Religion is often seen as a means to control its followers. We hear stories of cult leaders manipulating their followers to garner control. But another insidious way religion can play out in a person’s life – is using religion to control God. If we are not careful in delineating the Creator/Creation distinction, we can fall into the trap of believing that if we are just good enough, do the right things, follow all the rules and regulations; we can make God indebted to us and thus coerce him to do our will.
This takes God (Creator) out of the center and places us (Creation) at the center. Do you want to know what that’s called? Self-Centeredness. Never a good thing when used in a sentence. In doing so, we exalt ourselves, and worse, we belittle God into a cosmic genie or vending machine.
Think about the subtle but dangerous narratives we tell ourselves. We think as teenagers, if we abstain from promiscuity, then God has to grant me with a great sex life and a perfect marriage. We think, if we are faithful in tithing, then God has to grant us prosperity and never have financial problems. We think that if I walk with integrity in my work dealings, then God has to make me successful in my career.
The goal of our faith is not a religious framework to appease God to bless and protect us. Christianity is not doing the right things to get God indebted to you. But the goal of our faith is to enjoy life with God.
In Skye Jethani’s book With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, he puts it best this way.
”So much of contemporary religion is focused on God’s gifts rather than on God. We use God as a means of building or repairing our families; we use him as a sex therapist; he is our political advisor and our financial planner. From God’s hand we seek family, sex, power, and wealth-but do we actually want God himself? We shouldn’t be surprised to find that when we fix ate on what we can attain from God, we fail to experience the peace of his presence in our lives.”
Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God