He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. - Martin Luther King Jr
I consider western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity. - Mahatma Gandhi
I am no friend of present-day Christianity, though its Founder was sublime. -Vincent Van Gogh
MIDDLE EAST, INDIA, September 24 , 2011– I may be skeptical about formal religion, but I know the power and promise of personal faith in God. After nearly a year of writing this column, I am more convinced than ever about the need to differentiate between Christ and Christianity, religion and faith. Convincing people of the impotence of religion at times seems a hopeless task, but I know there are people out there who are thinking this through.
“Faith,” the Scriptures tell us, “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That speaks of conviction, longing and trust, not clichéd, boring religion.
The fact remains that most people don't desire true life-giving faith in God; they prefer the convenience of inherited religion. The reasons are obvious: Religions give you rules to obey. They are handed down, no thinking need be done, and most people prefer to hang on to their institutional club membership for the tradition and the perks.
Paying dues regularly to secure membership, they feel they are in control, but it's the other way around: Religious middlemen keep people corralled, like so many different herds kept in bondage to expansionist, power and money-seeking organizations all their lives.
Not surprisingly, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, authors of God is Back, claim that one of the key factors driving the surge of religion is the same thing that drives the success of market capitalism: competition.
Like sex and drugs, religious conviction is addictive for its self-righteous high, making promises it cannot keep. Its carrot and stick strategy dangles mystical inducements which always remain just out of reach. Like rats on an exercise wheel, people are kept piously striving in a religious stupor, even though their lives show no transformation.
Everything in religion is determined by those in control. As we follow organized belief systems, our faith becomes farce, changing into what people in power say it is. It is not genuine, humble faith in God.
Responding to my recent article on testing all the great religions, Soni, a dear friend from Canada wrote: “I feel your call to 'authentic, life changing faith,' can be misunderstood. I have firsthand accounts of my friends who testify that their lives changed for the better after doing yoga, meeting a guru or adopting another religion, and they genuinely believe that and their life style shows it! If I have learnt anything from the harsh winters in Canada it is this: You can have little or no faith in a foot of frozen ice sheet over a lake but still be safe, or have immense faith in two inches of ice to carry you and drown. Ergo a person’s faith is as good as the object of one's faith.”
I couldn’t agree with her more.
But I remind myself that while I can discuss Christ – the reason for my faith – I cannot prove he is true for others. The ultimate journey to the truth must be made alone, even in the midst of fellow pilgrims pointing the way.
I can only confront Christianity and point people away from the religion I grew up in, because its historical misrepresentation of Christ continues. I have no in-depth knowledge of other religions, so I won't argue that they share Christianity's problems.
Christianity Today reports that America’s largest Protestant denomination, the 166-year-old Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), with over 16 million members, may be changing its name. The decision is being considered because its regional name has a negative impact on people’s decision to visit or join an SBC church. "When they hear Southern Baptist, it's a regional perception there,” admits Bryant Wright, SBC president.
I think it's high time Christians realized that the term ‘Christianity’ itself has serious negative connotations. Most of the world sees Christianity as a western construct. Furthermore, it has an indefensible, depraved history, and many of its clergy and adherents are its worst ambassadors.
Christianity Today is a magazine I respect and read, but I wonder if those who publish it realize they are stuck with a title that belongs to a religion that dishonors the sacred name it exploits. CT supports an extravagant religious edifice, which could not have been the intent of the humble Savior who persistently scorned the pride and trappings of clerical power, pride and hypocrisy.
In the 2,000 years since its inception , Christianity as a religion has made little difference in the world except for swelling the ranks of its nominal professors. Most of the two billion people who claim to be Christians have deluded themselves that they are genuine followers of Christ.
If Christianity were all it claims to be, should it not have made more of an impact? Men like Gandhi, Tolstoy, and many others saw through it, and became convinced that it did not authentically represent Christ. I cannot understand why its high priests don’t denounce it before a world which longs for the Truth.
Think of what would happen if Christian leaders admitted that they made a terrible mistake, then obliterated all denominational distinctions - "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." They might lose members to other religions for a while, but people would then have to seriously consider what, or rather who, is the way, the truth and the life.
My earlier appeal to Billy Graham, to declare that following Christ and Christianity are not the same thing, fell on deaf ears. I wonder if this appeal to writers to stop using the word Christianity to describe faith in Christ, which only promotes belief in an institution, will make any difference.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Unthinking statements like this perpetuate the myth of Christianity – from his testimony there is no question that Lewis was referring to Christ, not the religion called Christianity.
I receive regular responses from readers, posted as feedback to this weekly column. What often comes across in these is pride, hate, prejudice and a shallow understanding of what true faith in God is.
One doesn’t have to read news headlines to see that the religions people follow have little impact on their moral behavior. Rather, like flies on sticky paper, people are trapped in their religious loyalties.
God cannot be just if he does not reveal himself to every individual, giving each person the opportunity to know who he is. Only then can we exercise our free will to acknowledge him or reject him.
From my own experience as well as countless other testimonies, I know he gives us that opportunity.
Frank Raj is based in the Middle East where he has lived for over three decades. He is the founding editor and publisher of ‘The International Indian’, the oldest magazine of Gulf-Indian society and history since 1992. Frank is listed in Arabian Business magazine’s 100 most influential Indians in the Gulf and is co-author of the upcoming publication ‘Universal Book of the Scriptures,’ and author of ‘Desh Aur Diaspora.’ He blogs at www.no2christianity.wordpress.com
Read more of Frank's work in No 2 Religion, Yes 2 Faith in the Communities at the Washington Times.
You may like to sign his petition at: www.gopetition.com/petition/44506/signatures.html
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