The Fig-leaf Religionist

A man, being interviewed on TV the other morning told the interviewer that, although he believed in the existence of God, he “wasn’t religious” and therefore he did not believe in the need to embrace any of the world’s religions. He was then asked about his death and what he thought God would say to him face to face, should he discover that he was wrong in holding that belief. He responded, “I think He will say … ‘Although you were wrong, your heart was in the right place, come on in anyway.'” The fig-leaf religionist, is how I describe such people … and fig-leaf religion is the most popular of them all.

What is fig-leaf religion? It is the religion of the first man and woman, which they started away back there in the Garden Genesis 3:5-7. Its adherents acknowledge the existence of God, they simply do not accept the One who reveals Himself to them from the within the pages of the Bible. They are quite willing to serve a god of their own making or somebody else’s; many even believe themselves to be gods. Whatever their belief, it is never in accordance with the one true God who has made His will very clear to all. They live with an on-going consciousness of guilt for their “short comings” like everybody else, but they never see themselves as bad as everybody else. Hence, they cover themselves in fig-leaves of self-righteousness. 

The fig-leaf religionist is a very smug, self-satisfied person. He’s one who’s extremely proud of his character development and personal attainments and although you could never get him to admit it, he sees others as inferior to himself.  He is skilled in the art of patronism, but in reality, he has little to no tolerance for anyone whose opinions and ideals don’t line up with his.  Having said that, not all fig-leaf religionists reject the religions of the world; there are lots of them in the church, the synagogue, the temple and the mosque as well … each one, however, inwardly believing their fig-leaves to be, “just that little bit more superior to yours.”

A fig-leaf religionist was telling me one time of his discussions with a (fig-leaf religionist) priest, associated with a European Orthodox Church. He said he told the priest that the Bible was, “full of errors and that the Genesis account of Creation was a myth”. The priest agreed with him. He then asked the priest if he thought Jesus Christ really was the only “way the truth and the life….” John 14:6 and the priest said that, “in the light of what I’ve seen of other sincere religious people all over the world, I don’t think so.”  Although there is much to disunite fig-leaf religionists, there’s absolutely nothing and nobody that can bring them together in unity as can the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. On it and Him, they’re experts!

Experts in what way? Well, they can tell you all about the Bible … ‘it contains much wisdom’ ‘it gives good examples to live by’ ‘it’s a load of old rubbish’ ‘just a book of myths and fairy tales’ ‘left-overs from the Dark Ages’ ‘a book to control the ignorant and superstitious’ ‘a book that conflicts with what science tells us’ ‘Jesus was a good man’ ‘Jesus is not God’ ‘Jesus never claimed to be God’ ‘Jesus wasn’t born of a Virgin’ ‘Jesus didn’t rise from the dead’ ‘Jesus was a homosexual’ ‘Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene’.  In fact, in my experience of listening to and holding discussions with fig-leaf religionists over 27 years, the Bible and Jesus have shown up to be the only two issues in life that they are sure about!

I have found fig-leaf religionists to be extremely faithful people – faithful to what they believe, that is. “I’m not really interested in your fundamentalist views,” an old man told me one time, “there’s one Creator, the Grand Architect of the Universe and I serve Him – have done all my life.” Another one told me recently, “I don’t care what the Bible doesn’t say about the Virgin Mary, she is my Savior as much as Jesus is. She was born sinless and taken up into heaven just as He was and I pray to her every day – always will to the day I die.” When asked if he was standing on the promises of Christ regarding the salvation of his soul he responded by saying, “Yes, but only according to the teachings of my church, not your beliefs.”

Many fig-leaf religionists are fond of saying we all serve the same God. Lots of them believe that to be true, but there are lots who don’t. They say it simply to please and appease the Muslims  … whom they live in constant fear of.  For those who genuinely believe this to be true, they must find this awfully confusing. On one hand this God says, “You shall not murder” Exodus 20:13; “……love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you…..” Matthew 5:44 and on the other he says, “Kill them wherever you find them.” That’s one schizophrenic god if I ever I heard one! No wonder the Christians among them are a messed up bunch – especially the Jew-haters.

Then there is the fig-leaf religionist who says something like, “Boy, when I get to heaven, will I tell God a thing or two!  How dare He talk about peace, love and justice when there is so little of it to be seen everywhere! And as for Paul (the Apostle), him and I may well come to blows over a lot of what he’s written!”  This person doesn’t really know much about the Bible, just enough to be able to justify in their mind “sound” reasons why he/she should not live obediently to it.  This is the kind of person who judges others on what they ought to be doing, but excuses him/herself based on their good intentions to do.  One man, a great critic of Paul, quoted him though, “a little wine is good for the stomach” … he said so each time he topped up his glass!

Out of fear much more so than curiosity, great numbers of fig-leaf religionists spend copious amounts of time, energy and money looking into the future to see what it holds for them. Nostradamus predictions, Mayan Calendar 2012 Doomsday predictions, Edgar Cayce predictions and prophecies, horoscopes, tarot cards, biorhythms, numerology, clairvoyance, witchcraft, spirit guides, necromancy – the list goes on. And the God who cast those two out of His Garden is doing exactly the same thing to practitioners of this stuff today. He drives such people far from Him Deuteronomy 18:12, and there’s no way back unless they humble themselves and choose His Way. Should they refuse to do so, their fear remains and rules … right on into eternity.

Fig-leaf religionists are big on saving the planet too and look down on everybody else who is not. This is the ‘God-helps-those-who-help-themselves’ crowd.  They judge, condemn, chastise, criticize, accuse and abuse anyone who has a different point of view. However, just like the occultist, it is fear that’s the motivator here – and they’re riddled with it. That’s why they respond in the manner in which they do. As individuals they are most unsure of themselves; a very insecure, angry crowd indeed! Man-made climate change, abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia  – these are all part of their doctrinal system as well and they’re every bit as zealous for each one of them as any person is for his or her doctrines in their religious organization.

When it comes to community service, charitable organizations, fund-raising projects and door-knock appeals, there are none who excel in them like that of the fig-leaf religionist. He’s not like the man at the beginning of this post who thinks God will say, “come on in anyway” but he most certainly thinks that’s what God should say to him. You see, he has a list; and on the list are a series of duties he’s given himself to undertake, plus a series of questions he’s vowed to ask himself. Each week he puts a √ or a Χ beside the duty or question. There are always many more √s than Χ’s, but in any case he can always quickly justify to himself why the Χ is not a √. He’s the type of person who says, “I don’t like to judge people”, but like it or not, he does it anyway.

Related to this person is the fig-leaf religionist given to moralizing … He/she too has a list – ‘don’t swear’ ‘don’t smoke’ ‘don’t drink’ ‘don’t say that’ ‘don’t do that’ ‘don’t watch that’ ‘don’t read that’ ‘don’t go there’ and, “stay away from all people who do!” Lots of church people fit into this category; in my post God is not looking for good people I say: most churches throughout the world in the past one one-hundred and fifty years or more have limited the gospel of Jesus Christ down simply to morals and ethics and the “Golden Rule” mentality, and there is more emphasis placed on, “Keeping the Ten Commandments” than keeping the word of Christ….. This is the crowd who turned me off considering the gospel and the true the Lord Jesus for many years.

Having said this, I’m not blaming them.  You see, I too was a fig-leaf religionist, even though I did everything they said, “Don’t” to, except “stay away from all people who do”.  And, although my list was very different to the list of the community servant and the moralizer, I had a list, nevertheless. And I √ed and Χed that list as religiously as they do, too. I was never confident that God would ever say to me, “come on in anyway” though; I just hoped He would. Then one day I turned on the television and saw and heard a man speak of a Jesus Christ whom I had never heard spoken of in that manner before. I could not believe my ears; so different to anything I’d ever known!

Later, another man impressed me … he did not refer to fig-leaf religion, but he did refer to religion and he taught that religion is the enemy of God Almighty, the one and only God – revealed in the Bible – and, it’s the enemy of His one and only Son, God Incarnate – the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is religion the enemy of God? It rejects God’s will and it exalts self-will. But the best that it can ever offer is fig-leaf covering. Everyone can see that except the one with the fig-leaf!  Fig-leaf religion is the cause of all the problems the world has ever encountered and it will continue to be the cause because it requires humility to give it up and walk away from it.

The New Testament showed me the need for humility, and the need to take off my sinful garments of self-righteousness, turn away from all that they represent, turn to Jesus as Savior and Lord, get washed in the Blood of Jesus for the remission of my sins Hebrews 9:2 and get covered with the robe of righteousness Isaiah 61:10 … the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So I did. Religion is not my deal today though, relationship and fellowship with God is, just as it was originally for the first man and woman. “….and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;…… Philippians 3:9.