Created in Our Image

Religion is supposed to connect us to a higher power -- God.
It literally means to re-connect or re-ligament. 
Although the Bible teaches that we are created in the image of God, I think the biggest problem with most of the religions of man is that we have created a god in our image.

Isn't it funny that the god we choose to worship hates the same people we hate and harshly judges the people that we believe deserve harsh judgement? 
Why are our pet sins forgivable but the sins of others are worthy of eternal condemnation?

What if what we really need is a good, solid religion of man -- reconnecting to each other?
I think that if we could manage to connect with each other, we would be far better off than we are connecting to a god that seems to hate half of the people of the world. Maybe in getting to know each other we will find the image of the true God in the hearts of all human beings, and actually re-connect to God.

Why are we always so tribal, so territorial?
What would happen if we didn't see everything as a competition? If we we didn't always strive against one another?
What kind of world would it be...
     if men advocated for women?
     if straight people wanted equal rights for the LBGTQ+ community?
     if white people demanded equality for black and brown people?

What if national borders didn't mean we were enemies with other nations?
What if the US and Russia worked together to feed poorer nations in Africa?
What if the EU worked with China to reduce greenhouse gases?
What if we started to see gains we made together as more valuable than victories we held over others?
What if love was our currency instead of capitalism?
What if our greatest gains were when others are lifted up and our greatest losses were when another human is suffering?

What if our religion became building relationships with all people and connecting to others rather than dividing into nations, races, genders, sexual orientation, economic classes, working classes, religions, etc.?

With all of our differences, I still believe that if we were to seek what we have in common -- we would actually find God!
Now that's a religion I can believe in!

John