Angels and Demons
When the accusers stood up, they began bringing charges against him not of such crimes as I was expecting, but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive. Acts 25:18-19 NASB
Religion – Did you see the Tom Hanks’ movie, Angels and Demons? A nice “who done it?” drama that intimates that all church spirituality is really human ego. In the same vein as the earlier Da Vinci Code, “religion” becomes a man-made delusion designed to control the ignorant populace. We who believe are very much inclined to reject this nonsense. But maybe we shouldn’t.
The word “religion” is not actually in this Greek text. That’s because the word “religion” didn’t exist when the text was written. “Religion” comes from the Latin religare, meaning “to bind” as in the case of a vow or obligation. It arose in the fourth century CE in support of Christian philosophy and theology. In other words, “religion” is in fact a system of obligatory vows and creeds that control the believing population. The word is not found in the biblical texts because the biblical texts are about how we live, not what we must think. And life, as it is lived, is a lot more elastic than a creed; a lot more flexible than a dogma. So in a sense Angels and Demons is actually true of the Church. It is about power, control and delusion—those necessary elements to keep the people in line. But when it comes to Luke’s recounting of Paul’s trial, “religion” has nothing to do with the circumstances.
In Greek the term is actually deisidaimonia, a word that is constructed from two other words, deido and daimon. It literally means “fear of demons” or “fear of the divine” which in the Greek world was essentially the same as the fear of those deities that might bring havoc to your life. With this linguistic background, is it even possible that the Jews at Paul’s trial were arguing about “religion”? Not a chance! They were contending with Paul about how we should live according to the Torah. Paul believed that as a result of the historical occurrence of the Messiah, Gentiles were now openly invited into the Kingdom without first becoming Jewish proselytes. But not all Jews agreed. Some continued to insist that membership in the Jewish community demanded conversion, i.e., the process of becoming a proselyte. In addition (and it is no small addition), Paul claims that Yeshua is alive. These Jews deny his claim. But, of course, that claim is simply a matter of evidence, not spiritual practice. So the real debate in the trial boils down to how believers should live, and since there was already a wide variety of living practices in the Jewish world, this doesn’t seem like it should have been a problem.
Except . . .
Except that it involved Gentiles. Except that it challenged what the standard was of entering into the community of faith. Except that it appeared as if the traditional means of gaining entrance were no longer valid. And that was a big exception. What’s quite amusing from the perspective of two thousand years later is that we have the whole argument upside down. We think that the issue of the “New Testament” is how Jews become believers, but the issue of the apostolic material is how Gentiles become believers. Twenty centuries of angels and demons have completely reversed the problem.
Maybe Tom Hanks is right. Maybe the Church really is all hocus-pocus.
Topical Index: religion, deisidaimonia, demons, Gentiles, Acts 25:18-19
Shalom everyone. Whenever I hear a word on religion my ears perk up , and I wait for some sort of mention about what James regards as true religion, feeding helping the poor the children , the orphans, and those who are oppressed, anything else is just dogma who makes the loudest noise to get how our attention . Most people think that it’s about Grace Grace Grace, And over look the actions that we do. A common phrase I like goes like this we don’t do works because we are saved, we do works because we are saved. Both Noah and Abraham along with many others found Grace in the eyes of the Lord due to what they had done. Hence, Abraham is the father of our faith, and Abraham believed the promises of God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.(he acted upon, trusted) the same with Noah and many others in the scriptures. One last quotation.. instructions from Paul are accountable to The Works he did, follow me as I follow Christ.
Skip, I don’t think that even this should have been a problem. The Mosaic instruction covered how to attract and include Gentiles. It wasn’t so much a matter of changing the rules as remembering them.
Abraham was directed to the land of Canaan for a reason and that was because it was a funnel for the entire known world. Everybody who traveled between that world had to either pass through that region or risk the high seas. There was a reason for placing Israel in that location and it was NOT to isolate them from the Gentiles, but to force them into contact with them. The strategy was for the salt and light to work, but over the centuries, it worked better the other way; Israel shared the gods of other nations instead of sharing their own.
After the diaspora, they were burned so badly from chasing those other gods they decided to throw out the baby with the bath water, and started developing all these ways to differentiate themselves from the Gentiles, but the net result of trying to avoid making the same mistake again was that they made the original plan of being salt and light null and void.
The acceptance and integration of the Gentiles was not so much a new idea but the resurrection of the original one. The reason the Jews had such a big problem with it was because they, just like modern religion, had discarded the true intent and practice for “commandments of men” that made of no effect the commandments of God. We should learn from them.
Hi Community, Good points Bret and Laurita. Pure vows or binding, could we use intentions, are to care for the fatherless, widows and orphans, or as we often say today, the less fortunate?
Laurita, your comment reminds me that the original purpose of Israel was to be a light to the nations. Arguably that has and is occurring. Sadly in terms of spiritual appetite, the nations, including Israel, statistically largely seek after other gods. A minority in all nations of earth embrace the one true God. If the church began with Avraham, then hocus-pocus may be a fitting indictment. If the church began at Shavuot/Pentecost, it has largely divorced itself from its Jewish roots and seems to be a happy single. It doesn’t bash its former sibling now – but it doesn’t go out of its way to say thanks for the faith that now includes non-Jews.
David Russell
David as I was reading your entry it made me think of we are a kingdom of priests unto our God where are the priests? What should the priest be doing? The international Kingdom of the five-fold ministry should be assisting the leaders of the Nations that represent. I might also add and have Cities of Refuge. God has set his people and that would include his kingdom on Earth…. Apart. We are to be distinguished from this world!!!!!
P.S. as I read over my entry I felt I needed to add…. If he is risen indeed then we are free indeed it is written!!! That’s enough proof for me.
This is excellent. I was having a conversation along similar lines this morning with a friend who teaches in a ‘school of divinity’ and is finding it increasingly hard to be a credible scholar in an increasingly fundamentalist environment.
I feel the same way. As you know from our conversations, there is a lot in the biblical world that needs some serious reconsideration.
HI Skip,
I agree “religion” can be dead.
“Maybe the Church really is all hocus-pocus”…. I have seen much Christianized witchcraft.
““religion” is in fact a system of obligatory vows and creeds that control the believing population.”…. In many cases yes, unless we are led by the Ruach Hako’desh other wise we may be led by man and dead religion.
If I am correct the whole reason for our faith is loving G-d, listening to HIM and doing what he says. From this we love ourselves and others.
The one text I question is James 1:27 about pure religion also found in the Tanakh, to visit the father, widow, blind, keep him self spotted from the world. This does not sound like “religion” but relationship.
I have found 5 scriptures with the word “religion”. All have a strong’s concordance definitions in the greek. The source you are using is the NASB? Or another?
My understanding of movies like the DA Vinci Code was greatly backed by occultists and Freemasons who have a mission to deceive people.
“Religion” becomes a man-made delusion designed to control the ignorant populace”… this is a quote I have heard from atheists . They love to think we believe in a G-D Delusion.
Thank you for your posts.
Not trying to endorse any of the so-called movie views. Just noticing some parallels. As for the references to “religion,” the Greek term is most likely the one I have discussed, meaning that the translation is anachronistic. James 1:27 certainly demonstrates that true “relationship” can be observed in what we do for others.
Well all I can think to say is love you Skip. Thanks for pressing through into the realms of wonder where we see things as they really are and not as we think them to be. These are curagous words of truth and light that I pray open blind eyes to see!
Shalom again I was curious about these posts with the opening of today’s word comments on Angels and Demons have not been expressed much.. would it be fair to make an analysis that those things that lead us away from the truth of Torah would be done so by doctrines of demons and of Angels On the Dark Side. We may just open up another side of exploration of this work today.
Art Katz puts it very simply, like a true Hebrew; Partial obidienace is disobedience, partial truth is a lie. We need the whole truth and nothing but the Truth if we want a whole life, and not a partial one. So discussing exploring and considering would in my mind be an avoidance technique for simply doing it….
Mark, I think you are going where I need to go. I have been thinking all afternoon about the living Word, which is that Truth “engrafted to save your soul”. There is only one condition for the truth, and that is living it. Only then does it have power in our lives and in the lives of those who are affected by us. Everything else is either trying to avoid it you got that one right (thank you) but I would like to add something; people want to ‘own’ it, too. Well, I think it is more likely that truth owns us in that we are the ones who should be responsive to it. Truth is truth only when it is being lived. You nailed it for me!
and how, pray tell, Laurita, do people ‘own’ Truth.
exactly.