Religion; the path away from God

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Unity of religion

Many of us when we think religion we think gods, faith, rituals… but have you ever thought that religion might have less to do with God and more to do with man and his creation of gods in his own image?When you start thinking this way you realise the unity of world religions; faith based or otherwise is found not in the word God but in people opposed to God. The whole human race is united in this one thing; their rebellion against God, Romans 1:18. And what we call all roads leading up the same mountain is actually the opposite, all paths running away from the mountain; the acts of creation against it’s creator.

Man opposed to God?

Most religion especially the Abrahamic ones, would acknowledge that man was created by God and was in a perfect relationship with God before man wanted to be like God.

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ” Genesis 3. 

As a result man was cast out of the garden and what follows is an ongoing cycle of rebellion with man wanting to establish himself apart from God, to attain the blessings of God’s creation without the cost of absolute loyalty to him.

But not Christianity

This kind of thinking makes sense of the exclusivity of Christianity. Why? Because Christianity rightly understood isn’t a religion, and it is first and foremost about God not man. In Christianity, God steps into the universe to reconcile the religiously-rebellious man to himself. He breaks into the cycle of rebellion and makes away up the mountain, if you like, through his son; Jesus. It is no surprise then that Jesus clearly and unashamedly states that he is the only way to the Father.

⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.John 14:6

 

Jesus is Lord

If this is the case then, we must come to the conclusion that only in Jesus can we know God. And only Jesus has the ability and authority to tell us how to relate with God, which he does through his Word in the Bible. And if he is God stepped into our creation and given all authority on earth and in heaven then we owe him our unrivalled allegiance. And that’s what makes Christianity different from all other man-based religions. If you like, Christianity is God’s own religion.

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