You Can Take Man Out of Religion But How Do You Get Religion Out Of The Man? - Short Story

The Contract

Welcome Mr. Ross. How can my legal office be of service to you?

I have signed my name to a contract and would like to be released from it.

What is the contract pertaining too?

Well…ah…it’s my salvation contract.

Your salvation contract? That’s very interesting; do you have the document with you? Who presented this contract to you?

Yes, I have it right here. At the time I thought it was God, but the more I think about it I’m convinced now it was the Devil?

What makes you believe this?

After signing this salvation contract I noticed that things started to happen to me that were different than I had ever known. These appeared to be good things like experiencing greater spiritual awareness, feeling powerful and even seeing some signs and wonders.

Go on Mr. Ross.

Well I did experience these things, but there was no personal peace. I thought my salvation was supposed to be about peace. So I’m thinking maybe something is wrong with the contract.

An interesting deduction Mr. Ross; let me look at this contract for a moment. Hmmm, there appears to be the basic personal salvation legalese ——- a salvation god, sinner saved from hell, but then there are about ten pages of miscellaneous provisions.

What?

“Miscellaneous provisions.”

What are those?

Here is an example; on page six, it says; “Recipient”, that’s you; promises to sacrifice personal freedom in time and materials in order to serve the interests of the salvation provided. It further states that the recipient is entitled to all the peace that said salvation has to offer once said obligations have been satisfied.

Wait a minute! I find no wording here that constitutes the guidelines for satisfying this salvation’s expectations.

What does that mean?

It means Mr. Ross that there is no end to sacrificing time and materials and because of that you will never know peace in this salvation contract.

I thought that something was wrong! So how do I get out of it?

Mr. Ross I’m sorry, but this contract remains binding. There appears to be no way for you to separate from its obligation; it appears that you chose the wrong contract. I’m afraid that there is no way for us to help you, unless of course you need one of our other services.

Please, there must be some way out of this! I can’t accept my salvation without peace!

Well, there is one way, but you probably won’t see it as a better solution.

Tell me!

Mr. Ross… It’s another salvation contract.

It will free you from any previous binding obligations, but this new contract violates the basic motive as to why you sought for eternity on your own in the first place; you of course wanted to be in control of your spiritual destiny; Isn’t that right?

I’m afraid that this new salvation contract can’t provide you with the same level of personal power and success that you were hoping to achieve.

No wait, I want to hear more!

OK, here it is.

This contract is different from all others in that it provides you with a salvation of righteousness, peace and joy, but the contract clearly stipulates that if you are to benefit from its reward, it is because you choose to separate from a significant level of personal strength.

How much strength?

……. Mr. Ross… I’m afraid that this is just wasting your time, I’m sure that you can make some other concessions with the salvation you have.

No Wait! Please, I’m desperate! How much strength must I give up in order to acquire this new salvation?

Mr. Ross the contract requires that you enter into death in order to activate its agreement.

Death! What’s the point of having a salvation that kills me?

Unlike other contracts that invite you to sacrifice in order to please your deity, death clearly destroys any hope of you gaining glory for yourself. This new contract expects you to give its author all the glory.

Well that would mean that it isn’t my salvation after all, but based on someone else’s life.

Exactly Mr. Ross; fortunately the one who wrote this contract has actually proven that he is able to give you meaning even on the other side of death.

How is that possible?

As it turns out, he proved it first on himself and amazingly he was able to come back from the dead and he now lives forever.

So, you mean that I get to come back to life after I accept his contract?

Mr. Ross, this is another reason why I hesitated to even suggest this salvation contract to you in the first place. If you accept this contract then there is never any coming back. The only way for you to be released from your previous obligations is if you die. But if you were thinking about returning as you once were, then you would quickly find yourself reinstating all the old obligations once associated with your previous way of life. So what is actually expected of you is a willingness to say good bye to you … forever. This isn’t all bad in itself; if you accept this other contract you get to live in the strength and abundance of this new Savior’s life.

…. So I’ll never have my own salvation again or my own life back?

That’s correct.

Now even though I have provided you some insight here, I couldn’t possibly give counsel as to what you should choose; you must make that decision for yourself.

Could you at least give me the name of the one who formulated this new salvation contract?

Well, Yes, I’ll give it to you; it’s “Jesus.”

JESUS! I have Jesus in my own salvation contract! Why would I need a new Jesus contract?

Mr. Ross, I would like to point out that you may have Jesus in your salvation contract, but does Jesus have you in His?

Oh…I understand your point…where do I sign?

****

The veil that remains on most men’s hearts, whether saved or unsaved, is simply a standard of “right-ness” that begins and ends with them. Yet whoever lives or ministers by this rule is actually only doing what is right in their own eyes. This is also the place that religion is born.

Romans 10:2-3 For I can testify about them (the Jew) that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Until we see the flesh brought into conformity with the life of our Savior we remain divided in our loyalties.

Yet Jesus provides us a way to escape the religious substitute at the Cross.

^{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvHs2i4S92k}