how do you explain your religion?

When you are born and raised in man's religion, how do you tell them you have found what God's religion is?


You tired of rituals.
Of bending the knees to show the others in this religion that you know how to bend your knees.
But the real meaning of bent knees is lost.


You tired of hearing the principle of this religion.
"Come to church on Sundays".
It is just one hour out of the seven 24/hr days that you are given.
Come to church and you are done with what is required of you as a Christian.
Easy.


 I have been wrapped up in this same principle.
Clothed in it for a good many years of my life.
I never learned about earning my riches in heaven
Because I never saw concrete examples.


All I have seen is the pompous life.
The life of ease.
The life opposite poverty.
And the struggle to never become poor in material things.
Motivated by the way of "get", not the way of "give"
Covered by an outer show of the one-hour-a-week religion.


Short memory.
How did they even get to the place they are in now?
By fabricating a story to discredit another?
By accumulating riches with justifications that they toiled for it , therefore they deserved it?


Rituals.
Festivities.
Eating and Drinking.
Merriment.
All justified by the once-a-week ritual of singing, praising, kneeling, standing and honoring the "Jesus" who died on the cross but never left it as he remains nailed to this cross.
Even to this day.


When you start hearing of the hungry in many places~
Of children who die because of drinking unclean water~
Of people who eat only once a day, sometimes not even~
Of people who scrape bowls of left-overs hoping there is something left~
Even if you yourself do not live in the extravagance of good food and comfortable life,
Don't you feel guilt looming over you?


that even in what is considered poverty in the third world,
you still eat three times a day, snacks optional even...


and when your heart is stirred to want to give, to share, to serve~
is that God's religion?

“Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles.” (James 1:27)

“And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least … when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.” (Mt: 10:42, 25:40) 

Big houses.

Comfortable homes.

Food well in stock.

To feed the friends in their one-hour religion

To get intoxicated and ridicule the Christians who say Amen for all things good and bad.

The religious who pray long-winded prayers that say nothing at all.

Like the people in the synagogues who show off their religion by what they do when they pray.

Matthew 6:5
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

All this for what?
For gaining a blessed, eternal life?
For earning a seat in heaven?
Trying to secure in advance a place for themselves after they die?
As if there is anything that they can do or give in exchange for their soul?

Mark 8:36
36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 38 Whosoever __ therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels

You don't have to come face to face with DEATH before you start appreciating your own life and the purpose of your religion.

FIND the MEANING of your own life.
Before you lose it meaninglessly.

We will all lose our lives. 
But its meaning depend on  how you defined yours. 

So how do I tell the next-of-kin why I gave up the one-hour-a-week-religion?

The answer really is, "Why not?"