The Characteristics and Problems of Religion (The Common Characteristics of All Human Religions)
The one common characteristic of all religions is this: they are ultimately nothing more than a “pretext” of superficial, theoretical value that can only be taught with words. They all sound like plausible values. Love, mercy, tolerance—every one of them contains good words and good intentions. Yet in reality, because there is no true example and no true model, and because there is no clear and accurate boundary regarding what those words actually require, they become nothing more than showmanship and hypocrisy—something even unbelievers can put on—or at best, religions that merely push one value, such as love and charity, to the front. This “love,” “mercy,” and “tolerance” is no different from the kind of charity, volunteer service, and benevolence that is nothing but hypocrisy and self-display used to boast about and advertise one’s own company or organization. The pretext sounds plausible, but in reality it is nothing more than showy “love,” “mercy,” and “tolerance.” It is love, mercy, and tolerance that put forward nothing but empty words, self-display, and hypocrisy—religions that, without exception, fail to become a true example or model for the world and for humanity.
Because they are grounded not in the teaching that becomes an example and model of practicing love, but in pretexts and theories that only put words first, they are the religions and churches of talkers—religions of those who have no model of practice. The principle by which one comes to understand and is born again originates in practice and in deeds. It never comes from knowledge or values that arise from thinking, asserting, and judging—nor from principles and theories alone. Of course, through one’s own discipline and training, a person may obtain a small benefit and a small realization; but by these, one cannot reach the depth and value by which one may obtain the character of God (the Holy Spirit)—the divine nature required to be fit to arrive at salvation.
No matter how good a superficial and theoretical cause may sound, if it is a cause that possesses neither the wisdom, nor the method, nor the power to fulfill it, then it is of no use at all. It is nothing but a cause, a value of words, and a verbal justification made in order to deny and reject practice and deeds.
These are theories and ideologies that are based on claims and judgments that rationalize human, worldly interests. They may seem true, but they are not truth; they may seem like the path of salvation, but they are not the path of salvation. Most religions are nothing more than the crooked, misguided, forced claims, ideologies, and theories of men that have produced them. Because claim is piled upon claim, and corruption is piled upon corruption, today’s religions are ones in which decadence, lawlessness, and falsehood have become even more rampant.
Many religions have been used as tools for people’s selfish desires and for power—just like wicked men who deceived others with verbal causes put forward to satisfy the ambitions of dictators who proclaimed the meaning and purpose of communism. In the same way, these are religions that rationalize their thievery—religions that, while putting up signs that do not practice the cross, teach only with words and theories in order to deny the love that should be an example and model; religions that completely exclude and reject the love of the cross, and then justify their own theft with verbal causes.
The reason this author fully believes in Christ is that He did not teach like other religions with plausible verbal causes; rather, He showed and taught us the great example and love of the cross—even offering His life. Therefore, this author believes the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Because He intended to give us the love of the cross that is fitting to arrive at salvation, and to form within us the character worthy of being children of God, this author learned true truth and true value through the beautiful love of Jesus Christ, who became our example and model; and by that love of the cross—which is the Word and is eternal—this author came to possess eyes and ears that discern truth from falsehood. It is because there is the love of the cross that follows the example—not a mere appearance of words nor only a verbal pretext without practice—that we have become those who can see true truth.
Because they were not made and established by the true path of salvation that follows true truth, but were created and erected by those seized by selfish desires that belong only to the world, false religions share the same characteristics. The reason this author seeks to reveal these characteristics clearly and unmistakably is in order, on this basis, to guide people into a path that is fitting to go to true salvation and heaven.
The Reality, Empty Values, and Ideologies of False Religions
First:
Their causes and ideologies are, without exception, so plausible that believers can do nothing but comply with them: love, mercy, compassion, tolerance, equality, and so on. Yet they are people who have no true practice and deeds that match those causes. Such ideologies are no different from dictators who killed countless people in the past. They are merely wrapped more beautifully, more nobly, more holy, and more kindly under the label of “religion.”
Second:
Because they have only the outward appearance of words—possessing only extremely superficial theoretical value—and because they cannot cast off the nature and essence of those who belong to the world and to the flesh, who focus on form and mold, they have only outward godliness. Their outward and inward intentions differ; their words and actions differ. Because they try to serve God while clinging to material things and to the world, they are those who teach worldly doctrines that govern the principles of the world and the flesh—things that have nothing to do with salvation.
Third:
Rather than teaching the holy inner value that comes from a pure heart—born from the divine character that is fitting to arrive at salvation—they either teach the empty hope of the world and of the flesh: success, wishes, and desires that only provoke and pile up greed and sin, values that are merely superficial and will rot and perish; or they put forward only words and theories, and because they cannot escape the limits and ideals of the flesh, they teach empty theories and ideologies—feelings, learning, and “realizations”—that do not belong to the love greater than the universe, a love by which one truly throws away everything, sacrifices oneself, and even offers one’s life. They discuss only principles that belong to the world and the flesh; they pursue worldly success, wishes, desires, and satisfaction; and therefore they can do nothing but continually pile up sin and greed through vain theories and ideologies.
Fourth:
Because they continually turn superficial values into “causes,” they continually produce ideologies and commandments. Hence rosaries and prayer beads, Buddhist scriptures, the Hail Mary, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Qur’an. It is as though—so they teach—one can gain mercy and go to heaven merely by reciting Buddhist scriptures (Buddhism); as though one can possess the love of the cross and go to heaven merely by reciting the Hail Mary (Catholicism); as though one can obtain love and go to heaven merely by reciting the Qur’an (Islam). Those who teach such things are people who place spells (set prayers) in the forefront instead of love that comes from deeds—the divine character greater than the universe—and who waste their entire lives in vain prayers and disciplines. They memorize and learn and feel the scriptures, yet do not practice them; they increasingly collide with the limits and hardships of the body; and as faiths walking a road that can do nothing but decay and rot into lawlessness, corruption, decline, and emptiness, they are those who follow words and theories instead of practice and deeds; those who put forward verbal causes and theories that are nothing but a shell, instead of inner value and depth.
Fifth:
Because their values are ideologies that arise from created beings, they are, without exception, values belonging to the earth and theoretical values belonging to the body—things learned and heard that will all rot and perish. They are teachings, emotions, comfort, and instruction fabricated by worldly success and ideals, bodily wishes and desires, earthly greed and satisfaction. Thus they are religions of those who teach ideologies, theories, and “gospels” that have absolutely nothing to do with the love of the cross—the love that can possess the divine character greater than the universe, and the salvation of heaven.
That God, who sent the love of the cross to this earth, placed all religions under sin is because He intends to punish, on the day of judgment, all the lawlessness, falsehood, and corruption of religion; therefore He placed religions under sin. For they are religions of those who, though they themselves are blind and do not know the path of salvation because of their own corruption, decline, falsehood, and lawlessness, pretend to guide many people and believers, using religion as a tool to elevate their own way and values and to satisfy their selfish desires.
Sixth:
An ideology and theory—however good it may be—that is not always alive within the body and heart as a living value and principle, is dead like food in a picture: it does not live or breathe, and in time it can do nothing but gradually disappear. Such are the religions of those who treat vain values, theories, and ideologies that must fade away as though they were true.
Seventh:
Because the limits of the “way” obtained from one’s own body are ideals and principles confined to one’s own limits—limits born from arrogance that does not even know its own limitations—these are teachings and religions that draw only “food in a picture,” being unable to realize what they cannot realize, while not even understanding their own foundation and origin.
Because they do not live and breathe, values, ideologies, and theories that can only disappear are ultimately a truth and a way that can never satisfy. So even if they seem good, people then seek yet another realization and another value. This is because they are people who truly do not know themselves or the limits of their own bodies. True truth and the true way do not disappear; like breath that lives and breathes, they are like a growing tree that bears abundant fruit—abundance, gentleness, gratitude, and joy.
In the moral and ethical values taught by many religions today, the “good” and the “righteousness” that arise from those teachings have no clear, unmistakable, complete, and perfect boundary as to where they begin and where they end.
For example, to say “Practice love” and “Seek mercy” is extremely vague. There is no yardstick or standard by which to discern from where to where something is love, or from where to where something is mercy.
In other words, it is like saying, “Be a good person,” “Live rightly.” There is no clear standard by which one can unmistakably discern how, by what standard, and from where to where one must live in order to be a “good person,” or in order to live “rightly.”
It is the reality of religion—and even of Christianity—that they teach, “Practice love” and “Seek mercy,” like the saying, “Stay close to good people and keep away from bad people,” while never making clear what the standard of a good person is, and from where to where someone is a bad person—without any clear boundary of discernment.
In this regard, Christianity is not different at all from the religions of the heretical sects. For having abandoned the center and standard—namely, the love of the cross that offers even one’s life—Christianity instead places love at the front of the moral and ethical values that even worldly people naturally practice, and teaches a love no different from the mercy found among unbelievers and those who serve idols and spirits; and as a result it only brought about the outcome of dishonoring the love of the cross and the blood that was offered for our sins. Therefore, the day of judgment has been prepared for the churches, pastors, believers, and faiths that deny the love of the cross that offers even one’s life.
The way of Christ is not words and theories, but power that comes from the love of the cross.