Alright, my fine lords and ladies, I have something I want to talk about today and I hope you listen because a lot of people are getting sucked into this "spiritual" stuff and it's more toxic than the "organized" religion they think they are escaping.

A third of Americans say they are "spiritual" but not religious, according to a poll released Thursday by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago.

As the number of adults who belong to a church, synagogue or mosque has dropped — in 2021, membership fell below half for the first time in eight decades — another form of religiosity has emerged: spirituality. And there are many different forms spirituality can take.

Less than half of Americans are part of a house of worship, the lowest point since the 1950s.

But the atheist idea (looking at you, Karl Marx) that throwing off the shackles of religion would lead to enlightenment is wrong; it turns out that people merely trade one form of worship for another.

According to the poll, almost 80% believe in God or a "higher power," and around 70% believe in angels, heaven, or the power of prayer.

(Meanwhile, only 58% of people believe in hell and only 56% believe in the devil - probably because our world is so perfect and there's definitely nothing evil at work.)

The numbers here are telling - a full 80% of Americans believe in something beyond themselves that has authority and power, and the vast majority are speaking on spiritual terms, meaning they believe something beyond the physical world exists.

But at the same time, Americans are vastly turned off by the idea of religion.

88% said they had little or no confidence in religious or spiritual leaders or organized religion.

Here's the kicker: You can't be spiritual without being religious.

The word "religion" means "respecting the sacred, conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation." It has two observed Latin roots, relegere (to go through/review again) and religare (to bind fast). If you take these two ideas together, it means to carefully and consistently practice actions that bind you in devotion/service to that which is sacred.

It is here that Americans find issues with the concept of "religion." We consider ourselves "spiritual." The word "spirit" means "wind" or "breath," implying the breath of life breathed into us by God. The word comes from the Greek word pneuma (pneumonia) and the Hebrew/Arabic word ruah. It implies the very essence or character of something, but it is also an action. When I studied colloquial Arabic in Jordan, the locals would use "ruah" to replace the word "go." Instead of saying "I need to go to the store," they would literally say "I need to spirit (myself away) to the store."

And so Americans are trying to find their inner essence, their connection to the divine image in which they intuitively know they are made, and they rightly conclude that many of the rituals and practices of "organized" religion are mere traditions created by men.

In this, they agree with the God of the Bible. Jesus once quoted the prophet Isaiah once when he was criticizing the Jewish religious leaders:

The Lord said:

'These people approach me with their speeches

to honor me with lip-service,

yet their hearts are far from me,

and human rules direct their worship of me.'

The problem is, Americans are also throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The question is not, "How can I get rid of useless practices in order to know and connect with God?"

The question is, "How can I find my own inner zen and power?"

Back to CBS:

"If 'religion' for many has become a toxic brand, 'spirituality' has become the term to describe all those good things one wants to retain from religion: a sense of the transcendent, first and foremost, but more generally a vocabulary to talk about what one experiences in love, in art, in nature, in meditation or introspection. The need for these things hasn't gone away," Matthew Hedstrom, an associate professor in religion at the University of Virginia, told CBS News.

Hedstrom added that "spirituality is often about finding practices or beliefs that work" for the individual.

In essence, what Americans are doing is trading their inner desire to know God for narcissistic self-discovery that is an "opiate of the masses." By untethering themselves from any list of requirements, community, accountability, or observances, they can do what they want and spiritualize it to assuage their own consciences.

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

You will inevitably worship something, friends. You may think you are free if all your practices and devotion are to yourself, but holy moly you are actually creating a level of hell that's on par with Satan worshippers (that bunch is all about self-discovery).

Smaller numbers cited yoga, a sense of "spiritual energy" in physical objects, astrology and reincarnation as ways to experience religious spirituality. Americans who reported no or limited ties to religion said they found fulfillment in the outdoors, spending time with family, and hobbies, the poll found.

And from the study directly:

Belief in karma and ghosts is fairly widespread and 42% believe that spiritual energy can be rooted in physical things like plants, rivers, or crystals.

About a third of adults believe in reincarnation, astrology, and yoga as a spiritual practice. Only 6% don't believe in any of the spiritual items asked about on the survey.

Over time, this self-worship will lead to practices of devotion to yourself. You will have rituals and observances and obligations - all created in your mind, or, even worse, planted there by something nefarious (here there be dragons, my friends), with nothing except your own hollow thoughts to dissuade them. And in the end, by becoming "spiritual," you will become the most religious Pharisee of Pharisees the world has ever known.

Or do you think it's a coincidence that the lawless woke leftists are the biggest religious zealots these days, with inquisitions and holy wars aplenty?

Anyone who understands these things will know full well why the woke rainbow brigade wants to censor and destroy anyone who disagrees with child genital mutilation.

Their lawlessness and narcissism has become a law unto themselves, and they are enslaved to it!

Conversely, consider the reasons that "religious" people attach that label to their names.

Notice the order?

• The "spiritual" man is concerned with "fulfillment" and "finding practices or beliefs that work for the individual."
• The "religious" man is concerned with the worship of God, guidance, a code of honor and ethics, and a communal connection to the past, present, and future.

Which do you think leads to stable people, families, and societies?

The end result of spiritualism, where each man does what is right in his own eyes, is a chaotic, untethered wasteland of competing spiritual practices. First they become enslaved to themselves, then, finding dissatisfaction, they or the next generation decides to organize a spiritual ideology with core principles that people share. Over time, these ideologies develop practices with adherence to some concept of the divine, often with professed revelations from the divine (not all of which are heavenly), and "organized" religion is born anew.

Don't you see that such things are inevitable?

Every religion has developed this way, except, perhaps, the religion that turns religion itself on its head: A religion where God Himself died for us and calls us sons and daughters.

Jesus responded, "Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

The truth is this: The same God who called Abraham is also calling out to you. He knows you by name. He has placed you in this exact time and place so that you might "seek God, and perhaps [you] might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."

To know God is not to know some cosmic energy: It is to know a Person. It is to be in relationship. It is to make a promise. It is to give freely to Him as He has given freely to you.

Our own relationships show this nature of His to be true.

Marriage is a vow you take that is not about self-discovery but the giving of yourself to another - a bond and alliance, cemented by thousands of routine actions (observances, you might say), that deepen your love and commitment.

The God who made the universe loves you, but you won't find Him in pursuit of yourself. Oh how marvelous His love is, my friends, and what adventures await!

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