We started a series last week that could be considered controversial. What do we mean by “Quitting Church?” We have always said Christianity is more than just going to church. That’s not controversial. So what do we mean my quitting church? We mean to quit playing church, to realize it’s about a lot more than wearing a name and attending a service. At the heart of it all, Christianity has nothing to do with “religion.” Check out a quote by John Fischer from an article called Bowing to the coffee god.
“Religion is ritual, habit, doing certain things to get certain results, and pleasing the acceptable god by bowing, scraping and doing all the necessary penance required by that god to please Him/Her/it. I have been known to bow and scrape to the coffee god, but thankfully, not the real God, because the real God does not require this.”
Do you catch his drift? What you do think?
Griff
“Religion is ritual, habit, doing certain things to get certain results, and pleasing the acceptable god by bowing, scraping and doing all the necessary penance required by that god to please Him/Her/it. I have been known to bow and scrape to the coffee god, but thankfully, not the real God, because the real God does not require this.”
Do you catch his drift? What you do think?
Griff
1 comment:
I had to read Mr. Fischer's quote a couple of times for it to really sink in...and who knows if it has! But what I think he is trying to say is maybe we have gotten away from the heart of our relationship with God and have turned our religious experience into this obstacle course of things we think we need to do in order to have God on our side.
We don't have to bow down to gain God's approval. Instead, we have to believe that he is our creator and that he sent his Son to die for us so that we can have eternal life.
I think that once we have accepted that as fact, then our job becomes two fold. 1- We need to work on our relationship with God so that we can truly become who he wants us to be. I hope that as I continue getting know God, I will be able to hear Him lead me down the path I am meant to be on. 2- We need to share His word with others so that they may come to know Him or further their knowledge of Him.
I don't think that anything positive can come out of looking at religion as a chore. The religious experience isn't a one sided relationship either. We should be thrilled that we have the oppotunity to become closer to God and to share a mutual relationship with him. We shouldn't read the Bible because we think that is what we are supposed to do. I think we should pick up the Bible when we want and/or need to hear God speak into our hearts. To get the most out of the religious experience, I believe you have to be willing to put in as much effort as you hope to get out. I don't think it would be fair to expect God to work wonders in our life just because we show up at His house every weekend. It has been my experience that the more we try to get to know God, the more we can see him as the ruler of every facet of our lives.
Did anyone else get something different out of Fischer's quote? Am I on the wrong page completely?!?
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