My Only Religion Is Love

One of the painful moments during my childhood was when a church member, a tailor, asked my brother and me to remove our newly sewn Christmas wear in the church. This was because our father who at the time was cash-trap did not pay for his services.

I remember how terrible and bad we felt as everyone in the Sunday school class looked on and at us.

Tears rolled down my cheek. I was stunned and felt I lost my pride as a child.

My father was not close then. He was in the main church.

I removed the shirt and gave it to him. I was about to remove the trousers too. Then from nowhere, my father appeared at the scene. He pleaded for more time to settle the debt. The indignity was telling on our faces.

That morning, the bible quotation was big on love. I lost the other details of what was preached instantly. And I lost faith in humanity just because of one person.

Today, I have realized that some people may never go to church, a mosque or shrine. However, the way one lives life can be a message to them.

Reflecting on my childhood experience, I ruled out religion from my life. I was lost and confused. In my confusion, I attended numerous churches, mosques and even lived comfortably in communities full of idol worshipers. All of them looked for one thing – LOVE.

The moment I see a person, I first see a human before anything else. Religion is man-made. Religion is evil. It is the root cause of all our problems!

Christians have personalized God as though they are the only children of God. But John 3:16 makes it clear, “For God so loved the world……”.

I believe the world means a lot to every living creature! So why the division and plain judgment of which religious method is right or wrong?

Why not just love each other? God is for all of us and he loves us all.

I can only tell how much you love God by how much people you love. God is not far from us. He is very close.

Love, not religion, is the cardinal human principle.

God is in every man but it is up to man to be in God.

The man who embarrassed me is a religious person who doesn’t know God. Religion breeds carnality and fosters unnecessary competition among people, showing off riches and hardening hearts against each other.

I am not impressed by the ability to memorize and quote the scriptures. Live the word and understand its essence.

The ability to see and treat everyone with equality and love is the gateway to knowing God.

Only that is Love.
It is well
Author: Tsifodze Ernest