In probably what amounts to the longest conversation I have ever had with my brother related to religion and faith; we hotly debated the usage and evolution of mythological stories in the development of personal and corporate faith structures in large religious settings and the dangers thereof. I know, football season and election season is coming up and the Kwon clan is frivolously debating eternities, as opposed to realities. The conclusion we arrived at is simple: conspiracy theories are just an illusion of greener grasses not readily available on any side of any fence. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8 ESV) Sometimes, we, as Christians, would find ourselves buying into a false mythology of what is and what isn’t our faith and religion over the reality of testimony of how our religion is simply out of comfort or condemnation. But have we thought about how this functionally operates in our lives? It operates implicitly under our feelings of envy and jealousy. We get envious of what our lives aren’t and want what seems to be the lives we want that other people embody and then train ourselves to accept moralisms and mythological half-truths as a carrot we use to modify our behavior. Then, as if we couldn’t find a scapegoat for our failures, we blame ourselves and say that the reason our lives fail to live up to the mythological blessings we promised ourselves is because the religion we so adhere to is a lie. Unfortunately it’s not a lie, we were just captivated by a facade of deceit, shrouded in what appeared to be our faith. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing against religious activity. I am arguing against religious activity devoid of the fundamental truth of our Christ– that is, religious activity failing to be rooted in who Christ was, is and will be for us in our salvation. All moralisms in religion paint non-existent green pastures for us to chase but never catch. It is the biggest myth still being believed by all people of all nations, that somehow we would overcome our shortcomings and receive blessing beyond our wildest imaginations; and likewise, be cursed beyond our ability to deal when we fail. Christ offers none of these ethereal myths to us. He does not hide reality and allow us to fail by believing that there was something we could do to change the circumstances of our lives. He says that our reality is one of judgment, condemnation and death, but he stands judged on our behalf and was condemned for us and died to give us life. He lives on to give us hope for a future. How is that for a conspiracy theory– a scandal of mythological proportions? I want to challenge us today to give up our mythological religious activities and root ourselves in the being of Christ. Can we do that or is the conspiracy theory of “me versus the world” much more soothing to your soul?
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