The Purpose of Religion

So then, what is the purpose of religion?  The pagans thought it was to placate an angry god with sacrifices of blood and of their own children -- the fruit of my flesh for the sins of my soul.  If we go to the ruins of South America and of Mexico, we find temples built for the purpose of blood sacrifice.  The priests would pierce their penises and the priestesses their breasts, letting the blood flow to appease the gods.  When crops failed, when storms raged, more blood would flow.

In the Old Testament, God had to require animal sacrifice both as a type (or education over a period of time) of Jesus' sacrifice to come, and as a source of communion -- God and man "eating" of the same food.  In a world of pagan sacrifices of all kinds -- throwing children into the arms of a heated idol to roast their flesh, etc. -- God had to gradually teach his people that this is not what He required of them.  Animal sacrifice was part of the "substitution" system, but it also provided food for the journey.  Temple worship was actually part of the butchering system that provided food for those traveling long distances to worship in Jerusalem -- and it provided food for the priests who ministered in the Temple.  Everyone sat down to the feast, after the animal had been consecrated and offered to God as a "sweet-smelling aroma."  Temple worship was a community meal, with God Himself "sitting down at table" with His people.

That is why "food offered to idols" was such a problem for the early church:  should invited guests partake of such food?  What if they knew that the idols were nothing -- were they still free to eat, knowing that others at the table with them believed in the idols?  Could they sit at table with idol-worshippers and eat of the same food, offered to strange gods?

Is the purpose of religion to make of us "good people" by obeying the law?  Many people who have no religion at all are obviously "good," following some sort of moral or internal law.  Many of them would put regular church-attendees to shame if we went only by external behavior.  And besides, all of Paul's epistles make it perfectly clear that the purpose of the Law is to reveal our inability to keep the Law -- to show us our own sinfulness.

So, if the purpose of religion is not to placate an angry god, and if its purpose is not necessarily to make of us a civilized people (although that is surely one side-effect), what then is its purpose?  By studying the effects of religion in general, and of Christianity in particular, we can be amazed at the results in every era and culture: people dwell in peace with one another; they stop age-old feuding and wars.  Hospitals are erected to care for the sick and dying; schools are built to educate the young; farms are started in times of peace to provide food for the community -- a whole culture is lifted from primitivism; human life is cherished instead of eliminated; even the weak and the poor find a place near to the altars of a living God. 

Many secular movements -- without any religion at all -- are begun to achieve these same effects:  World Pulse, World Vision, The Peace-Corps, Teach for America, etc.  But most of these organizations are started and maintained, if not by a religious group, by those who have been brought up and influenced by some form of Christianity or by Judaism.  The Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and all of its forms cultivate a peaceful soul within, but not necessarily a better society without.  Humanism cultivates a better world for all, a "Great Society," hoping that men will somehow conform themselves to good causes without first overcoming the selfish nature within.

The one thing that separates and defines Christianity from all other forms of religion, and its ultimate aim, is the union on earth, in this life, of God and man -- a divine intimacy and union reflected by the union of marriage -- two in one flesh -- a divine indwelling.  Jesus Christ is not only the "model" of this union, a model to be "copied," as it were.  He is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE of this union.  That is, we can live this marriage ONLY in Him, with Him, and through Him.  He extends His hand to us and says, "Come to Me."  If we take His hand, if He dwells in us and we in Him, we begin even as we are sinners to live His union with the Father and with the Spirit.  He continually cleanses us, making more room inside us for the Divine Indwelling.  We are become the Living Temples of the Divine Presence on earth.

St. Augustine said, "Love God and do what you will" --- because as God dwells in our flesh, we will become and "do" more and more of what He does -- bringing peace and harmony to the earth, to our relationships, picking up the weak and untended sheep, and shedding His light in the darkness.  That is the purpose of religion -- to bring us into a divine marriage, a relationship that bears fruit on the earth.  No matter how naturally "good" we are, of ourselves, we can do nothing of God's work on earth.  Our only hope is to allow His Presence in us to do all and more than we can ask or imagine.