Over the last 2000+ years, Christian doctrine has faced a steady stream of corrupting influences.
The conflict is always the same: God reveals His plans, purposes, and intentions, while fallen humanity tries to “help” Him with our limited understanding and broken value systems.
That’s the bad news.
The Good News is that God remains God. He is not pacing the halls of heaven, wringing His hands over our latest attempt to improve His plan. He simply continues doing what He purposed from before the foundations of the world — for the good of humanity in general and His children in particular. It’s up to us to surrender to Him and seek His face, thus allowing us to enter into that process so we can partner with Him.
Let’s dig in…
What is Christendom?
Something called “Christendom” accounts for much of the confusion. That term was originally coined to label the Body of Christ aka His Church as the “Kingdom of Christ.” Tragically, that definition has pretty much lost all its meaning over the ensuing millennia.
Christendom today represents the organized, institutional expression of Christianity: denominations, hierarchies, traditions, and church organizations. Many began during genuine moves of God. Over time, however, most of them devolved into rigid institutions far more committed to preserving their traditions than following the Holy Spirit.
As centuries have passed, many of them became truly apostate, having abandoned sound biblical doctrine for unscriptural pop culture narratives. Examples include embracing LGBTQ+ and transgenderism, critical race theory, and communist ideology, among others.
As all that has transpired, the evangelical organizations have knee-jerked, solidly entrenching in their perceptions of what is “right,” then loudly condemning the apostates in the public square as servants of the devil. Although that accusation is indeed true, the evangelicals’ methods are often just as divisive and just as sinful, albeit from a different perspective.
That creates a serious problem. What Christendom teaches and represents can — and frequently does! — drift far from the teachings and character of Jesus. Pop culture then looks at Christendom, assumes it accurately represents Christianity, and understandably wants nothing to do with it.
When critics accuse Christianity of being judgmental, bigoted, intolerant, or hateful, they are typically reacting to Christendom’s distorted portrayal of Jesus rather than to Jesus Himself or what Scripture actually teaches.
Man’s Religion
So how did we get here?
The short answer is the gradual and inexorable encroachment of what is called “Man’s Religion” into the very fabric of Christianity. By the way, that term is not original to yours truly; I learned it from a former pastor in Tucson.
Jesus took great pains — both literally and figuratively — to distinguish Himself from every other religious founder, before or since. Biblical Christianity is not merely another flavor of religion. It is unique, and God designed it that way from the get-go.
If we want to lead people to Christ, we must present the real Jesus, reveal the real heart of God, and follow the leading and methods of the real Holy Spirit. The traditions and doctrines of men simply will not get the job done.
So let’s take a closer look at Man’s Religion: where it came from, how it operates, and how thoroughly it has infiltrated Christian thinking.
The Origin of Man’s Religion
Want to know who first practiced Man’s Religion?
Adam and Eve — right there in Eden, immediately after the Rebellion.
Genesis 3 tells the story. The serpent questioned God’s Word, contradicted His command, and persuaded Eve that God was withholding something good. She ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, who joined her rebellion.
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”
Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings . And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:1-13
Wherever that garden may have been and whatever form it may have taken, God created Eden and placed Adam and his wife Eve inside it. From the get-go, God created them in His likeness and image (imago dei) and were given His delegated authority to be client rulers over this planet, little-g gods, if you will.
Their assignment was to use their God-given authority to extend Eden’s order beyond the garden. On top of this, God had already provided them with a divine standard by which to discern good from evil: His verbally expressed will.
So when the satan enticed them with the lie they could be like God because they would then possess the ability to discern good from evil, it was a double-deception: he actually hoodwinked them into thinking they didn’t already possess both attributes.
Fig Leaves
Back to our topic. The results of their terrible choice were immediate: guilt, shame, fear, and hiding.
Adam and Eve suddenly became aware of their nakedness, sewed fig leaves together, and hid from God. When He confronted them, Adam blamed Eve — and indirectly blamed God for giving her to him. Eve then blamed the serpent.
And there you have the basic ingredients of Man’s Religion:
- Distrust God’s character.
- Reject His Word.
- Seize control.
- Experience guilt and shame.
- Cover yourself with your own dead religious works.
- Hide from God.
- Blame somebody else.
- Rinse and repeat.
Mankind has been trying on new fig leaves ever since. Our modern fig leaves may look more sophisticated, but they work about as well.
What’s a Religion?
Before comparing Man’s Religion with Christianity, we first need a working definition of “religion.”
Religion usually begins with beliefs about supernatural beings or forces. It then develops explanations about existence, morality, suffering, blessing, and the afterlife. Those beliefs are typically recorded in sacred texts and expressed through priests, prayers, sacrifices, rituals, festivals, pilgrimages, dress codes, dietary restrictions, and rules of conduct.
At its core, religion usually revolves around an exchange:
- What does the deity want from us?
- What must we do to gain his/her/its favor? Or at the very least, avoid divine wrath and punishment?
Once those questions take center stage, the relationship becomes transactional. Human beings offer obedience, sacrifices, prayers, money, rituals, or self-denial. In return, they hope to receive rain, health, fertility, prosperity, protection, military victory, forgiveness, and/or a favorable afterlife.
Different religions provide different instructions, but the machinery is remarkably similar.
- Do this.
- Don’t do that.
- Eat this — but never that.
- Wear this.
- Cut this off.
- Grow that out.
- Pray these words, in this posture, at this time, facing this direction.
- And if you perform well enough, long enough, perhaps the deity will be pleased and bless you with what you desire — entrance into “heaven,” healing, abundant crops, victory in war, etc.
- Or at least not smite you with sickness, defeat, war, famine, and/or death.
- Perhaps.
Polytheistic religions such as Hinduism have specialized deities, each one having an “area of influence.” Patron saints serve the same purpose within Roman Catholicism.
The God on the Cosmic Balcony
Man’s Religion tends to picture deity standing on a cosmic balcony, looking down at humanity. Depending on the particular system, that deity may be distant and disinterested (e.g., deism) — or irritated and holding a lightning bolt.
The basic message sounds something like this:
- You are a miserable creature who deserves punishment.
- The deity is angry and looking for someone to zap.
- Calamity, sickness, poverty, and death may be expressions of divine displeasure.
- Enough good behavior might reduce the odds of being zapped.
- Exceptional performance might earn an occasional blessing.
- Failure to atone for your sins could land you in some form of hell.
- You will never know for certain where you stand until after you die.
That last point is crucial. Man’s Religion cannot offer assurance because everything depends on human performance — and nobody knows when enough is finally enough.
The result is fear, especially the fear of death.
Every religious or philosophical system built around appeasing a distant deity eventually returns to the same miserable arrangement: work harder, try harder, sacrifice more, and hope for the best.
A pastor I know once said,
Of all the sins and evils we can think of, religion is by far the worst. Religion has caused more people to miss salvation than all the other sins and evil combined. Not only that, religion has been the worst persecutor of the Church in the history of mankind.
Bob Yandian
Another said,
We human beings have been in open warfare with God ever since the Fall of Man and have been trying to make peace with Him until now. The sticking point in the negotiations is He steadfastly refuses to accept our terms for His surrender.
Tom Mercer
Biblical Christianity announces something entirely different.
Biblical Christianity: God Comes to Rescue Us
The Gospel does not begin with what we must do for God. It begins with what God has already done for us.
Here is the grand story Scripture proclaims:
- God created the world good and humanity very good.
- He delegated authority over the earth to mankind.
- Humanity rebelled and surrendered that authority to the satan, God’s psychopathic enemy, whose mission is to steal, kill, and destroy.
- Creation has groaned under the consequences ever since: war, famine, sickness, oppression, and every other expression of evil.
- God never stopped loving humanity. He desires an intimate, personal relationship with each of us.
- Because sin corrupted our thinking, desires, motives, and morality, we could never repair that relationship merely by keeping a bunch of rules.
- God sent His Son on a rescue mission.
Please take note this list is not all about our performance and behaviors, but is about what He did/does in and for us. As we humbly submit to Him, He renews our minds to think, act, and react more and more like Him, thereby changing our behaviors from the inside out.
The Rescue Mission
Jesus entered this world through a human mother, fully God and fully Man. He lived without sin, suffered, and died on a cross, bearing the punishment for humanity’s rebellion. Three days later, God raised Him from the dead.
Through His unjust death and victorious resurrection, Jesus defeated the enemy and reclaimed supreme authority.
God now offers us the benefits of Jesus’ finished work as a free gift. We cannot purchase it if it were for sale, earn it if it were wage, or deserve it if it was a reward for good behavior. We receive it solely by trusting Jesus and surrendering to Him as Lord.
At that moment, God gives us eternal life and sends the Holy Spirit to live within us. The Spirit then transforms us from the inside out, empowering us to become loving and morally whole people.
The Bible is not a ladder we climb to reach God. It is our Manufacturer’s Handbook, teaching us how to enjoy healthy relationships with Him and with one another. God’s commands do not establish the purchase price of heaven; they reveal the boundaries within which healthy relationships flourish.
Bottom line? Our place in heaven rests on Jesus’ performance — not ours!
That is why the Gospel is Good News, not New Rules.
News announces something that has happened. Instructions tell us what remains to be done. The Gospel declares Jesus has already completed the work of redemption. As we surrender to Him, He renews our minds and from there, changes our conduct. The change is real, but it flows from relationship.
It is never the admission price.
Rules or Relationship?
Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren’t perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was “trying to be good,” I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
Galatians 2:17-21 MSG
Paul had worked himself half to death trying to please God through law-keeping, only to discover that human effort could never produce the life God desired. So he stopped trying to establish his own righteousness and identified completely with Christ — crucified with Him and raised into a new life. His ego was no longer the center. Jesus lived through him.
Returning to a system of rule-keeping and people-pleasing would have meant abandoning grace. If a right relationship with God could be achieved through human performance, then Christ’s death would have been unnecessary.
That is the issue in a nutshell:
- Man’s Religion is about rules used to earn standing with deity.
- Biblical Christianity is about relationship with God, made possible by Jesus, which then transforms our relationships with one another.
Those are two completely different kettles of fish.
Settle the Matter in Your Own Heart
Perhaps the Holy Spirit has shown you that you have been trusting your own religious works rather than Jesus.
If so, the solution is not complicated. You can remember it as A-B-C:
A — Admit
Admit that you are a sinner who needs a Savior. You cannot save yourself through morality, church attendance, good works, religious knowledge, or personal discipline. Your fig leaves will never get the job done.
B — Believe
Believe that Jesus loves you and is the only One who can save you. Biblical belief is more than agreeing with a set of facts. It means trusting Jesus enough to surrender your life to Him and giving Him permission to mess with your business in every area.
He is not applying for a position as your religious consultant. He is King.
C — Confess
Confess aloud that Jesus is your Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. Romans 10:9–10 teaches that we believe from the heart and confess with the mouth.
That is not a magic formula. It is the outward declaration of an inward surrender.
Welcome to the Family!
If you have genuinely surrendered to Jesus, welcome to the family of God. You are accepted in the Beloved — a child of the King!
Now begin growing in your new relationship:
- Feed on God’s Word. Let Him speak to your heart, renew your mind, and teach you how this new life works.
- Talk with God. Bring Him your thoughts, hopes, fears, failures, emotions, and dreams. He is safe. He will not reject you, betray your confidence, or ridicule you.
- Gather with other Christ-followers. Find a healthy church that ministers truth, compassion, and grace to broken people. You will know you are in the right place when it feels like home.
- Share your faith. Tell others what Jesus has done for you.
- Obey the Holy Spirit. If He tells you to stop something, stop. If He tells you to do something, begin — and ask for the grace to follow through.
You’re in the Army Now
You have also entered a spiritual conflict that has raged for millennia.
That’s the bad news.
The Good News is Jesus has already defeated the enemy. The satan (accuser of the brethren) is not advancing toward victory; he is conducting a fighting retreat.
Do not give up!
Some seasons of walking with God will feel joyful and easy. Others will be painfully difficult. His grace is sufficient for every mile of the journey.
The key Scripture passage for what you just did is this:
…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:9-10
When the devil tries to talk you out of your salvation — and trust me, he will — stand on these verses. Remember this: the accuser doesn’t waste time trying to convince unbelievers they aren’t saved. He attacks your assurance because he wants to neutralize the faith you now possess. He spends no time trying to talk non-Christians out of it because he doesn’t want them to even know salvation is available!
The angels in heaven rejoice over every sinner who repents.
So do I!
God bless you as you take your first steps with Jesus!
Thanks for reading!
Part 2: Three Ancient Counterfeits Return to the Series Index
