Can We Trust Organized Religion? 9-27-09
I was listening to the radio in my car one morning this last week and I heard something that irritated me to no end. The program was the Grandy and Andy Morning Show, and their news anchor Bryan Nehman made the remark that he just didn’t trust organized religion anymore. One of the reasons that he gave was the numerous scandals involving the sexual predations committed by Catholic priests. So then, because some men sinned Mr. Nehman doesn’t trust organized religion? Does this make sense?
Let us first examine religion itself. Setting aside other uses of the word, Religion means the “the service and worship of God or the supernatural” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). The word religion actually comes from the Latin religare, meaning “to restrain”. The idea seems to be that there is something about the “service and worship of God” that restrains something about man. Lactantius, tutor to one of Emperor Constantine’s sons, wrote in the Fourth century that “religion is the cultivation of truth … superstition is the cultivation of what is false … the name of religion is derived from the bond of piety,” (A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, edited by David Bercot). Lactantius asserts that the difference between religion and superstition is the difference between truth and falsehood, and that contrast only becomes clear in light of the restraint of piety (godliness).
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:26-27 NIV)
So we can see that God’s word defines religion as restraint! And it makes sense, doesn’t it, that our religion is denying ourselves to walk with Christ? I doubt many would argue with this, so then the problem with organized religion must be the “organized” part. So then, do these people who have a problem with organized religion, wish to have disorganized religion? I think the answer is yes, and I think they are gravely mistaken.
What is “disorganized” religion? Chaotic restraint? Whimsical bonds of piety to God? The idea is patently absurd. No, those who want this want the cultivation of truth, but only the truth that supports their ideology and beliefs. But these people do not realize that while they voice objections to organized religion, thinking that this makes them sound wise and discerning, they are really showing their objections to the restraint imposed not by the religion but rather by the organizer of the religion.
Many people do not want to be restrained by the bonds of piety; in fact, I’d have to say that the reason we need the bonds to restrain us is that we do not want to be restrained!
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 NIV)
Look at what man does when he feels bound only by his own morality: human life is cheapened and truth is ridiculed. We have movements in this country trying to legalize prostitution and pedophilia just as they have homosexuality. Our Christian values are scorned while Islamic law is hailed as just and peaceful. And what does man do with religion? Well, he searches for the disorganized religion in which he picks and chooses what words he wants from God and so seeks to place restraint on God rather than being restrained by God. Those who cry out against organized religion think they sound wise, but they reveal themselves as fools. Wisdom begins with a fear of the Lord, and it takes root through the bonds of godliness: religion, organized by our savior Jesus Christ. That is the religion we can trust.
-Charles Peterson