The most offensive message in history...

So...I’ve been provoked. Here goes. Apologies in advance.

 

I got carried away reading on the internet obituaries of the recently deceased Jade Goody, and also the Facebook page for two young teens from a school in the town in which I grew up who recently died in a gassing accident...Many of the comments left on these pages included people (friends, family, acquaintances) saying things like; "your with the angels now", "keep looking down on us from up there", "we're glad you're in a better place", (etc, you get the idea, you've all read this sort of thing before)...We’ve all see this kind of leaning towards a pseudo-spiritual awareness often in obituaries. If Jade and the two boys I mentioned didn’t ever put their faith in Jesus, (I don’t know for sure either way) then the truth is that they ARE NOT in heaven at all. They aren’t ‘resting in peace’, they aren’t ‘in a better place’ and all those well meaning and sentimental comments left by friends and family are in fact inappropriate and incongruent with reality. Offended? So were the blokes that crucified Jesus.

 

These obituary comments really intrigue me, and it would seem that they are indicative of a British (and perhaps global) tendency to suddenly assume a religiosity that appears only when a loved one dies, or say, when a baby gets Christened. The compulsion of otherwise complete pagans to swiftly affect the behavior of a person who does believe in heaven, hell, God, an afterlife etc is something that intrigues and, if I'm brutally honest, infuriates me. The countless friends who I know that have rejected God, expressed their staunch atheistic stance, and told me in no uncertain terms exactly what they think of Church and God (with expletives and raised voices!), are often the very same people who write the aforementioned spiritually infused obituaries, or who heartily approve of infant Christening in a purely religious context. This kind of fickle, religious hypocrisy is frankly baffling. In our age of The Times newspaper and Question time, many are vying to be affiliated with those enlightened to ‘the truth’ that God is nonsensical. Yet the very same people still go to Church on Christmas Day, and get their loved ones blessed in a church funeral service. Why is that? What I don't intend to do in this entry is come across as a sanctimonious preachy know-it-all, because ultimately we're all totally, miserably lost and confused without Jesus (and I'm no better than the worst). But I would like to submit that the Bible has quite a lot to say about this kind of thing...and most of it's actually quite negative.

 

...God hates religion. He hates it. He despises the self-righteous, he rejects piety, those who so wrongly assume that God’s favour can be appeased by an annual visit to Church for midnight mass. Perhaps to the surprise of some is that God could ever feel hatred. Well he does. The Bible is really really clear about this. Talking about this facet of God’s character is very unpopular, essentially because it make us uncomfortable with our own behaviour. In Isaiah, the Bible describes our righteous works as ‘a filthy rag’ (other translations have interpreted the text as ‘used menstrual cloths’) Either way, God clearly doesn’t like religiosity!

 

Amos 5;21 is even more clear; “I hate, I despise your feasts, and take no delight in your solemn assemblies…I will not accept your peace offerings…take away the noise of your songs…to your melodies I will not listen”. The context for this passage is that for the first time in generations, Israel is experiencing peace. It becomes a materialistic nation in which luxuries are readily available. (sound familiar?!) Amid this peace and prosperity, one lone voice, Amos, scrapes like fingers on a blackboard. Amos, the simple farmer, is addressing the people with plenty of ‘religion’. They went to shrines for worship and looked forward to ‘the day of the Lord’ when God would fulfill all their expectations. Amos brings unexpected, offensive news from God; namely that he hated their religiosity amidst such hedonism and materialism. (A materialism that came at the expense of the poor and oppressed) Their belief in him was purely ritualistic and ceremonial.

 

In the spirit of the Amos the farmer, and to attempt to draw a conclusion from this rant, I would like to submit two considerations;

 

1)  1) That Great Britain is in the same state as post-war Israel. We are still a country steeped in religiosity and the imperialism of ‘high church’ culture amidst selfish, hedonistic materialistic Western ideals. Despite ever increasing atheism, ceremonial Christianity is rife. Infant Christenings are common. Belief in God in this nation comes only when and if it is needed. The people of Britain possess a startlingly capricious disposition when it comes to God.

 

      2) That Jesus Christ alone is the solution. Jesus brings peace between sinful hypocrites and a God who hates our superficial offerings. He died and brought an end to eternal punishment for sin for anyone willing to receive it. God’s grace and mercy has come to us through him. Deep down I am exactly the same as the sort of people that Amos warns so starkly. I get caught up in our culture, our films, our music, our materialism and our hedonism. I go to church and worship God but often without the sort of radical heart of justice and humility that I should have. My attitude is often wrong. My actions are often appalling, and I probably slip in religiosity more than I care to even acknowledge. But I know that despite this, God sees me as perfect, purely because of the fact that I’m hidden in the shadow of the Cross. My filth is punished and dealt with, with Jesus taking the hit instead of me. This reality, this offer, is available to all people everywhere. I want to be a Christian who demonstrates real genuine patience and grace towards all people, particularly the superficial, insincere religious attitudes that I find so frustrating.

 

I want to shock people out of the naïve, illusory notion that being ‘Christened’ somehow guarantees a child’s ticket to heaven; IT DOESN’T….Or that attending Church once in a while will cover you; IT WONT. I want everyone to grasp and realise the simplicity that only belief and faith in Jesus’ accomplishment on the Cross WILL guarantee eternal life. Nothing else.