Why do people think that the concept of religion and God is a problem? I understand that many evil examples by apparently religious persons have turned people away.\u00a0Still, I don’t fully understand why they think it’s something that needs to be eliminated.<\/p>\n\t
“He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises Him<\/em>” (Proverbs 14:2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Few people enjoy having their flaws pointed out. They would much rather pretend there are no flaws. If that doesn’t work then these people will attack what is showing their flaws to claim that the messenger is the one actually the one in the wrong.<\/p>\n
The wicked desire to control their own lives. They don’t want anyone or anything telling them what they can or cannot do. “Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties<\/em>” (Jude 8). The very idea that there is a standard above them to which they are held accountable gives them nightmares. Thus, any code of belief that holds standards they find unacceptable is ridiculed and removed.<\/p>\n
The wicked believe they are superior but Christianity teaches us to be humble and serve our fellow men. “He who despises his neighbor sins, but happy is he who is gracious to the poor<\/em>” (Proverbs 14:21). Those given over to evil lie to themselves about their own importance. Thus, when they run across people who don’t support their view, everything about them has to be destroyed. The confidence of righteous people in their God and His teachings is a barrier to the wicked’s view of his own greatness. (Proverbs 14:26-27). Their arrogance can’t allow them to ignore the righteous — they have to destroy it so that they can continue to tell themselves they are great. Haman exemplifies this in Esther 3:5-6; 5:11-14.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Why do people think that the concept of religion and God is a problem? I understand that many evil examples by apparently religious persons have turned people away.\u00a0Still, I don’t fully understand why they think it’s something that needs to be eliminated. Answer: “He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,1514,238,987],"class_list":["post-30761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-religion","tag-righteousness","tag-wickedness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13611,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-people-who-want-a-personal-relationship-with-jesus-against-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":0},"title":"Why are people who want a personal relationship with Jesus against religion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I hear many folks, seemingly of the denominational world, speak of having a \"personal relationship\" with Jesus or God. They tend to pit this against religion as if they take offense to the notion of religion. Can you speak to the \"personal relationship\" idea as I can't seem to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27298,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-would-someone-not-like-the-esv\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":1},"title":"Why would someone not like the ESV?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why would someone not like the ESV? What is wrong with the ESV? I saw \"Which Translation Should I Use?\"\u00a0concerning\u00a0I Corinthians 7:15: \"The ESV is the clearest that it is talking about slavery\" I Corinthians 7:15 seems to be talking about marriage to me, not slavery. Answer: \"But if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40792,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-mean-ill-never-marry-because-i-have-strong-feelings-for-a-married-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":2},"title":"Does it mean I’ll never marry because I have strong feelings for a married man?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been struggling greatly recently with my feelings for a very close friend of mine. The problem is that he is married. He and I were very close to each other about five years ago. We both liked each other, but never actually dated due to long distance.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5350,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-handle-criticism\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":3},"title":"How do you handle criticism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the biblical teachings concerning criticism, forgiveness, and how to deal with criticism? Criticism has many faces, but I'm inquiring about the kind that can mar a person's self-esteem and his good reputation. Answer: How you handle criticism depends on why you are being criticized. \"For this is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3165,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-answer-someone-who-believes-all-religions-are-equal\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":4},"title":"How do I answer someone who believes all religions are equal?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: One non-Christian I spoke with, a Unitarian, once said to me \"No one has shown me anything that proves the Bible is more valid than any other holy book.\" When I persisted he said, \"How would you feel if a Muslim friend kept telling you that your soul was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-someone-has-no-good-qualities\/","url_meta":{"origin":30761,"position":5},"title":"What if someone has no good qualities?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I was looking again over your sermon \"Ten Rules for Improving the Church,\" and one point states: \"Consciously look for the good qualities in every brother or sister in Christ. When you think of a brother or sister, make a mental note of the good points each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}