Organized Religion

Mark Dunagan
05/09/10 - Sunday Morning

Recently someone anonymously sent me a letter stating, “Organized religion is man-made, period”. Wow, that is quite an assertion. Is it true? On the one hand, there are many religions which are nothing more than the product of man’s imagination. The young preacher Timothy was warned that the time was coming when people would no longer want sound doctrine, but would want to have their ears tickled, and would find teachers who would accommodate their desires (2 Timothy 4:3). We learn then that the Bible actually did predict the rise of apostate religious bodies. In the Old Testament we find the same trend. God gives the truth, men are not content with it, and in turn create their own religions (Romans 1:25).

The Term “Religion”

When people say they “don’t believe in organized religion”, they are often saying that they “don’t believe in Christianity”. Yet the term “religion” applies to far more groups than Christianity, actually the term applies to any system of belief, code of ethics or even philosophy. I question whether anyone really denies the existence of “all” organized religion, for even skepticism or atheism are organized religions. In fact, the person who wrote me saying that all organized religion is of man, enclosed a tract that came from The Freedom From Religion Foundation – which is an organized religion.

Freedom from Religion?

In reality, “freedom from religion” is impossible. Even the atheist is not free from religion, for their atheism is a system of beliefs (there is no God, Psalm 14:1), and has definite dogmas attached to it, i.e., there is no absolute truth or afterlife, for starters. So when people say, “Imagine a world without religion or dogmas”, what they are actually wanting is a world without Christianity and the Bible. Yet even if Christianity disappeared overnight, the world would still be full of religion and dogmas. In fact, the tract that came with the letter listed the following dogmas of the group that wants to be free from religion: (1) Sin is a primitive idea. (2) Salvation is religion’s offer to solve a problem of its own making. (3) “I respect the human mind and I am optimistic about our abilities to continue to solve life’s problems with reason and kindness”. In Romans chapter 1, mankind rejected God, and yet man did not solve his problems and neither did he find any freedom from religion, rather he just invented his own religion (1:25).

Jesus and Organized Religion

Jesus clearly declared that He was the only way to God (John 14:6), and that the only way to find favor with God was to following His teachings (Matthew 7:21-28; John 12:48; 8:32-34). Jesus also clearly asserted that He was going to establish a church (Matthew 16:18), that is, a faith which would include some organization. When we look at the church that Jesus founded we find:

• He is the head over the church and the true church submits to His will (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23)
• Each local congregation is to have its own elders and deacons (Titus 1:5)
• The members are to cooperate with and support the elders (Hebrews 13:17)
• The church is to preach the truth, which is an organized system of beliefs (1 Timothy 3:15; 2:15)
• The local church is to assemble on a regular basis (Hebrews 10:25)
• When they assemble they are to partake of communion (Acts 20:7)
• Christians are to encourage each other (1 Thessalonians 5:12-14)

Therefore, anyone who is against “organized religion” is not only being inconsistent, but they find themselves pitted against Jesus, who clearly established a church with definite doctrines and organization.

“Tradition”

One common accusation that is often leveled at Christians is that they are bound by “tradition”. First, this is an odd accusation, seeing that the founder of Christianity was so against “tradition”. Jesus said, “But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines of traditions of men” (Matthew 15:9). The truth is that the word “tradition” simply means “that which has been handled down”. “Tradition” can be from God, that is, truth handled down by the apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15), or it can be the type of traditions that Jesus condemned – human opinion that has been handled down, “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18).

What is the Real Tradition?

The claim is made that the practice of meeting on Sunday, observing communion and the other things that Christians do – are nothing more than human“ traditions”. Well, I challenge this on a number of fronts: (1) Far more people do not attend, and do not partake of communion on Sunday (even among the denominations), so thepopular tradition or the prominent tradition that most people are following is not meeting and not partaking. (2) You may have a human opinion for not meeting, but I have divine revelation saying I should worship, and I have it in print (Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:25). So when people say something like, “All those traditions of the Church of Christ”, I think, “Wait a minute. Seeing that the number of people who are actually members of the church is small (Matthew 7:13-14), and far more people are not members than are, who is in reality following a “tradition”? Therefore, the real tradition that has always existed among mankind is the tradition of rejecting God’s truth. Skepticism or rebellion is no great accomplishment, neither it is a sign that one is a true individual thinker, rather it is what the majority have always done(2 Peter 2:4-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Matthew 7:13-14).

Modern Traditions

The following ideas are popular among skeptics, and although they are nothing other than human opinion, they are often passed down through families, and are devoid of any final authority for their defense:

• “There is no evidence for God”
• “Sin is a myth”
• “There is no hell”
• “We can think whatever thoughts we want and none of them are harmful”
• “The Bible is primitive mythology”
• “Design in creation does not demand a Designer”
• “Morality can exist without God”
• “I feel no guilt therefore I don’t need to be saved”

Intellectual Freedom

The person who wrote me said, “And the intellectual freedom ‘out there’ is great – no more worry that a simple unsavory thought will send us to eternal punishment – thoughts that are just a product of our wonderful human brain and thoughts can be entertained or dismissed. And the choice is ours – no other humans tell us what is good to think about – we get to decide what to read and what to think”. The claim seems to be that if we reject Christianity we will find intellectual freedom, but this does not make sense. How can it be intellectual freedom, if the Christian is not allowed to hold on to his or her convictions? Sounds more like a false sense of freedom from God. In addition, this person does not seem to be living in the real world, for even unbelievers have not escaped other humans telling them what to believe or think. Every time we hop on the Internet, turn on the radio, go to the library or watch TV we are being told by someone what to think or what not to think. There is a certain blindness about “unbelief” (Acts 26:18), and one blind spot is that unbelievers think that they are not listening to anyone, when in reality they are just believing the doctrines laid down by previous generations of unbelievers. This is one reason why the arguments against the Bible or against God or against certain teachings of the Bible are not new, rather, they are old and stale.

Avoiding the Real Conversation

The writer also said, “We like that in a friend – no preaching…”. We started with the topic of organized religion, and I wonder if one reason why some people are so fearful of a church is because they want to avoid accountability or scrutiny. The idea that, “I want to live the way I like and I don’t want anyone telling me that I am wrong or making a mess of my life”. Yet, this is not intellectual freedom, rather, this is selfishness. If we really want to mature and grow as a person, then we want to be around people who will challenge us and correct us when we are wrong (Proverbs 9:8-9). Hiding among a small group of “friends” who never challenge us, is living in fear and preferring the darkness to the light. I find it significant that the person who spoke so much about intellectual freedom, and how wonderful it is “out there” where people are allowed to think anything they want, did not include their return address on the letter. It looks like they actually have no interest in having a real conversation, and it doesn’t look like they are too concerned about my soul, for they did not allow me to respond. Since they are completely comfortable in preaching to me, they don’t seem to mind the concept of preaching, just as long it is in only one direction.