Bad Religion vs Good Religion

In our modern world that so desperately needs Good Religion we find our self struggling intensely, world wide, with Bad Religion. We want to present a clear picture of Jesus so that people can find protection against the storms of this life. However we are so inundated in Bad Religion that people hear our words about Good Religion and associate them with Bad Religion. A word that can mean the deepest experience of love, joy, strength and peace to us can mean, to someone else, an experience of fear, control, violation and guilt.
I will focus on Christianity but you will find these parallels in other religions and philosophies as well. Bad Religion, as I will speak of it, comes in two different extremes. On one side you have the Right Wing Controlling version of Christianity. This group of people, which can be found in any denomination, fundamentally tears people down rather than builds them up. Controlling Christianity deprives people of free will and does not invite them to think for themselves. It breeds fear that you have a very narrow way to live life and if you do anything outside of how THEY define what is right and wrong God will be angry with you. They use the Bible to support their points but very often the verses are taken out of context or the tone of the passage is altered. Often they support their agenda with only one distorted facet of Jesus’ Character and neglect to paint the complete healthy picture of Jesus. Jesus is portrayed as legalistic, angry, and impossible to please … more concerned about the law than the people He created. This version of Christianity leaves healthy authority behind and becomes extremely authoritarian. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day clearly represent this version of Judaism. They attacked Jesus relentlessly while claiming that they were of God. They intensely studied the Bible. (which at the time was only the Old Testament) But they studied the Bible to find out God “rules” and how to get what they wanted out of Him rather than studying the Old Testament to know God – His justice, goodness, trustworthiness, joy and mercy! Their emotional picture of God was someone strict and fearsome who held total power over them. Since they had this emotional picture of God it is no wonder they projected fear when they taught about God. Interestingly John 16:2 comes to mind when you consider the Controlling version of Christianity. Jesus warned His disciples that a time was coming when people who killed the disciples would think they were offering a service to God. “They will do such things because they have NOT known the Father or me.” The emotional picture the Pharisees had of God was probably closer to a picture of Satan. I also think of Radical Islam. They suicide bomb cities and kill innocent men, women and even little children thinking they are serving God. They actually serve Satan. Why? Because they have not known God!
On the other side you have the Left Wing Liberal version of Christianity. Liberal Christianity is permissive and not concerned with the law of moral behavior or truth unless it fits their personal agenda at the time. Scripture is completely reinterpreted for “the modern era” so that passages that do not fit their view point are quickly tossed out. They “re-interpret” scripture removing the obvious meaning and replacing it with something to suit their personal opinions. They refuse to preach the “whole Bible” but only the parts they choose to fit their whims. They are not subject to God’s healthy authority but set themselves up as an authority themselves! They stand as judges over the Bible being their own authorities! Liberal Christianity is more concerned with “accepting” everyone, being sensitive and “nice” rather than combining compassion with truth. It would be more honest if they created a new name for their philosophy… “The Neo-Christians” or “The Liberal Way” or “The New World Religion.” Their emotional picture of God is that of a benevolent old grandfather who smiles at everyone and only , “wants everyone to be happy and get along,”… all the while winking at sin and violations of truth and integrity. Why do they do this? They have not known either the Father or Jesus. The Sadducees of Jesus day remind me of this twisted version of Christianity. They destroy people’s ability to have faith in Christ because people assume they have heard the message of Jesus from the Bible but they have only heard the minister’s personal opinion. People engage in all types of sin: lust, sexual indulgence, horoscopes, magic arts, falsehood etc… thinking, “The bible isn’t valid. There is no reason not to do these things.” The verse that comes to mind here is what Jesus spoke to the Sadducees, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29)
If we base our understanding of God on the Character and Personality of Jesus it will protect us from either of these perversions of Christianity. We need to build our mental picture of God based on Jesus’ Character from Scripture. We also need to build our emotional picture of God based on Jesus. We need excellent doctrine about God so that we can think clearly about Him and respond clearly to Him. This is mostly our mental picture of God. However, we also need to identify how we feel about God. This is our emotional picture of God. Often we are not consciously aware of our emotional picture of God. Looking at Jesus interaction with people and understanding His emotions is one of the best ways to heal our emotion picture of God. The Disciples represent those people who are avoiding both extremes of Christianity by focusing on Jesus and relating to God through him.

Let’s consider the tender side of Jesus’ Character. In John 11 Jesus hears that Lazarus, His friend, is sick. Jesus knew this family. It was Lazarus’ sister Mary who had broken open the Alabaster jar of perfume over Jesus. When Jesus arrives in Bethany Lazarus has died. There are mourning people everywhere. Martha, Lazarus’ other sister, runs out to Jesus when she hears He has arrived. Martha comes back and tells Mary and she runs out to Jesus, falls at His feet and says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” The text says that when He saw Mary weeping and the others with her weeping He was “deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” Isn’t it wonderful to know that our suffering and loss can move Jesus? That it affects Him? That He is touched by it? We do not suffer alone but God is always with us and knows how we feel. If you have seen Jesus you have seen God. Jesus then asks where they buried Lazarus. They take Jesus to the tomb and show Him. Jesus weeps! Isn’t He amazing? He is the rightful ruler of the entire human race and yet He is deeply impacted by Lazarus’ death and everyone’s love for him. He is the eternal King of Heaven and yet He weeps over one. Jesus then has the tomb opened and then He shouts, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead one rises!

Let’s consider Jesus’ intensity and fierceness. On one occasion Jesus is teaching in one of the synagogues. There is a woman there who has been bent over and crippled by a demonic spirit for 18 years. She could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her He called her forward and put His hands on her saying, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” She immediately straightened up and praised God! The synagogue ruler, however, was indignant and told all the people that they should not come to be healed on the Sabbath because it was God’s day and there were 6 other days to do work! Jesus turns on him fiercely, “You Hypocrites!” And then He challenges the synagogue rulers about work they do on the Sabbath, “Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” Jesus attack the synagogue leader and puts him in his place! Jesus confronts his two faced hypocrisy. The ruler does work on the Sabbath but is trying to forbid Jesus from healing someone on the Sabbath? What madness! And Jesus exposes him in front of all the people. “When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing.” (Luke 13:10 – 17) Isn’t it great that the fierce anger of Jesus results in the evil leader being publicly humiliated and the weak everyday person being healed? Isn’t it encouraging that Jesus anger protects the weak and oppressed people? If Jesus was passive she would still be crippled and would have died crippled. Jesus knows when to be tender and when to be intense. And so does God. If you have seen Jesus you have seen God. His anger puts wrong things right. Our society often says that anger is bad. But it isn’t. If it is clean pure anger like Jesus’ it will result in people being built up and not destroyed. It will result in evil being driven out. It will result in the weak being protected and healed. Man’s anger, often, does not produce this. Man’s anger usually hurts other people and destroys lives and nations. But we can learn to be like Jesus. He will help us.

Lastly let’s look at Jesus’ patience and grace with which He builds up the disciples even when they are sinning and failing. This is somewhere in between Jesus’ tenderness and His fierceness. In Mark 9:30 Jesus had told the disciples once again that He will instead of coming into greater and greater power in the nation of Israel politically, He will in fact be betrayed soon. And this betrayal will ultimately result in His death. However, after 3 days He will rise from the dead. The disciples don’t understand all this but they are afraid to ask Him. On their way through Galilee they eventually come to Capernaum. The disciples had been having a discussion on the road. Jesus asks them about it and they remained silent because they had been arguing about who was the greatest among them! Isn’t this crazy. Jesus has told them that He will be killed. They don’t fully understand that. Then they have an argument about which one of them is the greatest! And this isn’t the only time this has occurred. Jesus doesn’t freak out. He doesn’t have a melt down. He doesn’t chide them about being arrogant and self centered! Imagine some spiritual leader that you look up to. What if they caught you and 11 others were having a serious argument about who was the greatest? Would they be frustrated and annoyed at you for being immature? Would they berate you regarding sin? Would they look down on you? Jesus response is so interesting. Jesus goes and sits down. He then calls the 12 to him. Then he just talks to them about really being great. “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Jesus basically says that desiring to be great is a good thing, but it is very important how you go about it. Jesus (Matt 18:2) calls a little child and has him stand among them. Jesus then tells the disciples, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Jesus just helps them work through their issue. He is patient with the disciple and builds them up and focuses them in the right direction. Amazing! He doesn’t crush their godly desire to be great. He helps them to attain that!

If you have seen Jesus you have seen God! Remember His tenderness: when you suffer loss Jesus feels it with you. When you feel alone in the world, Jesus’ compassion is there for you. The doors to His heart are open. Remember Jesus clean and pure anger when oppressive people hold power over you. If you are a victim of someone’s choices… PRAY…. because He is upset about that and will act to put that situation right! Remember Jesus working with the disciples when you become aware of your sins of pride, arrogance and self centeredness. Don’t agree with the enemy and condemn yourself. Agree with Jesus and realize that He cares for you and is teaching you a better way to become truly great! That is His desire for you! If you have seen Jesus you have seen the Father! (John 14:9)