midst of our fellow believers with only small differences? Because one person thinks that baptism via dunking is holier than baptism via sprinkling? Is it not opinion (within reason)? I have seen over and over that these seemingly insignificant differences have caused such massive rifts in the Christian faith and between believers that we lose great amounts of respect for eachother! Yet again we are losing sight of the big picture: we are all believers, we are working towards the same goal and more than likely we'll end up in the same place.
Traditions: When we grasp on to the ideas of traditions more strongly than the spirit of our living God, we are headed in a terrible direction. When we forget why why are doing something and do it anyway because it's tradition and your mom did it, and your mom's mom did it, it becomes empty and God isn't pleased. I am not saying that all traditions are wrong by any means, but look at all the empty rituals we do on a daily or weekly basis because we were taught to do it. Praying before meals without really thanking God with a conscience effort, getting married in a church without questioning whether that's necessary, or even accepting occasions like lent, Easter or Christmas. Not being able to wear pants to church, believing that only a piano in church is appropriate instead of other instruments as well, etc. Again, I'm not saying that any of this is necessarily wrong, but how often do you really have communion with God and pray for wisdom and understanding in these matters while doing them or believing them? Do you only do them because you're expected to fulfill traditions, or are you really believing them? From what I understand of the Catholic faith, this is a prime example of empty rituals and works being done with no conscious meaning.
Speaking of expectations,
Social expectations: This is a big one that is hard for me sometimes, because from the word "Social", I realize that these expectations are mostly meaningless! If you throw out everything you know about traditions, everything your teacher told you in Sunday school, and really get to the bottom of these social expectations, I find myself questioning how relevant they really are. With social expectations come a huge rift in fellowship - we are human, and if you're reading this you're probably in a sort of "western" modern culture. People like us are generally prideful, money-hungry, gossiping, hateful, spiteful creatures at heart, no matter how much we cover it up. In places like where I live, most people think you are expected to be successful, to be wealthy, to get married and have 2.5 kids with your white-picket fence, to stay in one place until you die, to dress nice for church on Sunday mornings... to dislike fat people, stupid people, ugly people, anyone faintly resembling a middle easterner, the drug addicts, people with mohawks, gangster looking men, men with makeup, women with short skirts- whatever, you get my point, there is a big bowl of characteristics we should be in, and there's a big bowl of characteristics which we should hate about other people. Not just dislike or hate, but to disrespect them to their face, or as we're professionals about this in the south: talk about them quietly but loud enough to where they can hear.
I tell you that if any one of those people were to come into an area of a large portion of the Christians I know, there would be no love, no respect, there would be judgments and whispers.
I think of the ways that many Christians I know share the Gospel. By evangelizing, they mean the only way to do that is to stand on a street corner and scream at someone, make sure that person knows they're going to burn in Hell, sit them down immediately and urge them to receive Christ like a sunburn, pray a short prayer, and voila! Instant Christian! I'm sorry but I don't know a single person that doesn't believe in Christ that would give Christianity a second thought, in fact it would turn them away much farther I believe.
I am someone that believes in living your life as Christ-like as possible and sharing your joy with everyone you can. They SEE that, they're not idiots. They see how miserable we are and how spiteful we act. They expect us to live what we speak and we're failing miserably.
And speaking of our expectations... you will come to find out that people with the "expected" life are miserable and depressed. In a study done by a British scientist, the U.S. is ranked as #23rd in the World's Happiest Countries (according to wealth, health care, poverty, suicides, etc). I believe that a big reason for that is because of these empty expectations that we're held to for no biblical reason- we expect that having these things will make us happy- so we get the house, the pile of bills, the spouse, the kids, the dog, and we realize that "OH, well poo, I thought all these things would make me happy and they didn't!" and we turn hopeless and miserable. More importantly, where does it say in the Bible we should do this? NOWHERE! In fact, Paul recommended to us to have next to nothing, not even a mate!
And we're surprised why people aren't interested in Christianity!? (I am mainly talking about a large portion of North Americans from their late teens to mid 30's). I know I probably beat this subject like a dead horse but yet again I go back to love! The Lord says our greatest commandment is to love. Love God, Love people, that's it. It wasn't "Love God, Love people, wear only skirts and dresses to church, feel obviously uncomfortable with flaming homosexuals, make comments in Wal-Mart about fat people, and above all, don't forget your empty traditions."
I've rambled a lot in this entry but my biggest concern is for people in modern society who are muddying up the waters with all of these distractions. Paul says this in Phillipians, and YES I'm taking it from the Message! I think Paul knew what he was talking about in regards to people getting distracted from our purpose and goal! This is a long passage but it goes quick, and it's good!
7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.
10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.
15-16 So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.
17-19 Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I've warned you of them many times; sadly, I'm having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ's Cross. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
20-21 But there's far more to life for us. We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.
I think Paul has the right idea here. He's kind of my biblical hero. I truly am sorry if you've read this and are offended at what I've said...but another sort of tradition as we as Christinas have is this: if you disagree with someone theologically, there should be a rift in the relationship. I see it all the time! It's totally fine if you completely disagree with what I believe here because in the big picture, we're still on the same team and we're all headed towards the same goal!
I feel very passionately about falling away from what Christ intended us to be as believers. I feel unceasingly disturbed about how we as a people are taking liberties in Christ's words and commands and ruining them, making them so unbelievably routine and ritualistic. I think we're headed on a wrong path and if you've agreed with anything I've said here then I think we'll be going upstream against the current! Call this spiritual immaturity if you want, or even worldly naivety, but these problems mean something to me and I don't think God is pleased.
