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MANY NON -CHRISTIANS WHOM I KNOW HAVE PURPOSELY OPTED not to contract the Christian disease. They may call themselves atheist or agnostic, and they seem to wear the badge proudly. They have, in their minds, wisely avoided the painful symptoms of unnecessary religion.

Maybe it’s true that some still say, “Christianity is a crutch.” And in essence, those are actually kind words, since a crutch is a support that keeps one from falling. But more recently, the popular line of thinking is “Why would I want to subject myself to something that appears to be making so many miserable?” For many, Christianity is seen more as a cancer than a crutch.

For many,
Christianity is seen
more as a cancer
than a crutch.

Outsiders are growing wise to the fact that many Christians are dissatisfied with their church or their personal relationship with God. Their faith just isn’t working for them anymore as they can’t seem to maintain their end of the “bargain” with God. Many Christians may have had an exciting salvation experience and perhaps even a period of fulfilling spiritual growth, but somehow what began as exhilarating and explosive is now fizzling out.

AN ANCIENT PROBLEM

This is not a new problem. More than one hundred years ago, Hannah Whitall Smith recounted the following statement made by a friend who was looking in on Christianity from the outside:

“If you Christians want to make us agnostics inclined to look into your religion, you must try to be more comfortable in the possession of it yourselves. The Christians I meet seem to me to be the very most uncomfortable people anywhere around. They seem to carry their religion as a man carries a headache. He does not want to get rid of his head, but at the same time it is very uncomfortable to have it. And I for one do not care to have that sort of religion.”

QUOTED IN HANNAH WHITALL SMITH , The God of All Comfort

So if we admit that this problem exists, it is only sensible to seek out a solution. But where do we turn for genuine answers? Perhaps we should begin with understanding the origin of the problem better. And, yes, this problem is more than just a hundred years old.

To understand the root of this religious problem, let’s journey back thousands of years ago, when the people of Israel gathered to hear what God required of them. Notice that their response was a fully committed yes :

When Moses went and told the people all the LORD ’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said…Then [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.”

EXODUS 24:3, 7

Over 600 commandments in all—more than 350 items and actions to abstain from and nearly 250 actions on the Jewish to-do list. Oh, and by the way, some violations of the law—such as idolatry and sexual sins—were punishable by death!

So how did the Israelites’ commitment play out? Well, you may know the story. The history of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament is one of failure upon failure and disappointment after disappointment.

ROLLER COASTER

God commissioned the tribe of Levi to function as Israel’s priests. These priests taught the law, offered animal sacrifices, and prayed for guidance. The high priest officiated in the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement. He would enter and sprinkle blood all over the cover of the ark as an offering, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the Israelites. A priest would serve for twentyfive years or until death, at which time the privilege would go to his oldest son. And God mandated that the priesthood remain in the family line of Levi.

Asaph, a Levitical choir director, wrote one of the best encapsulations of Israel’s experience under the law. In Psalm 78, we read that God was continually faithful to Israel. He delivered them from slavery in Egypt, dividing the Red Sea and guiding them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He split rocks to miraculously provide water and even made food fall from heaven. He proved himself again and again. And all he asked in return was one simple thing—that Israel be faithful.

But Psalm 78 reveals a roller-coaster experience of ups and downs with God—obedience followed by failure, failure followed by a promise to recommit, and then failure once again ensuing. Here’s a brief excerpt from Asaph’s account :

But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High;
they did not keep his statutes.

Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.

They angered him with their high places;
they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

When God heard them, he was furious;
he rejected Israel completely.

PSALM 78:56-59

So it appears that the people ended up with egg on their faces. But what about the priests themselves? Perhaps the Levitical line of priests remained faithful to God despite Israel’s disobedience?

“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.”

MALACHI 2:1-2

The priests themselves didn’t fare much better than the laypeople of Israel. But could it be that the obedience of a nation just takes time to develop? No, even long after the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and well beyond the days of Malachi, we still find the most devout Jewish servant struggling to remain faithful. Saul of Tarsus, perhaps Israel’s most committed of all, couldn’t seem to fulfill his religious commitments to God: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (Romans 7:15, italics added).

To some, the law appeared to offer a satisfying religious experience and a life of fulfillment. But, one way or another, it pronounced the curse of failure on anyone who attempted to keep it. No one could escape the inevitable outcome. There was certainly nothing wrong with the law itself, but through rule upon rule upon rule, the law clearly showed that there was something wrong with everyone in Israel.

FAST -FORWARD

But let’s fast-forward a couple of thousand years to the present. It’s not just the most committed of Israel who have expressed frustration and misery because of their own religion.

Martin Luther’s struggle with his religion is also well documented. Despite Luther’s fervor and lifestyle of commitment, he was constantly overcome with guilt. He was infatuated with self-flagellation and made countless attempts to atone for his neverending list of sins. In addition to whipping himself until he bled, he would sometimes lie down on the snowy ground all night long in the dead of winter until eventually he was in such a state of shock that his colleagues would have to carry him away to safety.

Similarly, in her recently released private writings, Mother Teresa confessed the following: “I am told God loves me—and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Before the work started, there was so much union, love, faith, trust, prayer, and sacrifice. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart?” (addressed to Jesus, at the suggestion of a confessor, undated).

“Did I make a mistake
in surrendering blindly
to the Call of the
Sacred Heart?”

In more than forty years of tireless service, Mother Teresa had an impact on thousands upon thousands of lives. She reached out to the sick, the homeless, and the orphans of her own country and beyond. Still, her private writings reveal a struggle for meaning, purpose, and a stable relationship with God .

So what do Saul of Tarsus, Martin Luther, and Mother Teresa all have in common? They all appear to have wrestled under a religious system that brought them no enduring sense of satisfaction or accomplishment, but only misery. Their methods of propitiating and thereby approaching their God ultimately led to a deep sense of failure. Having exerted more effort than nearly any of us will ever expend, they probably found themselves saying, “How much is enough? When will it end? Why is God still not satisfied? When do I get to relax and enjoy? There’s got to be another way.”

ANOTHER WAY

So what if there is another way? What if we could do away with all of the religious guilt and live from delight? What if we could enjoy so great an intimacy with God that it would seem he was nearly beneath our skin? What if we could just go through life being ourselves and somehow express Christ along the way? And what if all of this could come at no expense of our own? It would mean the religion thing could end. It would mean we wouldn’t have to analyze ourselves and measure our spirituality.

There is an Old way that forever leads to disappointment, no matter how much “holy” effort is exerted. There is also a New way that comes free of charge and changes everything. And yet there is also a third option—a hybrid of Old and New that you find in many churches today.

This book is intended to reveal the futility of the Old and the ecstasy of the New. Most important, we’ll talk about how to escape the misery of today’s hybrid religiosity and enjoy the purity of the New. The New is what God intended all along for the dedicated but miserable people throughout history.

And the New is what God intends for you.