The Cry of My Heart: Stop Listening to Religious Leaders! Start Listening to God’s Voice

I MUST SPEAK OUT AGAINST INJUSTICE
People are complex. I am a complex person. On the outside I might appear at ease, but inside my heart is angry about how religion uses and abuses people. It is a nagging issue for me, and the only way for me to manage my anger is to expose religious religious leaders and their followers who perpetrate religious injustice, participate in religious injustice, and support religious injustice.

My anger against religion (especially Judaism and Christianity) is not unique to me. The Bible is full of stories of God’s people rising up in anger against oppressive religions. God’s people then and now are not bloodthirsty warriors. They are filled with God’s wrath that compels them to do battle with religion. They take seriously God’s commands to do justice. They are willing to put their lives at risk in their efforts to set religious people free from slavery to religion.

In the Old Testament, these battles are represented as warfare with swords and arrows that shed blood. Swords, arrows and blood are all symbolic references to words.  And so I vent my anger against injustice with words that have one basic message for religious people:

Abraham, Moses, David and are the best examples of Bible characters who fought against injustice with words symbolized as swords and arrows. Jesus affirmed the symbolism of swords as words when he said that he did not come to bring peace, but with a sword (i.e. the words of his mouth.) Jesus power to fight injustice existed in the fact that he spoke God’s words.

Jesus, Moses, Abraham and David could not resist warring against injustice because their hearts cried out against injustice. They did this because their hearts were in tune with God’s heart. That is why they responded to God’s many commands to correct injustice with words of truth:

      • Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
      • Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice Is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice.
      • Jeremiah 22:3  ‘Thus says the LORD , “Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
      • Psalm 82:3  Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
      • Psalm 10:17-18  O LORD , You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear 18 To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, So that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.
      • Isaiah 1:17  Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
      • Psalm 106:3 How blessed are those who keep justice, Who practice righteousness at all times!

These scriptures use several symbols (e.g. stranger, orphan, widow, weak, fatherless, afflicted, destitute, etc.) to represent people who are in bondage to religion. Jews and Christians who take scriptures about justice seriously become activists in movements to restore social injustice. These are noble, and sometimes useful efforts in the world of human affairs. But, lacking understanding of the symbolism of injustice, slavery and oppression, their worldly social justice efforts fail to satisfy the kind of justice that God wants his warriors to pursue.

In God’s view, injustice exists when religious leaders deceive people about religion, enslave them to religious doctrines and habits, and effectively rob people of money, time and affections with false teaching that convinces them that God wants them to give their tithes and offerings to the religious leaders and their religious organizations. That is what religion says, but it is not what God says. Here is a summary of God’s feelings about religion:

God wants people to be delivered from slavery to religion, and so do I. And, because God has made it clear that he wants his people to correct the injustices of religion, I am compelled to do whatever I can to help people gain justice and freedom from religion through the words in these web pages. Because I have known slavery to religion personally, and I now know freedom from religion I have experience that qualifies me to write about bondage and freedom.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have all seen examples of religion mistreating its people. Moreover, if we are honest we will agree that we have all been victims of religious abuse of one kind or another. And we have all heard news reports about religious abuse and conflicts within and between religions.

Given this awareness of religious abuse, we should find it easy to understand why Jesus was willing to lay down his life for his friends. He was so passionate about helping his friends gain freedom from religion that he was willing to offend them by telling them that the religion they love so much was not what God wanted for them. I also am compelled to tell my religious friends that God does not want them to practice religion, but wants them to listen to his voice. That is the main message of my writing.

Even though my message is life-giving, Jesus’ experience with religion tells us that it is impossible to pursue justice in a way that avoids conflict with religious people. Religious people — including Jews and Christians —  don’t like being told that their religion is based on lies. They love their religion so much that they will lash out with violent words at anyone who disagrees with their beliefs about it. They are very proud of their religions and do not respond passively when anyone pricks their pride. We learn from Jesus’ life that being a truth-teller is not easy or fun.

So why did Jesus do what he did? Jesus understood God’s feelings about religion. He had been religious himself and he knew from his own experience that religion is oppressive. He was therefore very motivated to correct injustice. He could not just stand by and watch religious leaders oppress their followers.

God anointed Jesus Moses, Abraham, and David to correct injustice. And so, I also am motivated to correct injustice. Injustice makes me very angry just like it made Jesus angry as we see in the story of him chasing the money-changers out of the temple. Injustice arouses me to say and do things that make religious people — especially religious leaders — angry at me. But I am ok with that because religious leaders were angry at Jesus also.

I find further justification for my anger at religion in these scriptures:

    • Psalm 39:1-3 I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.” 2 So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; 3 my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

COMMENTARY: I am very vigilant in watching my thoughts and behaviors to look for evidence that I am not fully healed from my former addiction to religion. When I am in the presence of religious people, there is something in me that wants to confront them about their sinful, religious habits, but I hold my tongue out of fear.

But I cannot stay silent about injustice. There is a hot, burning anguish that rises up in me whenever I see religious leaders — especially in Judaism and Christianity — robbing, deceiving and enslaving people with worldly wisdom and smooth speech. I am angry that religious leaders use the Bible to convince people to give them money in tithes and offering. I am even angry with myself that I believed those lies and gave thousands of dollars to false prophets.

          • The more I think about the evil that religion does to people, the angrier I get. And the angrier I get the more I am resolved to speak out and write about the sin of religion. I am free from religion and I want others to enjoy that same freedom.

 

    • Acts 4:20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

COMMENTARY: I cannot help reporting what God thinks about religion.  I cannot help reporting how God changed my heart from affection for religion to hatred for religion. I must tell others how he delivered me from religion. I must tell those who are now religious that they too can be delivered from their addiction to religion.

    • Job 32:18-20 For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me; 19 inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. 20 I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply.

COMMENTARY: I have so much to say to religious people that I am irrepressibly compelled to write and share what I know about God and religion. I am ill at ease if I do not speak or write the truth about religion. The only way I get relief is to write and share.

    • Jeremiah 4:19 Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.

COMMENTARY: The discomfort in my heart over injustice is so strong at times I want to cry out to share the truth of what the Bible says about religion. The trumpet is a symbolic term that describes God’s voice calling me to rise up as a warrior to tear down religious idols and high places and teach people how to hear God’s spoken voice.

      • Jeremiah 6:11 But I am full of the wrath of the LORD, and I cannot hold it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together; both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years.

COMMENTARY: I am full of wrath over the injustices that all religions practice in many ways that hurt and oppress people. The wrath is God’s word of truth that will humble those who listen to it.

See this link for other scriptures that begin to explain the cry of my heart that compels me to write and post the things that I do.

I am well aware that my writings will be divisive and cause many people to reject and despise me. When rejection happens, I will not be surprised. Because many people hated and rejected Jesus, I expect to be hated and rejected by many also. In fact, some will think that they are actually serving God by killing (i.e. rejecting) me. Because some people thought that Jesus was out of his mind and possessed by a demon, some will think that about me also. These unkind attitudes and behaviors are all part of the persecution and tribulation that Jesus promised his followers.

The way I see it, any bad responses that my writings generate  prove what the Bible promises about persecution and tribulation. Persecution and tribulation is what we sign up for when we choose pure religion over defiled religion. It is what followers of Jesus should expect, but false prophets never preach it as a here and now reality.

Persecution will come because, like Jesus, I do not come to bring peace, but fire, division and a sword. The words I write are like swords. They will make religious people uncomfortable.

Taking the risk of making people angry by speaking truth in love is what Jesus meant by laying down our lives for our friends. I am willing to sacrifice all of my friendships for the sake of the few who will escape from religion because of my writings. Those who read and accept my writings are my true, spiritual, friends and brothers.

The purpose of my words is to expose truth that brings people to repentance and humility for practicing the sin of religion. People who are ready to respond to God’s call to come out of religion will accept and appreciate my words. People who insist on holding on to their religious pride will find my words offensive and they will want to dissuade and deter me from my mission.

People who reject my words do not understand that I am really blessing my readers — not trying to anger or provoke them. Nevertheless, I expect that most readers will not appreciate my help. They are happy and content with their religious life and are not yet ready to humble themselves. So be it. Not everyone appreciated Jesus either.

I expect and  accept such reactions because I do not seek the praise of men and have no expectations or desires that everyone, or even anyone, will think well of me.  It is nice when they do, of course, but I do not write so that I can make friends by telling them what they want to hear. Rather, I write and share with the hope that my readers will quit practicing religion and learn how to hear God’s spoken voice.

Paul Borene