More than a religion...!

More than a religion

A friend of mine, Rev John Westendorp, recently retired from full time ministry, but he now writes for an educational organization, and the article below is his. I thought it particularly relevant to our current situation in Solomon Islands. We too claim to be a religious people. We claim to be Christians, or at least about 95% of us do. But what does that mean for us? How does that translate into our daily living? I hope John’s article provokes us to thought, and perhaps even more, to a new way of living.

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your animals breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall you put on a garment made of two different materials.”

Leviticus 19:19

After the terrorists struck the New York Trade Centre and again after the Bali bombings the media carried numerous evaluations of the religion, in name of which, those acts of terror were carried out. It struck me that sometimes the evaluations of Islam included statements like: “Of course we need to understand that Islam is more than a religion – it is a way of life.”

That’s an interesting observation. What did commentators mean to say by that? Were they suggesting that in contrast to Islam, Christianity is merely a religion and not a way of life?

If that’s what they were insinuating they were wrong. When I read my Bible I notice that the Old Testament faith was not just a religion either. It too was a way of life.

Have you ever wondered about some of the strange regulations that God gave Moses to pass on to Israel?

In Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy there are numerous rules and regulations for Israel’s worship – everything from detailed instructions about Israel’s sacrifices to the details of the clothing of the high priest. There are instructions about the keeping of holy days and more instructions about the furnishings of the Tabernacle. If you want some good examples of rules and regulations for worship they are there in rich abundance.

But the Lord did not just give Israel ‘religious’ rules for worship. He also gave them health regulations – everything from “sewerage disposal” instructions (Deut.23:13) to guidelines for the detection and treatment of skin diseases (Lev.13). Amid all those unusual regulations we also find some instructions regarding animal husbandry, agriculture and textiles.

It’s not my purpose here to analyse those various individual regulations. Borrow a good commentary from your pastor – it will tell you why those unusual regulations made good sense. My purpose here is rather to look at the big picture. Through these instructions the Lord was showing Israel that Biblical religion is not just about worship and praise – it’s also about how you do your daily work and even about the way you dress. Israel had to learn that their faith was not just a religion but a way of life.

When we come to the New Testament it’s hardly surprising to see the same thing. Okay, the details about worship are much simpler because Jesus has fulfilled all those Old Testament temple rituals. But God is no less concerned about the everyday life of the believer. That’s why Paul and Peter in their letters give us many guidelines for how we are to conduct ourselves in our homes and in our places of work. Christianity too is not just a religion – it also a way of life that has implications for economics and engineering, for medicine and psychiatry, for politics and race relationships.

Paul summed it up this way: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (1Cor.10:31).