Separation of Church and Faith

“I hate all this silly religion, but you, GOD, I trust.” (Psalm 31:6 MSG)

Many of the agnostics and atheists I have met are ex-church attendees who, for some reason or another, became disillusioned with religion. Unfortunately, many people cannot separate church and faith. Religion is merely the vocabulary we use to make sense of an incomprehensible God. The church system has become organized religion. It acts like scaffolding in the building stages of faith. But, just like scaffolding, it cannot support us for long. Religion is influenced by human interpretations and perspectives, and thus, distorted. It exchanges the glory of  the incorruptible God for something man-made and corruptible. Faith is much more than belief in a church system. Faith is trust in a God we cannot describe or understand completely.

When our religion buckles under the weight of life, we are forced to choose. Do we look for another church system? A different religion? Or are we ready to give up on belief in a higher power all together? For those of us who can manage to delineate our faith from all the man-made beliefs and practices, we are able to see the faint outline of a God who encompasses and infuses and enlivens everything.