dougs digs

Nothing is more dangerous to the advancement of God's kingdom than religion. But this is what Christianity has become. Do you not know that it is possible to kill Christ with such Christianity! After all, what is more important - Christianity or Christ? And I'll say even more: we can kill Christ with the Bible! Which is greater: the Bible or Christ? Yes, we caneven kill Christ with our prayer. When we approach God with our prayers full of self-love and self-satisfaction, when the aim of our prayers is to make our world great, our prayers are in vain.

The Savior will not allow himself to become petrified in religion. That is why the Savior told the story of the ten virgins, some of whom were wise and others not (Matt. 25:1-13). With this, he says, "There are some who make a religion out of me, a cozy haven, a state of bliss. It is the others who will be the living Christians, always open to change, always seeking something new, until the entire world stands there renewed."

Yes, we love the word of God spoken to humankind but if we truly love it, we will understand that this word is much greater than the Bible. It cannot be chained, written down as if set in cement. When God's word is frozen, even the best Christians are able to justify their hate toward their fellowmen, even killing them and vehemently separating themselves from them.

Today there are Christians who believe that they will (after death or at Jesus' return) fly with the Savior to heaven and then laugh at those left behind. I find it incomprehensible that those who call themselves devout consider themselves better than others or exempt from God's judgment. This kind of religion is false because it separates us from other human beings. I will have nothing to do with it! Jesus entered right into the human condition in all its ugliness. He united with people. He did not separate himself from them.

*excerpted from Action in Waiting