In search of a true religion

I find that most people are religious at heart. This reality is easily understood. We human beings at one time or another have all looked at the immensity and complexity of life and recognized that understanding it all is beyond us. Yet we cannot stop the search for answers, for meaning, for understanding. Many abandon the word “God,” but a change in wording does not stop the striving to understand and to find some sort of over-arching meaning.

I pursued college and seminary education because I felt called to be a Christian minister. This “call” is very subjective yet an inescapable reality in my life. I went on an educational journey to learn and to define what that “call” was about. In seminary I did not find the answers for which I was looking. However, what I did discover was that I was involved in the greatest debates in life. I argued my way through seminary. I was encouraged when I realized that faculty members gathered regularly and argued the issues of God and faith.

It was along the path of argument that I discovered that the Bible was not a holy book. Rather it was a book of holy arguments. Reading the Bible was an exercise of joining in the argument. Engaging in the argument involved a lot of other books as well. Every poet, novelist, and songwriter joins in the discussion. However, having been reared in devout Christianity, I am constantly pulled back to the book we call The Bible. Jesus with his storytelling was a master debater with the religious leaders of his own day. He was really good at the debate circle.

Jesus was a great debater. Debating was not new to Jews, who gathered at synagogue meetings. Jesus with his storytelling was carrying on the tradition of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Isaiah was his favorite mentor. Isaiah was a great poet. I am certain people wearied of the messages of Isaiah’s poetry. However, he developed a following that kept his witness alive for at least two centuries. When Jesus insisted that greatness was not to be found in ruling but in serving, he was simply echoing the Isaiah tradition.

I have a special fondness for the Old Testament prophet Micah. Unfortunately most Christians have never heard of him. The Micah of history was a prophet who lived in the late 8th century BCE. He lived at a time when the nation of Judah was riding high. The rich had become very rich and the priests that controlled the Jerusalem Temple enjoyed the support of the king and of the rich. The Micah of history was a poet who was devastating in his criticism of the super rich and the religiously powerful. The collection of poetry assigned to Micah is found in one short book of seven chapters. Scholars believe the Micah of whom we read in this collection of poetry is actually a composite author who carried on his argument with the establishment for over 200 years.

The Micah poets railed against the rich and powerful but saved their most devastating criticism for the priests who controlled the Temple and performed their rituals of animal sacrifice:

“With what shall we come before the Lord?

Shall we come before the Lord with burnt offerings and with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams

or with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

What does the Lord require of us?

To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.”

This is the same argument that Jesus carried on with the religious institutions of his own day. When questioned about the basics of genuine religion, he summed it up with a simple formula. Love God and love neighbor. His most difficult debate was about the definition of neighbor.

These arguments still rage with our religious institutions. Our religious institutions are being defined by ritual and creed. The world is begging for a more inclusive and neighborly understanding of true religion.

I am wary of those who believe they have all the right answers in these great debates about life and its meaning. I will die without the definitive answers. The debates will and should go on. However, our best hope of coming close to a meaningful understanding of life will be found while we are doing justice, loving neighbors, loving mercy and loving God as best we can.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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