Religion and Narcissism [Part 1]

In your life, you have two options. You can serve yourself, or be free of yourself. You can choose something bigger, or you can choose you.

So let's build on that.

There are many ways in which you can serve only yourself. I don't think I have to go into much detail on this because I think we can all agree on carnal or selfish desires (which completely proves moral objectivity and even absolute truth, but that's another entry); hoarding money, vanity, sexual lust, pride, arrogance, you get the picture. I haven't met anyone who has told me they believe they have never done anything wrong, and when I inquire people about why they believe they did something wrong, it always has to do with hurting someone else in an effort to elevate their own selfish reputation.

But then the other option is what, religion? Charity? Service? No. You see, because even these things are selfish. I've been thinking a lot about this and I believe religion could be the most selfish thing you could do. Why? Because you are given control. I was reading a book by a former Muslim, now atheist, and she said that being a Muslim was much easier than being an atheist for a couple reasons, but namely for the reason that she could control her salvation and control her life. If she did things required of her, if she observed days of rest, and prayed a certain amount of times a day, it was assured that she would be in Paradise. However, she noticed that her selfishness is the same as an atheist. She served herself in her religion, and furthermore serves herself as an atheist. Let me put it this way, She didn't need a God to save her. She only needed herself. God gave her these rules, and said, "if you do them, you're in." But now, confused as ever, she plays the same game as an atheist, just with no hope of an afterlife or help in this one.

Let me define religion: Religion is, as Dr. Tim Keller has always said, "if I obey, I am loved." Religion requires the person doing something. But in the end, my question is this: what's God role? To love? But he only loves if I obey certain rules...so if I don't obey, he doesn't love, and he doesn't have a role, except perhaps judgment after my life is over. To me, it sounds deistic. God set fourth rules and said, "there you go, good luck." There is no need for him. So in the end, religion won't get you freedom, but just a more complex version of narcissism. You're serving yourself in order to get yourself to heaven.

I believe that only through this Jesus is where we find true freedom, and complete selflessness; the way we are created to be. You see, Christ preached against all of the above. He says, "I love you first, so because of my great love, how could you not obey?" His message is the same one we get from all of creation: YOU ARE SMALL AND GOD IS KING. Look at it this way, no one has ever stood in front of the Grand Canyon and said, "Yup, I'm a pretty great guy...I'm a big deal." That just doesn't happen. Why? Because you weren't created to be the best, you weren't created to be in charge of everything. Therefore, since we are so small, we were not meant to save ourselves and not meant to bring everything to a close. We were meant to reflect a bigger picture, a larger idea, and more magnificent Creator.

So how does Christ offer freedom? What's different about Jesus? Don't you just have to obey and get past things?