The Inoculation of Religion

Recent discussions on this here blog have got my mind turning…as if it didn’t have enough to do. 🙂 Not really so much agreeing or disagreeing with comments made, or anything like that…just thinking.

Specifically, I’ve been thinking about what would make us not know when it’s real.

For a long time I’ve thought of religion as working the same way that a vaccine does, only instead of making us healthier, it has the opposite effect.

When we are trying to avoid getting sick with a disease (like swine flu, for instance), we take a vaccine for it. A vaccine is actually the a dead or weakened form of the actual disease that doctors inject into our bodies–not enough to really make us sick, but enough to prompt our immune system to produce antibodies against it. Once we have the antibodies, chances that we will get sick for real are greatly reduced, and we won’t get the disease if we are exposed to it.

Maybe the analogy isn’t perfect, but this is pretty much how I see religion. It is a weakened or dead form of true spirituality and relationship–a poor substitute–but when we are injected with it, somehow it inoculates us so we are less apt to recognize or accept the real thing when it comes along. We become self-satisfied with our religion, so we don’t hunger for more. And for someone who has been deeply inoculated with it, it can be that much more difficult to even convince that person that there is more to be had.

Jesus wasn’t necessarily talking about the same thing here, but the analogy sort of applies when He said, “Those who taste the old wine don’t desire the new, for they say, ‘The old is good enough.'” I think that’s where I’m going with the religion thing. In many ways religion satifies us the way old wine does, so we have no interest in new wine when it comes.

So how do people lose their religion (like the blog title suggests)? If we’re inoculated by a substitute, how is it that some folks do embrace the real? Well, this is sort of where the metaphor breaks down–because unlike a vaccine that prevents us from getting ill, this religion vaccine is not entirely foolproof. I’m convinced that we can bypass its effects. But I also am convinced that we need a little bit of help.

Referring again to Jesus’ words, He said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him.” In other words, even in our embracing of Christ, God Himself initiates the process; we are unable to come to Him on our own. And I want to point out that Jesus spoke these words to a highly religious group of people. So, yes, it’s possible to escape religion, and I personally think it is an ongoing quest for every Christ-follower to shed their religion for the real thing. (For me, it’s happened in layers.) But I think the reason some people get a glimpse of the real thing, to the point that they see the fallacy of religion and start searching for something more, is that somehow God has gotten through the fog–even in their initial encounter with Christ, or somewhere along the path. Something sparks us and convinces us that the religion we’ve been experiencing isn’t all there is, and we begin to hunger. Based on what Jesus said…I’m not even certain that this comes from within ourselves, but is God reaching out to us. Those who for some reason never feel this drawing, never see a need for something more.

Two things before I stop this meandering. First–I recognize that not everyone’s battle is with religion, that there are many who come to Christ without any religious/spiritual background at all. In my experience, these folks are far easier to disciple because they have less to unlearn. But in America, there are few who have not taken the religion vaccine in some form–whether it be Christianity or some other religion. Most of us have some sort of religious belief or background.

Second–I can already hear the theologians saying, “What about the ‘pure and undefiled religion’ mentioned in the book of James?” In looking at that passage, and considering that it is the only place in the whole Bible where the words “religion” and “religious” are used so prolifically, I submit that this is a poor translation. The Greek word simply means “observance”, which does not have to be religious. I don’t think James was speaking of religion the way we are speaking of it here. Truth be told, if you are compelled to defend religion in general by this one passage, you probably need to re-read this post. Let the reader understand. 🙂

Bottom line for me–religion as I have described it inoculates us against something we need, not something we should be avoiding. Religion is a tool of Satan to keep us satisfied with candy so we don’t seek out real nourishment. In that way–I am very thankful for the ways in which the voice of God has overcome my inoculations, which apparently were many. There is no way I can count religion as my friend.

No. way.