You Need to Lose Your Religion...

A South African man recently wrote his local television station and explained how he lost his religion and became an atheist. He claims that it was a result of his father's death. This seems fairly normal in a high schooler, but this man was in his forties. So it got me thinking and pondering. The piece is up at the local television station: Losing My Religion.

First, I would like us to say a prayer for this man.  His display name is Gert_swart. God knows the man behind the name. May he be genuinely seeking and find truth on the other side of his quest. May God reveal Himself to him in amazing ways.

Next, I would like to deal with an excerpt from his article. In it, he challenges us to also lose our religion.

But if you are a believer: a Christian, Muslim, Jew or partaker of any other religion, you should reconsider your religion because you will never be free whilst in religion. You may think you are free, but you really are not. You may think that you chose religion out of your own free will, but you did not. Religion was forced on you as a child. Even if you converted from one religion to another as an adult, you still made that decision courtesy of seeds planted in you when you were a child.

You need to undergo the process of losing your religion because if you don't, you will continue to contribute to the devision of the people of this world into christians, Muslims, Jews etc., opposing each other. You will continue sponsoring some evangelist's or preacher's mansions and luxury cars. You will continue upholding institutions which officials on an ongoing basis rape and scar young boys for life. You will be part of those who fly into buildings killing thousands of innocent people. You will share in the guilt of sending children with bombs around their waists to kill infidels. You will continue assisting in the degradading of women. You will continue in assisting to promote homofobia. You will continue to settle in other's living space only because you think you are some fictional deity's chosen people. You will continue to contribute to global tension, wars, terrorism and violence.  And you will continue assisting in the brainwashing and enslaving of children into the prison of religion.

The process of losing your religion might be painful, but if you have the confidence and self-worth to start this journey, it certainly will be worthwhile. You will be freed from the bondage of religion. You will be freed from responsibility of performing worthless religious rituals. You will be freed from guilt, shame and fear of dissappointing some non-existing deity when acting outside certain prescribed rules. You will even contribute to world peace, because if there are no us and them, there will be a lot less friction in the world. And in many cases you will be freed from staying in the closet and from enduring the suffering of listening to irrational rants every sunday and then even pretend that you actualy believe the stuff that religion are telling you. You will contribute to progress because religion is still a huge stumbling block in scientific progress.

I agree with Gert_swart. If this is your religion, then you need to lose it. If your religion causes you to divide others into some category so that you can look down on them, you need to lose it. If the leaders of your religion are living some luxurious life, you need to lose it. If the religious institution you are part of rapes young boys, you need to lose it. If the religion you are part of encourages violence toward those different, you need to lose it. If your religion degrades women, you need to lose it. If your religion hates homosexuals, you need to lose it. If your religion hampers the progress of science, you need to lose it.

If that is your religion, then you need to lose it. Losing your religion can be a great thing.

Instead, you need to find a better religion.

You need to find a religion that causes you to love everyone - Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, black and white.

You need to find a religion that has humble, servant leaders who reflect Jesus rather than  emulates the authoritarian powers who killed Him. "If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. (Mark 9:35 ESV).

You need to find a religion that empowers young boys and girls to achieve their potential. Jesus taught, "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matt 18:5-6 ESV).

You need to find a religion that teaches a gospel of peace. "As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace." (Eph 6:15 ESV).

You need to find a religion that empowers women to live the life worthy of their giftedness. "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good...All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." (1 Cor 12:7, 11 ESV).

You need to find a religion that loves homosexuals. "If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.'" (James 2:8-9 ESV).

You need to find a religion that encourages the progress of man. "And God said to them...have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ESV).


Jesus came to establish a religion of peace, truth, and love that would (and has) transformed the world for the better. We need to discard any false teachings of man that transforms His religion into a religion of man. Selfishness, divisiveness, greed, and oppression are all instruments of evil that routinely creep into His religion and morphs it into an instrument for the power-hungry and oppressive people of this world. We need to truly follow Jesus, seek His way, and find His true religion.

James taught, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.(James 1:26-27 ESV)

That, my friends, is true religion. Let's discard the religions that man makes up in order to satisfy their own selfish desires. Instead, let us cling to a religion that brings peace, love, and truth. A religion that spurs us on to love those who can't pay us back. A religion that keeps us set apart for a higher mission than gratifying the desires of our flesh.

Is Atheism A Religion?

It is a typical rebuttal from atheists that atheism is not a religion. When the subject is further discussed, it will often devolve into leprachauns, goblins, unicorns and the like. For an example see the answer to this question: Are atheists in the exact same religion as Jews and Christians?

Dictionary.com describes religion as:

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. 

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion. 

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions. 

4. the life or state of a monk, nun, etc.: to enter religion. 

5. the practice of religious beliefs; ritual observance of faith.

Under definition #2 and somewhat in #1 and #5, atheism would qualify as a religion.

At this point, I want to move into my view of what a religion is and how atheism stacks up with those views. Feel free to comment below if you think that I have missed a key element that defines religion in general.

A religion is something where people have shared beliefs. An anti-belief that is held as a belief is still a belief no matter how much one wants to pretend that an anti-belief is not a belief. Shared beliefs among atheists are that there are no gods, science can explain everything eventually, and reason is king. Please correct me if I am wrong and have misrepresented atheism.

A religion has shared prophets. Jesus, for lack of a better term for this discussion, and Paul are shared prophets of the Christian religion. Modern-day prophets could be John Piper, Rob Bell, or Pat Robertson. Each would give you a whole different approach to the Christian faith. Moses is a prophet for the Jews. Mohammad is a prophet for Islam. Joseph Smith is a prophet for Mormonism. In atheism, we have Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins. Like in all religions, atheism can then produce a variety of world views. As both Ayn Rand and Karl Marx claimed to be atheists yet their approaches if adhered to would create two divergent worlds. 

Having shared ethics is not essential to being a religion. If ethics were necessary to be a religion, then that would eliminate Christianity. Once you zoom in and have a closer look at all the diverse expressions of Christianity (Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, etc.), you would see shared ethics, but Christianity is still a religion without the shared ethics that comes only from zooming in on particular subsets of the Christian religion.

Religions typically proselytize. Richard Dawkins spends nearly a half hour in Richard Dawkins On Militant Atheism encouraging atheists to be more evangelistic about their lack of belief. Atheists do this more aggressively than any group except Christianity in my experience. It is understandable for a person who believes their view is the best for humanity to then share that view with the rest humanity. Actually, I would not respect the person who did otherwise.

A bad religion demonizes those that don't agree with them. Unfortunately, many atheists also frequently fall into this category. They label believers in gods or God as idiots and unintelligent, frequently mocking them. You can see this in I Hate Religion, And Jesus Too, a rebuttal to the recent internet phenom poem Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.

Obviously, "religion" has a negative connotation in atheist circles. But if we don't categorize atheism as a "religion", what should we categorize it as? A world view? A belief system? An anti-belief system? It gets difficult because atheism is usually contrasted with Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, or Buddhism. They all compete in the same societal space for the mind of humanity. What is the broad category that includes all of these competing ideas for the mind?

By saying atheism is not a religion, I think atheism runs into the arrogance that I see Christianity run into when they try to claim that Christianity is not a religion. "It's not a religion because it's right" is the arrogant mentality that some Christians have. Others proclaim, "It's a relationship, not a religion." "Religions are [this] and [that], but we are not [this] and [that]."

Back to the leprechauns.  If 60% of the population believed in leprechauns, lived their life according to the teachings of the imaginary leprechauns as explained by their prophets, and the other 40% didn't, I would think we would have two different religions. More than likely, the other 40% might fragment into other groups, and we would have more than just two religions. The goblin followers, the followers of no one but the thoughts of man, and the followers of the moon. What is the overarching category to contain all 100% of human beliefs, even if they are crazy? Is not "religion" a good word for this?

Then again, maybe not. The big question is what broad category contains all of those competing ways of thinking about God or not about god. For most, "religion" is the word used. It's only derogatory to atheists because they don't like religion. But don't feel bad, my atheist friends. You are not alone. Christians who don't want to be called a religion feel the same way.

**

A few useful links (all from an atheistic perspective) that I found in the follow-up discussions to this post:

Different Types of Atheism by Martin Willett
Belief Vs Disbelief by Austin Cline
Philosophy Vs Religion by Susan Quilty

**

You might also be interested in a few other posts.
A Response to Claims of Atheistic Persecution
Tax The Churches

Legalism's Attack on Unity - A Discussion on Essentials (Part Four)

The more legalistic we get, the more divided we become.  Look at the remnants of the Restoration Movement, that’s the movement our churches were birthed out of in the 1800s.  We started as a unity movement trying to be like the early church.  It was our goal to restore that church we see in the New Testament, something we still have a lot of room to work on.  Our movement allowed anyone from any denomination to join around the Lord’s table as brothers and sisters for the Lord’s Supper.  We accepted anyone, no matter what denomination they were part of, as brothers or sisters in Christ if they claimed to be His follower and showed fruit, and we did not expect them to leave the denomination they were part of but to remain part of that group and to help the churches they were involved in to put an emphasis on studying Scripture.

Now, we, a mockery of unity, have three major strands, the Disciples, us as the independent Churches of Christ/Christian Church, and the non-instrumental Church of Christ, as well as many minor strands.  As legalism over certain pet doctrines solidified over the years, sectarianism crept in, and people refused to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ over issues such as musical instruments, baptism, supporting missionaries more centrally, local autonomy, drinking, and the list goes on and on to the shame of us and the disgrace of Jesus.  Gandhi as an outside observer of Christianity had it right, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” 

In the more legalistic settings, people seem to fake that they believe certain things or hide their “inappropriate” behaviors because they want to be accepted by the legalistic leader or group.  Once we create an environment where people have to fake and hide things, which a broad list of essentials inevitably fosters, then we cannot have true fellowship with one another.  I once went to a church where the official stance of the church was that people in their church should not drink.  What happened?  Most of the people hid that they drank.  This unscriptural teaching on drinking led to falsehood.  Fellowship - real, authentic community in Christ - becomes impossible in an environment where people are fake, secretive, and deceptive. 

When we stray from being people of love into people of legalism - I’ve seen this with most legalistic churches - we stop loving people, we stop meeting their needs, and we just worry about the truth.  But a truth that does not spur us toward love is not the truth of Jesus.  And legalism causes us to refuse to love others with people who are different than us.  We should never refuse to do loving actions with someone because they believe differently than us.  If we are loving others, then we should look at the opportunity to show God’s love no matter how that opportunity presents itself.  For so long, the church would not love unless the love was done in a way that directly presented a verbal gospel rather than just loving people.  If the reason we are loving others is to get them to believe what we believe, then our love is not sincere and it is just a form of manipulation.  Our heart must be as pure as we can get it to be in order for our love to be genuine, as Scripture states our love should be (Romans 12:9, 2 Corinthians 6:6)

James wrote, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” [James 1:26-27 (ESV)].

I know “religion” has become a dirty word in today’s world.  But if this is religion – visiting orphans and helping orphans while being in the word yet remaining unstained from it, then I want to be religious.  Pure and undefiled religion.  It’s the type of church we need to be.  If we are not people who take care of orphans and widows and remain unstained from the world – if we think that talking about Jesus is enough, then we are deceiving ourselves like James warned and are far from being the people God wants us to be. 

If we believe in a minimal set of essentials in order to foster unity and freedom in Christ, then let us refuse the ensnarement of legalism, the desire to broaden the essentials to exclude others, and our tendency to look down on others to puff ourselves up.  Instead, may we be servants like Jesus was.  May we focus on the essentials of loving God, loving neighbors, loving one another, developing the fruit of the Spirit in our life, and continue to proclaim that Jesus is Lord.  In that we will find unity and freedom in Christ.

Walking the Tightrope of Faith Toward Love - Avoid the Pitfalls of Selfishness and Empty Religion - Finding Meaning in Life

We can stray to the right or to the left, but God has designed us to be on a path of faith.  It's like a balancing act on a tight rope; it's tough to do.  But unlike normal balancing acts, this one is filled with grace.  When you fall, you can bounce right back up onto the tight rope and continue where you left off.  If you teeter to the one side, you fall to short-term thinking seeking temporary pleasures; on the other side is seeking stability in religious traditions and rituals.  We're quick and often eager to point out sin in the form of living on short-term decisions, but the Bible does not ignore the stifling nature of empty religion. Galatians is a whole letter about the latter, which is just as dangerous as the former.

"Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Gal 3:3-6 (ESV).

The Galatians had a dangerous tendency to depend on religious rituals to make themselves feel right with God.  Paul wrote to remind them that it is not religious rituals that makes them right with God, but faith.
The Galatians were becoming strict adherents of a clear, Old Testament teaching, circumcision.  Abraham was the patriarch of the Israelites who was given the promise and told to circumcise himself and all of the males with him (Genesis 17:1-14).  The Old Testament was clear that those who were not circumcised were excluded from the promise (Genesis 17:14).

The fulfillment of that Old Testament covenant in Jesus changed things.  No longer was a religious ritual necessary to be right with God, it was now faith: Not just an intellectual faith that causes one to participate in religious rituals or abstain from short-term actions but a faith that spurs us on toward loving those around us.  Abstaining from selfish actions is painful because they produce short-term pleasure.  Refraining from relying on religious rituals is difficult because the ritual provides comfort and stability.  But love is where it's at.  Love is how we move further on the tight rope toward who God designed us to be, not refusing to be selfish or adhering to rituals.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery...For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love...For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”  (Galatians 5:1,6, 13-14). 

There was nothing wrong with circumcision; it was the sign of the covenant between God and His people.  The problem came when His people lost focus of the larger purpose of that covenant, and in so doing they really lost the meaningfulness of their relationship with God.  God blessed them so that they would become a blessing to the world (Genesis 12:1-3).  That is where the meaningful life is found.  It isn't found in us worrying about ourselves but in giving away ourselves to others through faith in love.


We're not called to be hermits.  We can enjoy the pleasures of life that God has blessed us with and we can find joy and encouragement in religious rituals, but when they keep us from moving forward in love, they become sin and prevent us from the life God has intended for us to live.

The Dance of Politics and Religion - Social Justice is a Codeword

Politics and religion are oftentimes inherently connected.  Where would we be without religious people standing up for Civil Rights or Abolition?  But then it can go terribly wrong as in the Inquisition, Prohibition, or other modern examples.

My point on Glenn Beck has been misunderstood.  I have no problem with religion and politics dancing together.  This blog is an example of that.  Beck is a personally religious political commentator who just made a jump into the realm of theological debate without doing his homework. He appears to not grasp the concept of social justice when he attacks all social justice proponents together as if every religious individual who works for equality in their community is a Commie or Nazi. Politically, that view is also baffling because Nazis and Commies are extreme polar opposites and were historical enemies. Christians can believe in social justice and find themselves anywhere on the political spectrum. Unless I missed the memo, it is not a codeword for being a "Commie." Although a "good" Commie should believe in social justice. 

Good people can stand up for social justice and disagree on whether the government should be involved at all in restoring creation to its intended place.  Restoring creation and bringing God's will into the here and now is also a subject that some theologically disagree on, but that's another subject for another day.

Beck is concerned about minimal government.  He, like many political people before him, is trying to use religion to achieve his purpose.  If he could get the churches on his side in this debate, then he has a better chance of seeing his will brought about.  The problem is that the churches should never play the puppet to the powerful political puppeteers.  Historically, that has typically ended badly for the church.

If we expect religion to influence politics, then we should, in turn, anticipate politics to try and influence religion.  But we need to remain strong to our convictions and never allow ourselves to compromise our beliefs or witness because it is politically expedient to do so.  We have a mission in God's kingdom that is not directly tied to any one earthly kingdom. 

At the heart of Beck's comments, it's not a rant against social justice, although he might think it is.  It's not a rant against helping people.  It's a rant against the government being involved in that process.  Beck could still be a proponent of social justice and hold a view of limited or no government.  He would just need to make sure that he was living his life as a proponent for social justice in his personal interaction with all aspects of society.  Buying fair trade goods, standing up for the oppressed, living without overconsuming, helping those you see in need are all aspects of social justice that do not involve the government.  It's not a codeword for Commies of Nazis; social justice is a codeword for love.

True Religion, Atheism, and the Quest for Truth

I recently read an article from Tara Stiles entitled What Would God Do For You? The article turns into an atheistic rant against Christianity. This is my response.

We can sit around and focus on all of the bad actions that religious people have done through the years as a means of discrediting religion. Likewise, we can sit around and focus on all of the bad actions that atheists have done in the twentieth century as a means of discrediting atheism. To discredit either argument based upon bad actions is intellectual disingenuousness at best.

In an article like Tara Stiles', the bad actions of "religious" people in the past are brought up as a way to trick the audience into not liking God. Nobody in their right mind would like a God that encouraged bad religious people to do bad religious actions. Religious people oftentimes take the same approach to atheism. Both belief systems have enough battle scars for those who want to discredit an idea based on battle scars to easily scoff at the other side. What this approach ignores is that every belief will be morphed and manipulated because of power hungry people, but that does not mean we should not believe anything. Should we just go around being apathetic and not believe? (And I believe atheism is believing - agnostics do not believe.)

What gives the ideas value are the good actions that people do as a result of believing them. There are many good things that Christians have done. Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Salvation Army, many medical clinics, most of our hospitals, and the list can go on. Don't throw the baby out with the pooped in bath water.

Many Christians have done many stupid things, but that does not mean the gospel of Jesus is not true. There are many Christians who sincerely believe in Jesus and are trying to bring about his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. They don't follow to use Jesus as a tool for eternal life or to make themselves feel superior to the "nonbelievers" but live their lives, like Jesus did, as an example of how we are supposed to live by serving one another.

American Religion or Turning America into a Religion - The Perils of Patriotism - Praying for Hussein and Osama

A friend emailed me, "Once the war in Iraq took place, it seems, most churches began praying for 'the world's leaders' and the troops. I've always wondered how many churches were praying for Bill Clinton when he was a President."

I really doubt that most churches actually started praying for the world's leaders. They probably just prayed for the leader's of the world that share our stance in the world. I have yet to hear a prayer for Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden in church.

I do remember my youth group praying for Bill Clinton during his presidency. I do not know if that was the case everywhere. I do think we have a tendency to pray for those we like and not pray for those who disagree with us. If we do pray for those we dislike, it is usually to heap condemnation on them.

I believe we need to take seriously the calling to be a people of God without national borders. It is probably easier for immigrants to realize that our nation is not God's nation. God's nation is the church. We are aliens in this world no matter what nation we are in.

Acts 7:6-7 states: "But God spoke to this effect, that his OFFSPRING WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. 'AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY SHALL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,' said God, 'AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.'"

Ephesians 2:18-22 states: "For through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

We are aliens in this world. We have no borders to defend. Our citizenship is in heaven.

Romans 13:1-2 states: "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same."

The key word is "subjection". We would not have to be in subjection if we were in agreement. Subjection implies we do not like what is going on. Here is a good essay I read on the subject.

I want to leave with a story. When I was a youth pastor in Alma, there was an American flag that stood on the stage in the front of the church. I was disgusted by it. Not because of a hatred of America but because America - the land of abortions, annihilation of the Indians, and many other acts that are disgrace to associate with the will of God - doesn't deserve a place in the church. The minister agreed with me. One Saturday night we moved the flag from the sanctuary up to the storage closet. It stayed there for around six months. During that time, the minister that helped me in the secret mission left and we hired a new minister who was an armed forces veteran. It became a semi-big stir after another veteran brought up that he missed the flag. I was asked if I knew where it was. I told them the story of the secret mission in the dark of night and its top-secret location. (I wish I had infra-red goggles. All I have is a gasmask.) The flag was returned to the sanctuary where it stands proudly to this day.

The moral of the story is that when you want the flag to be out of the sanctuary, burn it. (That's also sarcastic.)

I believe in the seperation of state and church. The church can influence the state as much as it wants, but the state should never influence the church. I think it is a slight different view than the seperation of church and state. We can't have a healthy government without godly men and women passing godly laws.

Disclaimer - I like America. I like that I can go to a house of worship without the risk of getting arrested. True, some psychotic lunatic could walk in with a toothpick, pocket knife, machete, or an automatic weapon and do us in, but we do not have the government to worry about. I like some of the overplayed patriotic country songs. I've liked some of the Presidents we have had in my lifetime. I like apple pie, but I can't have wheat because I'm sensitive to it. I like baseball, but I threw my arm out somewhere along the road and can no longer play. I like fields of grain except during allergy season. I like sunny skies except when I get too much sun and have a sun burn that itches like the poison ivy I have right now. Poison Ivy, I tell you, that grew out of American dirt. I could keep going, but I really do have to quit. Today's post was supposed to be brief.

On a serious note, there are many changes that need to be done if this nation wants to be pleasing to God. Maybe someday, I will make a list. I love blogging.

Disclaimer #2 - God could've been punishing the Indians through America for all of their years of paganism. That is always a possibility with God. I do not presume to know.

Watch out for the potholes.

Creating a Jesus State - On Christian Exodus

I've been trying to avoid being contentious, but I can't.

The other day when I brought up Christian Exodus, Crystal replied in a follow-up post saying, “Now concerning a Christian Nation, the logistics will shoot that idea down quicker than anything else. Land, roads, taxation, etc etc.” Although she went further, she wasn’t alone in this reply. I also talked to Josh Kissling and he brought up the same thing in my store.

What should be our proper response has been plaguing my heart ever since. I didn’t want to bring my conclusion up because I don’t want to cause strife and I like both Crystal and Josh, but I have to get it off my chest or I will go crazy.

When the topic of Christian Exodus comes up, the thought that it isn’t possible should be the least of our concerns. If God is calling people to it, then whether it is possible doesn’t really matter. Should we be the type of Christians that worry about whether that which God has called us to is possible? Or are we to be the type of Christians that follow God’s calling no matter how irrational or illogical it may seem? I think it was very irrational for Jesus to die on a cross to save the world. Hosea could have been saying, “Lord, it is not logical for me to marry a prostitute.” Abraham could have told God, “This is where my family is and where I am supposed to be. That is completely irrational that you would want me to leave this land I was born in and go to this so-called ‘Promised Land’.” But it is in the things that are irrational or illogical that God turns the ways of the world upside down.

The first and most important thing is whether Christian Exodus contradicts Scripture. That one I am not sure on. If it contradicts Scripture, I would love to see verses. But we cannot say that just because the Bible doesn't give directions on how to do government means that God doesn't have a plan for it. We are given the Spirit to help us work through things the Bible doesn't directly address.

The second thing we can look at is church history. The modern church seems to be oblivious to the past. But in order to understand if this is something God calls Christians to, we can look at the past. Because if he called people to it once, then it is something he can call people to again. Was John Calvin called of God when he tried to create a theocracy in Geneva? Do we think God called the Mayflower over here to start a Christian colony? Many of the American colonies were started due to people being “called” by God to sail across the ocean and start governments that would be focused upon doing the will of God. They had to leave behind their present environments where they could’ve been more effective personal witnesses of Christ, but, apparently, they were called onto a different path because God had bigger plans in the works than just the one or two individuals they would win to the Lord through personal relationships. God is always trying to redeem the whole world. He always is looking at the big picture which we sometimes have trouble seeing.

Now this leads to the heart of the matter of Christian Exodus. I believe God is in the process of not only redeeming individuals but of also redeeming societies, which would include governments. The question that is important, and that we should tackle, is whether God would call anyone to leave their environment, go to another place, and change a corrupted government into a government that is focused - although they will fail - on following God. They key thing is that they would be striving to be what God wants them to be.

The American government is not Christian. It might have resemblances of Christianity, but it is failing on many levels. It is not striving to be what God wants it to be, and I do think a government can try to be what God wants it to be. However, I do not know what the proper response of this is. I am not a total supporter of the Christian Exodus, but I am not a naysayer yet. I actually haven’t heard a solid reason to be a naysayer. The most convincing argument is being a witness to those around you, but history has shown God's call away from that in the past. All of the people against Christian Exodus act like it is obvious to be against it and don’t explain why it is obvious. I am having trouble understanding how it is obvious when I look at this in the context of history. God wants to redeem the whole world. Would Christian Exodus somehow prevent God from waking people up or might it be the alarm clock the world has been waiting for?

Maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know where I am, so that we all can grow.

And watch out for the potholes.