Is Religion an Impediment to Self-Improvement

If you've given some thoughts to religion, and Christianity in particular, you will have noticed that those who criticize religion may reject the concept of God, but do agree with the existence of a Universal Consciousness. A nebulous entity, they believe is responsible for the normal functioning of life and the universe.

You will also notice critics have reserved their harshest attacks for the laws and rules of conduct created by religious leaders to administer the day to day operations of organized religion. Critics see these laws and rules of conduct as impediments to personal improvement and individual initiatives.

In their haste to condemn everything related to religion though, critics have overlooked that there is a difference between ceremonial laws and divine laws. And I will argue divine laws are the most effective tools for self-improvement and happiness.

When Jesus lived among us, he saw that the hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of religious laws and rules of conduct were creating problems for believers. For this reason, he created two divine laws to simplify the worship of God, to enable believers have direct contact with God.

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus gives us the divine laws: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The proof that we love God is demonstrated by loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. For, as we read in First John 4:20-21, "If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he (Jesus) has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."

Ceremonial laws are made by man for man. Divine laws are made by God for man. For example, if a man and a woman in love with each other had sexual intercourse outside of marriage; have they broken a religious law? Yes they have, but they have broken a ceremonial law. Will this bar them from having direct contact with God? No, because they have not broken a divine law.

In fact, all religious laws and rules of conducts are ceremonial, except for the two mentioned above. If you can demonstrate your love for God by loving your neighbor as you love yourself; you will do no physical or mental harm to your neighbor; and consequently, be conducting your life in accordance with God's divine laws.

Knowing this is the reason Jesus created these two divine laws to simplify worshiping God, in order to help believers receive the benefits of God's wisdom and power through faith, free from the guilt, confusion and impediments to self-improvements critics often point to as characteristics of organized religion