With God, Relationship > Religion

Does anyone want to know why people are turning from the church in droves? Hint:  It’s not the lyrics from that Belly song (“Might Not”, featuring The Weeknd) we discussed in Bible study recently although it is an example of what we have become over the course of the past few decades. It’s the perceived – and actual – political hatred, racism, judgmentalism, bigotry, and homophobia that hide behind the loving guise of Christianity that Christ intended and the lack of authenticity within our churches. We put on our best faces every Sunday morning and Wednesday night and for those of us in leadership positions, include Saturday mornings and any other times the doors of the church are open to mask our true feelings.

She told me no religion was the new religion

She said she don’t believe in God but her shoes Christian

-         Belly, “Might Not” featuring The Weeknd

The track has a catchy beat, but it is telling the listener that the pursuit of materialism is acceptable.

In effect, we are living a façade of what we think the Church really is.

Having survived the SEC Primaries back in March 2016 and all of the ensuing bombardment of political advertisements and signs everywhere – on television, at major intersections, on highly visible billboards, and infinite endorsements of candidates who either openly placate for votes (the Democrats) or conveniently ignore (the Republicans), no one slows down enough to consider the consequences of our decisions unless it comes from the closeminded worldviews that many of us so frequently ascribe to and promote as if it were the greatest thing since Wonder Bread.

Many Sundays, it is a miracle if our churches are more interested in the real business of soul-saving than standing at the front of every hot-button social issue that can either tear us apart or classify us as hypocrites.

We’ve heard the dog whistles often from the most ignorant among us:  I’m a hard working real American; abort socialism; stand with Israel; and the like. Considering they have no idea of what socialism really is and which Israel we are supporting (they endorse the 1948 state that was established, not the one the Bible has described since the days of Moses’ exodus from Egypt and Jesus’ disappearance in the early days of His ministry), I find it easy to take their hollow words like the dust from my Polo boots:  shake it off.

Earth to those Americans:  I’m also hardworking and educated enough with a prism wider than the fifty mile radius of my hometown to know better than fall for smallminded mentalities. Plus, my ancestors built this great nation for free:  Now who can tell me about hardworking? The more appropriate reply should be “I’m a hardworking human being” as it removes the imperially myopic view promoted by nationalists. We can be proud of who and what we are and where we live, but do not allow for its supremacy to predominate your relationships with God and our fellow man.  

If Christianity is often equated to racism, judgmentalism, homophobia, political hatred, bigotry, and all sorts of hypocrisy, then why would a nonbeliever commit? They see us with the Christian affiliation and dismiss it because of the unspoken things we are perceived to symbolize. To them, they do not see that we are regular people set apart trying to live an upright way that can be life-changing and fun; we are a bunch of stiffs who hold ourselves to outdated, rigid man-made rules that no one truly follows.

A Christian who tells Muslims and Mexicans to leave our country is no better than the ones who spit on the Little Rock Nine or poured hot coffee on the young black men and women who dared to sit in at counters throughout the South or sent Asian-Americans to internment camps such as the one in Rowher.  Likewise for those who still think President Obama is a Muslim (what does it matter in the first place? He’s a black Christian, just not in the stereotypical vein we are so familiar with a la Jessie Jackson) and forwards on memes depicting the First Family as monkeys and other animals. Keep in mind the United States of America is a nation of immigrants who either voluntarily left bad situations or were forced across the Atlantic Ocean into slavery and the subsequent racism – our nation’s original sin.

Even so, those who claim “I’m a Christian” and live converse to what Christ has taught is truly not of the faith, as they are most comfortable hiding behind the curtains of religion and pointing fingers at those of us who are actually trying to pattern our lives to His model.

I teach a new members’ orientation class at our church one Saturday every month and when that question has been broached, I will cite Biblical examples to answer the questions with love and concern – not everyone will move beyond “because I said so.” Any question is a good question, and if I cannot immediately come up with a response, I’ll tell them that I will find out and give an appropriate solution.

Where do we fail people? When we allow religion to trump relationship.

As we sit high and mighty on those padded pews for a few hours every Sunday morning gossiping about the deacons’ off-key singing or praying for too long or what the pastor just said about them or who in the choir isn’t matching or the refusal to tithe, what message are we conveying to those folks who are outside standing in the need of prayer or oblivious to a Savior who has their backs?

That is where faking the funk must cease.

Our physical churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious centers (the majority are 501(c)(3)-protected from taxes) are the places we come together to worship yet beyond those few hours, what are they doing for the community the rest of the time? Are we as vested in our food pantry ministries as we are in having the building temperature a cool 68 degrees? Do we have skin in outreach not limited to the nursing homes, hospitals, and jails? What we were taught as children – and often question as adults – is not to live a life of service rather this Christian journey is one big ol’ country club which expects people to kowtow to our wants, needs, and requests at the snap of two fingers. That isn’t WWJD. He hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, outcasts of every stripe, and what we would today consider losers. Those who thought they had it together were the ones Jesus considered hypocrites. We got caught up in singing about streets paved in gold, yet we’re still here driving through here knocking out our spiritual alignments in every pot hole and killing small rodents (armadillos, raccoons, etc.) on the highway of life solely because we do not notice their presence enough to share the road or the very least, slow down and let them pass.

Our affiliations must not cement our reputations as unwieldy, selfish hypocrites or as extensions of the government. We have a separation of church and state for a reason. For example, I attended a church several years ago who conducted its business meetings with members invoking the “Yes we can!” slogan as they entered the sanctuary only to be silenced when the accounting did not add up. Ditto for the congregations who are against homosexuality yet feign ignorance if the associate minister is sleeping around with half of the congregation  or openly exclaim praises if a political opponent passes away as he or she lionizes their own party’s onetime leader.

I’m sorry y’all, but TD Jakes isn’t getting us into heaven. Neither is Farrakhan. Rev. Billy Graham and Joel Osteen aren’t punching our cards for eternal paradise for us. Kirk Franklin and Sonic Flood may stomp or sing of our love forever, but where is our praise and authentic worship? This is why we must have a relationship with God instead of living with a fervent idolatry of a religion.

Remember the Pharisees and Sadducees that Jesus nailed at every angle? When we live in a supposedly supreme state of spirituality, we also become more like them and less of what the ministry requires of us. Hate and ratchet foolishness cannot coexist with God in any form or style; doing so leads so many to go have a seat.

Love knows no boundaries – and if it does find a limit, then it truly isn’t love:  that is called conditions.

Example:  Many of us have had friend(s) with benefits back in the day. He or she was a person we did not want to be seen with during the day, but once the clock struck midnight, we found ourselves seeing said friend to smash…until someone got to talking, or it oddly led to a relationship. Because of the things that were done in the dark coming to light, those two “friends” had to make a decision:  stop the Netflix & chill sessions, or be together full-time.

When we don’t choose to enter a relationship with God, we in effect are still living to creep with religion benefitting from a name association. We won’t find a National Baptist Convention section in Heaven, just as the Orthodox Jews will not possess an area for themselves by the organ. 

People are leaving the church in droves – and sadly, a lot of this is preventable. In turn, we must open our hearts, minds, ears, and souls to what exists beyond the four walls and the church’s website to see a world dying for a true and living God before we lose yet another generation to our tunnel ideology of privilege by having a relationship with God instead of a man-made religion that could fade away in the next breath.