Sometimes, when I walk into an overtly religious setting, I become baffled by the stifling backwardness and hardheadedness of the people observing that religious setting. I’m not talking about people who are devout believers of their faith. I’m talking about people who are consumed by the letter of their faith that they forget what it means to actually practice their faith. Non-Christians and the children of overtly religious (but not faithful) people call this hypocrisy. I want to point out that whatever you want to call it or diagnose it, the fact remains that these people and types of people are not practicing their faith at all. Rather, they are just practicing confused religion. You can compare the practice of a confused religion to that of a four or five year old playing “house” with their princess dream castle and plastic housekeeping toys. It’s not something grown ups do. And he (Jesus) said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent. (Mark 3:4) In this passage (read its entirety in Mark 3:1-6) we find Jesus trying to do the right thing on what is supposedly the wrong day to do the right thing. The reason it was the wrong day to do the right thing was because on that day, all people were supposed to do not a single thing. Jesus answers, “how can there be a wrong day to do the right thing?” Nobody that was practicing that confused religion wanted to answer or respond. Rightly so, because they knew that their so called religion didn’t stand the test of its own morality. You see, the Pharisees in this story were so wrapped up in the laws that governed the principle of the laws that they forgot what their laws were intended to do. Everything we do in religion, in particular, the Christian religion, is to love God with all our hearts, mind and souls and love our neighbor as we would love ourselves. To help us do this, Jesus, God’s Son, had to rescue us from a hatred of our own self natures (because we are more destructive to ourselves than any ploy of the devil in our lives) by taking our place in judgment. This action allows us to practice doing good to others in the name of God, which happens to be a method of loving God. The question isn’t whether we’re hypocrites or not, because clearly, we are. The question is whether we want to practice a confused religion that arbitrarily does things for the sake of doing things; or if we want to practice a faith that intends on loving God who loves us and sharing that love with others. God, himself in the form of the man, Jesus, clearly shows that He chooses to live out the intention of love than some perverted interpretation of a loving faith. Which will you choose?
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