It is a bit rare to see anyone holding a sign at an intersection in Kyle, Texas. So, naturally, when I saw him, he had my attention. He had bright red stripes with black outlines tattooed across his chest, arms, and back, and carried a sign which said, “Jesus loves you, but religion doesn’t.” The message was clear.
While most wouldn’t tattoo themselves and walk around holding a sign for hours, there are a good number of people in the world who would agree with that man’s sentiments. And, in some cases, understandably so. The Catholic Church, for example, has a long history of scandals and instances of violence and taking advantage of people. It is difficult to fault a person whose understanding of Christianity consists of a large enterprise conducting itself in ways which are foreign to Jesus’ teaching, wanting to get as far away from any semblance of organized religion. But we must be careful not to overreact and “throw out the baby with the bathwater.”
The word “religion” basically has to do with the way humanity relates to the divine. It is an all-encompassing term which comprises the sum total of our devotion and service to God, including our work and worship with the local church. One’s religion can be “self-imposed” (Col. 2:23) and “useless” (Jas. 1:26) but it can also be “pure and undefiled” (Jas. 1:27). The concept, itself, is not wrong–it’s biblical. But, like so many other things, the problem is that man abuses it and turns it into something which God never intended.
New Testament Christianity is the only true religion and it cannot be faithfully practiced alone–it involves the church as a whole and each individual’s service within it (cf. 1 Cor. 11:33; 12:12-13).You cannot have Christ without the Church and we cannot create a dichotomy between them (Acts 9:2, 4). So, if “religion doesn’t” love you, then that’s man’s fault. The church is to imitate the Lord (Matt. 5:48) in all things. The goal, then, must not be to do away with it, but rather, to restore it to God’s ideal.