Losing My Religion ~ Bad Religion

Aramis Thorn
3 min readJul 2, 2021

We fail to understand the implications of Jesus eating with a tax collector.

Greetings Dear Reader,

Before I dive into this, I want to be very clear. I believe the Church has a place for everyone who chooses to follow Christ. I also believe in many ways it has become culturally irrelevant because it does not address the social needs of the community in the ways it should.

The church must walk a narrow path. It must be a part of the community in which it resides without adopting the things of the community that distance it from the truth and the Gospel. The church is not to condemn those around it. It is to be the beacon of love from the Father to draw others to him.

The difficulty is the church’s involvement in politics. If we focus on the Gospel, we will influence the community through love, kindness, generosity, and grace. Instead, it seems we try to use God as a weapon to force others to conform to our standards. We build a hedge around the Gospel and fill it with thorns to keep out those who need it most.

We need a new reformation wherein the love of the Father for everyone is preeminent. We must strive to eliminate the bad religion. It teaches us to hate, compromise, and fail to love first. It is essential to lead with love and allow others access to who Jesus is. If others have ideas, habits, or lifestyles the Father sees as unfit, the Spirit will handle it. This is something God reserves for himself.

My duty is to follow Christ as closely as possible. This means I do not judge, condemn, or reject anyone. Bad religion is what teaches us to hate, reject, and deny the needs of others. Jesus insists we put others before ourselves.

I intend to lose any religion instructing others to hate. I also intend to hang on to faith and following. The narrow thread is hard. Disagreement or different standards is not the same as hate. I can love you and believe you are wrong, Dear Reader. What I must not do is fail to show you love because I disagree. I am surely unworthy of throwing the first stone or any of them. I must be willing to eat with tax collectors.

The idea is to follow Christ and constantly evaluate the constructs built around him to see if they live up to the Gospel. I must love those who misuse Christ as well. Again, rejecting others because they are wrong is not part of my place in Christ. I will never tire of saying to you and reminding myself; it always comes down to love.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, “That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

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We fail to understand the implications of Jesus eating with a tax collector.

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