Quote:
Originally Posted by Light
Religion has nothing to do with God. Religion is an invention of man. All the atrocities Hitchens claims as a result of the church are true but it needs to be kept separate from God even if the atrocities were committed in the name of God.Because God would not condone such acts.
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A half truth at best! While it is true that fallen man has"invented" all manner of religion through the ages, this begs the question. Why is man so religious? Sinful mankind created their own gods, and these gods needed to be worshiped and appeased. But this even begs the question; for why has man, throughout all these centuries, felt compelled to create their own gods? Scripture tells us why man is such a "religious" creature.
First, God has set eternity in man's heart (Eccl 3:11). Therefore, mortal man intuitively knows that he's not alone in this universe -- that there is something much bigger than us out there and that this life is not all that there is.
Secondly, as beings created in the image of God, we are moral beings just like our Creator. While the written Law of God was given only to Israel through Moses, the "ten commandments" are also written on all men's hearts (Rom 2:14-16), our consciences either accusing us or defending us.
But in addition to the moral code of the Law, God meticulously prescribed how he was to be worshiped through the ceremonial-ritualistic aspect of the Law -- down to every last minute detail, including how the temple was to be constructed, how large it was to be, how many rooms it was to have, the color and embroidery of the curtains, what pieces of furniture were to be included, the placement of the furniture, priesthood requirements, etc., etc. The divine genius behind all this is that the Law typified Christ. It foreshadowded Him (Col 2:16-17; Heb 8:5; 10:1). This is one of the primary reasons behind the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. After Christ instituted and ratified the New Covenant in his own blood, all that typified Him, under the Old Covenant, in Jewish ritual was no longer needed.
Finally, while the warp 'n' woof of New Covenant Christianity is to restore fallen man's relationship with God, this doesn't mean that God hasn't prescribed how he wants to be worshiped during this Church age. Jesus made this crystal clear to the Samaritan woman at the well:
John 4:21-24
21
Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers MUST worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH ."
NIV
In v. 21, Jesus was alluding to the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. This is why he told the woman that a time was coming when she would no longer worship in the Land. In fact, in v. 23, he even goes farther by essentially saying that "the time has [already] come for such worship since Christ, who personified the Kingdom of God, was already in her midst (vv. 10-14). Therefore, like all Truth finds its ultimate source in Christ,
true religion, likewise, finds its source in Him, as well. This religion must be practiced in the context of God's Truth and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
