Seeking God…

Seeking God Outside of the Tradition

October, 2008

I’ve spent my last twenty-two years, out of fifty-eight, as a believer in God and his son. Before this I had been devoid of faith and a hater of God and his people. I spent fifteen of these twenty-two years attending a non-denominational church, which emphasized an intellectual approach to the bible and God: expressing beliefs in an emotional way was frowned upon and therefore, this whole, religious experience had become uninspiring and unappealing. Over the past eight years, a brother and I have sought to experience God, His truth and fellowship and without being tied to any religious institution. This has been a difficult experience for both of us, and, more than once, we’ve questioned our decision to strike out on our own. We’ve also sought others who had left the church in hopes that we could share our journey with them, but this has only led to failure and disappointment. However, the result of this journey has been an opening of our eyes, in so many ways, to see the fallacies about God that the church promotes. I wish to share a little of this journey, but I am not trying to save anyone, since I believe Jesus already accomplished that and doesn’t need my help!

I have become increasingly frustrated, over the past few years, as I have attempted to connect with other believers. I am an American, so my experience is with the American church: I am not speaking for or about the Christian church in other countries. This is part of the problem I see with the Christian religion: I don’t believe we should be divided by borders and denominations in our beliefs. I have written other posts about religion, but they were my opinions on man’s religion as a whole, and I really don’t want to rehash all of that. What I want to write about here is my personal struggle with the Christian religion and Christians in general, and I am not condemning anyone.

I have tried, for years, to understand why Christians are so divided in their beliefs, since Jesus painted a picture of unity to his disciples. Jesus, did say that he came to “divide…,” but he was referring to Hebrews, which he had come to rescue from their oppressive and hypocritical, religious leaders and dogma. Jesus, knew his life, message and sacrifice would put an end to the Temple worship and sacrifice, which was, for all intents and purposes, the religion of Isreal in Jesus’ day. Jesus, openly spoke against the Pharisees and their religious ways, which kept the Hebrew people in bondage to the fear of God and man. With his disciples, on the other hand, Jesus spoke of many things beyond division: including love, unity and service to others, and he frowned on their desire to have a higher status, spiritually. Jesus, allowed his disciples into the inner-circle, if you will , where they were given a glimpse of God and himself: all twelve were instructed by Jesus at a personal level, and three, in particular, Peter, John and James, were present at his “transfiguration.” All of his disciples would desert him, during his trial and crucifixion, and Jesus knew, as well as understood, this would happen. When Jesus appeared to the eleven, after his resurrection, he simply told them to share what they had learned with others, which included the “abundant life” he had exposed to them.

Jesus’ emphasis was on a personal relationship with God, which, in turn, would then draw like-minded people together, “fellowship:” he never said anything about congregations, expensive cathedrals, denominations, political activism, human rules and regulations (Man’s attempt to make himself righteous in God’s eyes) or ministers and popes. Jesus’ statement to Peter, “I’ll build my ecclesia on this rock,” simply meant that this new understanding of himself and God would establish the “way” for all people to live in peace with God: “It is finished,” or in other words, it is complete in me, the Christ, and my “way” of truth and life is for all of humanity and with no strings attached. Jesus’ message of faith, a personal God, love and life was this “rock,” or foundation, of the new “way” for mankind to relate to God, and Peter had simply understood this message first. Gone were the sacrifices and fear of failure, “sin.” Gone was the need for a “man to teach his neighbor about God.” Through Jesus, “God placed his truth on our minds and wrote them on our hearts.” As Jesus predicted, the helper, or Spirit, was sent to dwell in all mankind whether they’re aware of it or not.

Today, Jesus, as well as his sacrifice and “way,” has been divided up into hundreds of factions, or denominations, which, except for the use of his name, share almost nothing in common. As I write, Christians continue to divide in their beliefs, as I have witnessed while reading religion blogs just recently. A new form of Christianity seems to be invented every other day, and this new form will, as always, only take away from Jesus’ sacrifice and message. The life that was exhibited by Jesus and his disciples has been lost in the book and churches, which claim to represent him, and many of us who have escaped the major denominations have simply turned around and started a new version of that old system. Constantly doing something over and over again, in the same way, and always getting the same result is considered to be the definition of insanity. Denominations will claim that they exist to save humanity for God, and yet the book they adhere to never, in a clear way, makes that claim. Christians are divided, because they have been raised in a religious system that isn’t much different from the one Jesus came to “fulfill:” Christians still have the temple and priests, and they sacrifice their sins, which hold them in bondage, to a man-made set of rules and regulations: these rules and regulations are no different, in their affect on people, than the “oral tradition” laws of the Pharisees.

My brother and I have longed for fellowship for almost nine years, but it appears that few share our views. So we’re faced with continuing our path or reverting back and trying to exist in a religious framework that we sense is horribly mistaken. Our journey, so far, hasn’t been about being right or different, it has been about seeking God and those he’d have us share our path with.