Give Me That Old Time Religion

[cleanaturalady]

I hear some clambering for a good dose of old fashioned relgion.  Old fashioned by what standard?  What we think of as old fashioned was once a new way of thought.  The world is ever evolving and has been since the dawn of time.

Most of the time when people say they want Christianity to be like it used to be, they mean they want it to be the way they grew up with it.  They want it to be comforting and familiar to themselves.  But is this the 'true form' of Christianity?  Even the relgion of 50 years ago was a religion that had been changing and progressing over 1900+ years.  How is that any truer than it is today?

As Christians we believe that Jesus (and by extension God's word) is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:7-9).  We are admonished to not get carried away by strange teaching but to adhere to the word.  I believe that to be true, but what makes a teaching strange? 

I am sure the Crusaders felt they were following true teaching of the bible when the marauded Europe, killing, and conquering in the name of God.  During the Reformation period, the Catholic church felt that anyone who spoke out against the Holy Church was a heretic.  They felt that they were only being true to scripture in exerting their authority as the mouthpiece for God (don't even get me started on the corruption that was going on in the church at that time). 

In more modern times and on American soil there was the Restoration Movement, whereby a group of men endeavored to bring Christianity back to its roots.  They felt that with all the denominations in existence the church had become corrupted by all the various interpretations.  The irony is that they formed yet another denomination in the process of bringing everyone together.

You see, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  There will always be those who seek to bring things back to the old fashioned ways of life, be it in their religion or simply a way of life that they are more familiar with.  It certainly doesn't mean that the Christianity of 50 years ago was any purer than that of today.  If one believes that then one is kidding oneself.

What we really need in Christianity is a move away from religion and into a relationship.  We need to be studying the scripture daily on our own, not simply listening to what our Pastor teaches us on Sunday morning.  We need to chew on the words that we read, not regurgitate those we remember from our youth, because although God is the same as yesterday, today and forever, we are not.  We, as individuals and as a people, are a changing lot.  God in his absolute wisdom knew this from the beginning.  That is why He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we would always have the Spirit with us to help us discern the truth from lies.

So, when I hear people calling for us to get back to our roots of old fashioned religion, I wonder if they really even know what they are calling for.  My guess is they simply want everyone to believe as they do and keep their mind stagnant on the nostalgia of what they perceive as the 'Good Old Days'.  Yea, no thanks, I will keeping learning and moving forward, thank you very much.

© KDV 2009

 

Tags: god, jesus, christianity, good old fashioned religion

Add A Comment

[pinkmom66]

Jul. 3, 2009 at 1:50 PM

Great post.  I agree with you 100%.

[logansmomma2007]

Jul. 3, 2009 at 1:52 PM

Well put.  As always, you have helped me to organize my thoughts and brought so much to the table.  I am so blessed to have such a savvy friend in my mist.

[v_clar]

Jul. 4, 2009 at 12:13 PM

I like how you think. You gave me a new way to look at things. It's all about relationship, not religion!

[MemaSu]

Jul. 5, 2009 at 9:47 AM

Good Post, Kim. I'm afraid you are 'preaching to the choir', though!