March/April 2001
More Jesus
Less Religion
by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton
Best selling authors Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton have turned their attention to the shortcomings of organized religion in More Jesus, Less Religion. Perhaps the subtitle of their book, first published in 2000, tells it all: Moving from Rules to Relationships. Arterburn and Felton recount the futility of toxic, legalistic belief and behavior, contrasting humanly devised religious faith with the biblical Christianity of Jesus Christ. With the permission of WaterBrook Press we share the following brief excerpts.
Jesus always valued relationships over rules. Whether it was healing a person on the Sabbath or sharing a meal with a known "sinner," Jesus acted in unpredictable, unexpected and life-changing ways. And the fact is, wherever the Master traveled and ministered, two things inevitably happened: People's lives were changed and the established religious order was upset.
The most opposition Jesus encountered was not from sinners caught in horrible sins, but from the religious leaders who saw him as a threat to their power, position and authority. Jesus tended to devalue human systems and rituals because they induced people to lose their first love. Men and women captive to such toxic systems focused on their own power rather than on the power of God. And when they did think of God, they distorted his image.
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It was Karl Marx who said,
"Religionis the opiate of the people." Religion, with all its rituals and trappings, can indeed be hypnotic. When all you do is jump through hoops to try to get to God, it is easy to either give up or to get weird trying to earn God's favor.
Religion or Drug?
But if religion is a drug of the people, then a relationship with an all-loving God can keep each person truly full of life. Only when a relationship with God transcends all religious trappings does true fulfillment come. Religion and striving will not fulfill the empty places in our hearts. They will only dull the emptiness like a drug.
It is only in a pure relationship with God that forgiveness can be experienced -- and it is then no longer necessary to continue to run from pain. Jesus loves us wholly and forgives us completely. No drug can offer that!
The valley of the shadow of death exists in this world. I have seen it. So have you. It exists because we live in a fallen world. A healthy faith gets us through that dark valley. Unhealthy faith makes us pretend the valley doesn't even exist!
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Healthy Faith
Healthy faith refuses to sweep suffering, daily struggles with the sinful nature and inevitable relationship difficulties under a rug, pretending they don't exist. Instead, it brings those issues into the light of Scripture, the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit and under the mutual counsel and care of trusted brothers and sisters in Christ. Unhealthy faith, on the other hand, denies reality. For those who subscribe to such false belief systems, faith is not based on a belief in the supernatural power of God, but on a desire to see magical solutions that stop pain. They hope in a servant God determined to make life easy.
Healthy faith acknowledges the supernatural power of God and does not need miraculous intervention to prove that God is real. The healthy believer does not look for God to magically change the circumstances, but looks to him in the midst of trials.
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The expectation of an easy life from God has produced more agnostics and atheists than has any other false belief. When people live faithfully but suffer pain and discomfort anyway, many turn from Christianity. They never grasp that a healthy faith does not shield a believer from pain, but rather gives a new perspective on life and a renewed trust in God that lessens the pains of existence. Each time a negative event occurs, God can use it to bring greater faith and deeper peace.
But what many people hear is entirely different. They hear that acceptance of Christ or belief in God causes all problems to vanish; they learn that present problems go away once a person has turned his or her life over to God.
But it just isn't so. That isn't reality.
For many, a belief in God and the practice of faith are just fine until tragedy strikes. Then comes the realization that the practice of faith does not accumulate brownie points of protection. It does not guarantee God's intervention. Bad things do happen to good people, and it has nothing to do with degrees of faith. We live in a world where big animals eat little animals. Decay, rot and death are realities. Faith provides perspective, perseverance and purpose through the tough times, but it will not invariably protect anyone from the hard realities of life.
Misleading Assumptions
This is one of the problems with faith healing on television. Now, don't get me wrong; I believe God can and does miraculously heal people. But true miracles, by definition, happen rarely. If a healing occurred every time a preacher stood in front of an audience or a television camera, it would not be a miracle, but the norm. Supernatural healing is not the norm. It happens, but usually when the cameras are off.
The problem with claiming "common healing miracles" is that it produces false hope in some and shame in others. Some think that if they can just be good enough, God will heal them. That is not reality. You can't be good enough, because we all mess up every day. If God heals you, it is by his grace, not your goodness. Others think that if they are not healed, then God is angry with them or their guilt is greater than that of others. This is not reality either. I know personally of instances in which God healed someone in the midst of his or her sin. Their sins were the worst of the worst, but God's grace touched these people, they were healed and he drew them to Jesus.
The theology of many faith healers has caused serious problems in the Christian church.
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If you're disillusioned because you were sold a form of faith that didn't pan out, you're not alone. Your pain is shared by many others who must deal with tragedy and at the same time resolve many issues of toxic belief. Their disappointments in God increase their pain, just as they may have increased ours. Let the Great Teacher use your pain to bring you closer to him. It does not have to be a barrier to God. It can be a bridge.
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We Need "More Jesus"
It has never been easier or more convenient for a believer to lose focus on the one true God. If the apostle Paul found himself "greatly distressed" to note that Athens was "full of idols" (Acts 17:16), he'd be even more upset after checking out today's Internet.
A recent Wall Street Journal article quotes an Internet guru who plugged the word "God" into a popular search engine. He received 600,000 responses -- remarkably close to the 775,000 sites listed for "sex." Yahoo, Inc., lists 17,000 sites devoted to religion and spirituality, compared with 12,000 about movies and 600 about home and garden. And the number of religious sites is expanding exponentially. Seekers are a mouse click away from countless links, Web pages and chat rooms, each willing to define God, redefine him, make him over into their own image or explain him out of existence altogether.
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Some who notice the title of this book -- More Jesus, Less Religion -- might take offense at our focus on "more Jesus." They might say, "How can this book be about healthy faith if you're saying there's only one way to God? After all, doesn't spirituality in America these days embrace all faiths?" They would be disturbed that two guys like us would narrowly define "healthy faith" with the claim that Jesus is the only way to the true and living God.
These are the days of tolerance and diversity in all things -- and religion in particular. Hinduism is a diverse and tolerant religion, embracing many of the priorities and positive character qualities we endorse in Christianity. In fact, Hindus view Jesus as one of the many manifestations of God, an incarnation of the impersonal "Brahman." According to that religion, Jesus is merely one of many ways for a person to find God and eternal life. I respect the dedication and devotion to their faith that I see in so many Hindus. Many are more truly dedicated to the spiritual things of life than some Christians I know. They are quite sincere in their search for God.
But I've noticed something about Hindu literature, something that moves me to unspeakable gratitude that I believe as I do about Jesus. Hindu writings are full of words such as "attain," "endeavor," "strive" and "achieve." When you read these words (and so many others like them) in various religious systems, and when you talk to their adherents about a relationship with God and finding eternal life, you hear things like, "Well, we just have to be good people. We have to do good things, and if we live a good life, we just might make it."
Are We "Good" People?
It amazes me to hear how often people caught in a crime or some compromising position say, "Sure, I made a mistake. But you really shouldn't judge me by this one incident. Basically, I'm a good person." How grateful I am that I do not believe the criteria for entering heaven is being a "good person" or having a sufficient list of "good accomplishments"! Because, in all candor, I am not a "basically good person," nor do I have nearly enough brownie points on my scorecard to get me six inches off the ground toward heaven. If the criteria for eternal life were goodness and good deeds, I would be in last place. In fact, I would have a confirmed reservation in the west wing of hell. So I praise my God and Savior every day that "human goodness" is not one of the criteria he uses to allow people into his heaven!
But that still leaves us with a problem. How can a loving God allow only those who believe a certain way to enter heaven? How can faith be healthy and full of love if it begins with the premise that some very generous and loving people will be excluded from eternal life in the presence of God?
These are good questions, and they prompt another basic question: If God really is God, isn't he entitled to have certain criteria to determine who can have a relationship with him and one day enter his home? After all, you probably have criteria for people entering your home; you don't allow just anybody to waltz in through the front door and check out your refrigerator whenever they please. As an individual, you also have criteria regarding those with whom you form relationships. You don't enter into a loving, close, personal relationship with someone at random -- say, pick a name out of the Cincinnati phone book. So if you have criteria, doesn't God have the right to set up some criteria?
There have to be criteria for a relationship between God and man, for God is not only loving, but holy. And to come into his presence, we must be holy too. So God sent Jesus to die on the cross to take care of all of our unholiness. All we have to do is accept Jesus. That is God's sole criterion for our being in relationship with him. We accept Jesus' death and resurrection as the truths that offset our utter inability to be good enough or do enough good things to enter into heaven. And so when we focus on the true God, we must focus on Jesus.
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Focus on God, Not on Self
When Jesus walked this earth, he worked to get the focus off "good" people doing what appeared to be "good things" and to get their focus back on God. Many people in first-century Israel were pointing to the rules; Jesus pointed to a God who wanted a relationship with his people. Religious professionals focused on the law; Jesus focused on the Lawgiver who knew our hearts and offered us grace in the midst of our failures.
A healthy, growing faith is always focused on the person of God himself, not on cheap substitutes. A healthy faith begins and ends in God, not in rules or regulations or sheer, raw duty. Jesus, not religion, is at the core of a robust Christian faith.
Today Jesus offers you and me the same opportunity he gave to those people in the early church. Oh, we can still perform and conform out of obligation. We can still try to feel good by all the "good deeds" we chalk up.
Or we can love God with all our heart, mind and soul. We can experience his love and come to know him intimately. We can stop hiding behind our facades of religious order and meet him right where we are. We can focus on him and find sanity, rest and peace when all hell seems to be breaking out around us.
I urge you to experience for yourself his love and acceptance. Grow closer to him and choose him because you truly love him. Make him -- not your "good deeds" nor anyone or anything else -- the focus of your life.
I promiseyou will never regret it.
Reprinted from More Jesus, Less Religion. Copyright © 2000 by Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton. Used by permission of WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs, Colorado. All rights reserved.