Which Religion Does God Belong To?

“Religion is the opium of the people." said Karl Marx, one great philosopher. Over the years, men have established different systems on behalf of God and in the name of God as the best way, they say, that leads to God.

Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and even atheism each claim to be the best solution to man's inner desperate desires to relate to the Creator or understand life. These have also sprung up with their progenies of varied sects each claiming to be the best of the bests in providing answers assumed to be far from us. These have come to confirm why Dr. Karl Marx is right on saying that religion is the opium of the people.

One question bothers my mind a lot these days. Maybe you can help me answer it. Which religion does God belong to? Do you have an answer to that? OK, let’s put it another way: Which religion does God endorse?

Is God the God of Christians only, Muslims only, Jews only, Traditionalists only, Voodooists only, or Krishna’s only? Which religion at all does God belong to?

We continue to confuse our children with this institution of religion which is a ghost even to God. There is no book which can expressly say God has created a particular religion. I know a bit from the Bible and other religious books and what I have observed so far is that these books express the thoughts of God, his considerations for religious acts, but none has said that God established any religion.

I wish to join the religion of God if you can show me one because I seem to find none. Maybe God didn't create any though. So why have we misled our youth and children into this mascara of hatred and heinous religious crimes?

Of the many religions and religious sects which have sprung up over the years, we can say they are man's best futile effort to answer the questions that pinch our souls daily; questions about why the world exists, why and what we are here to do, and why things like good and evil, life and death exist.

So which is God's religion? We cannot say God belongs to any religion because he has founded none. Religion has never been a part of God's agenda hitherto and hereafter. God is not a religionist, but a Creator, Father and King.

If we can see these three distinctive characteristics of God, as Creator, King and Father, then we will be able to have answers to the questions our souls seek. God is the Creator of the universe which he intended to rule over as King and the relate to as a Father. Of those who will seek his will, what is good, pleasant and perfect in his sight, them God has chosen out of the lot to eternally bond with as a Father and God in a new universe he is creating. There is coming a time when evil shall be no more, but only righteousness and peace on a new earth consisting of God and his family.

I could sign off without addressing this all important subject of belief; and also of Christ, who is the uniting figure of God’s family agenda but the dividing line of many religions. God became a man, or let me just say that at the baptism of a man called Jesus, who was from Nazareth, God declared him as the Christ, his son - to be an example to us that for all who will seek and do good and believe in the possibility of becoming sons of God, by their faith in that one man – they also will become his sons and daughters.

Over here, I may sound like a Christian, but what I say, even many Christians do not know. The primary aim or benefit of believing in Christ, is not to go to Heaven, but to receive a certain favour so that man, you and I, will become sons and daughters of God the Father. The Holy Scriptures stated in John 1:12 that to those who received and believed that Jesus is the son of God, they will be given power so they likewise will become the children of God. Again, I have heard so many Christians mislead people on this, telling people to believe Christ Jesus to go to heaven. In the gospel of John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus didn’t say he is the way to heaven, but the way to the Father; and there is a good reason he said what he said. Often you hear people misread this text. Various religions have been fighting to find their oblivious way to heaven or paradise whereas God has made a simple way for man to draw closer to him as sons, and he as a Father. The ultimate purpose of the coming of Christ is to reconcile man unto God as sons and daughters as well as to restore all things.

God is the Creator of the universe which he intended to rule over as King and the relate to as a Father. God is not a religionist! Religion was, is and remains the opium of the people. Religion, whichever it may be, is the market where men trade their ignorance about a Fatherly God at the expense of liberal souls who are searching for their sonship.

Rich Akpalu

(Author-Poet-Teacher-Motivational Speaker)