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Last week I showed how the Advent of Christ is mistakenly entombed into an historical event where none of us can access it except through nostalgia and tradition. I shared how the biblical revelation is that the “Anointed One” arrives to each of us at different times and has never stopped arriving. Yet this begs the question about those who cannot or will not believe. What can we learn about this? I’ll start with the early Apostles and their experience trying to explain the mystery of Christ to the unbelieving religious mind.

“And he (Paul) entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 19:8-10)

Most of us have grown up conflating unbelief with the refusal to convert to religion. This is why Atheists think of themselves as unbelievers, which isn’t true. This oversimplification reveals that we do not understand our unbelief and this misunderstanding distorts our belief. In the text above, Paul was dialégomai (arguing, making a formal speech) trying to peitho (persuade, trust, be assured) those who were just like him, under the captivity of religious overreach. When his gospel could not free them within the walls of religion, he went and taught in a public, secular venue (hall of Tyrannus), which was inclusive to all comers and not limited to religious Jews…and the gospel flourished.

Confusion over unbelief, causes people to mis-categorize their proximity to God. It’s very common for people to have doubts and questions when they are part of a religious community. Usually this is because the community is providing a world-view that is smaller or is inconsistent with the world in which we live and work. If the doubt persists, and questions are not answered, we become marginalized from the group and eventually leave. And leaving isn’t always easy. Sometimes, leaving means the loss of friends, loved ones, economic resources, jobs, and much more. Once a person is out, they seek to identify with another group, but are now very tentative about anyone who talks about God, the Bible, or healing. This is something I have a lot of experience with. What I’ve discovered is that they are usually not “unbelievers,” but skeptics who still hope God is real.

The basis for this ministry has been to serve these people. The text I read reveals that the Gospel never puts us into a religion, but is the only thing that brings us out. And that should be a measure of comfort and curiosity to you. The unbelievers in Paul’s time were those who were over identified with their religion. The religious people rejected Jesus as the promised messiah and became sklerúnomai (stubborn, obstinate, refusing) and ápeithéo (rejected belief, disobey). This helps us relearn what unbelief actually is. If the unbelieving Atheist doubles down on Atheism, they become trapped in the same religious mind, by placing their faith in alternative religious propaganda…such people have not found freedom. If we convert to another religion or change denominations, we may have the illusion of progress, but also have not gained true freedom, because we have placed our faith in an alternative institution rather than the gospel.

Unbelief is not doubt or having questions, it is our stubborn certainty that the truth we possess is all that is true (religion). Unbelief is an unwillingness to consider the Gospel’s entire perspective. Unbelief is not derived from the intellect, or reason, or logic, but from an emotional dependence upon one’s security and identity which is derived from the institutions which we uphold as authoritative in our lives. Unbelief is the human will imprisoned by institutional authority.

Life is full of institutional powers that seek to give us a name in exchange for our support. We need them for the world to function. I’m not anti-establishment as some say I am. The goal is for us to work in them, learn from them and then graduate from them. The goal has never been to be “absorbed into the Borg.” Having our identity in God, frees us from taking on the Fake ID offered by any institutional power. This is how we are in the world but not of the world. John 18:36 says: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus’ mission was to heal people who were oppressed by institutional power and liberate the captives by inviting them out from cultish power plays and social, spiritual and financial control.

Paul’s gospel was the same as Jesus’. He too freed both religious and non-religious people from the oppression and pain of religion and institutional power. Then when freed from it, many invited parts of it back in and was really upset with them.

 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…” (Galatians 1:6)

Listen, I talk to people all the time about this huge part of our lives. I am the expert. At first, people don’t really see it or think it’s as big of a deal as I make out of it. Often I see the pain religion has caused you and I watch your life as you search for anything but “God” to fill your life. Your divorce won’t help you. Your new atheist friends who anesthetize their lives won’t heal you. That new love affair will only add to your pain. Becoming hedonistic, or angry only consumes you and your life. All of these self-destructive avoidance strategies are not unbelief…they are angry belief. You’re mad that God didn’t rescue you as the misinformed pastor, priest or imam told you. When you find this podcast, perhaps even this episode, I want you to know, this is your “Olly, Olly, Oxen Free.”

Angry belief is the emotional dissonance, annoyance, and even hatred of spiritual claims we have not experienced. The Muslim may not have experienced the spirituality of Buddhism, or the Hindi of that of the Mormon, or the Atheist of that of the Seike, but all humanity has experienced the interplay of spirit and flesh, which means everyone knows something of Christ. Angry belief, if there is no WORD (logos) of wisdom to speak into your life will become unbelief. Unbelief is that spiritual/emotional part of us that suppresses this truth instead of sitting still with it.

Keven, why can’t I just believe things how I want to believe them? Why do I need anything to do with Jesus or Christ or religion at all. I finally left my toxic childhood beliefs at great cost, I’m good, so why do I need the gospel? Why can’t I just stay in this corner where I distrust all religion, ignore the Bible, and just figure this out on my own?

I know that Religion answers this by diminishing your experience and claiming belief in the religion is the only valid belief. The Gospel instead validates your experience and shows us that without the Gospel we will inevitably find ourselves enslaved to another institution of the world. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. We might be free of painful childhood beliefs, but without the gospel, we will only exchange them for different set of painful adult beliefs. The gospel is exclusive in this way. You can’t get yourself far enough.

The Gospel never puts us into a religion, but is the only thing that brings us out…

As someone who has served people in this space for over decade is this: Don’t squander your doubt. Resolve yourself to get your questions answered. Don’t assume you can figure it out on your own. Go on a quest. Feel free to start with me if you need to. The beauty of your doubt is that you are losing your religion, but if you don’t see it through, you won’t discover that your doubt was the Advent of Christ in your life. Yes I said it. We must lose our religion to finally gain Christ.

Once we have this experience, then we understand why all of our prayers for rescue, or healing, or freedom while being oppressed by religion and the kingdoms of this world were not answered. Had God graced you with “okayness”, you would have remained there until this day. You would have “gained the whole world, and forfeited yourself.” (Mark 8:36) Now that you are out, you are as close to the most real version of yourself as you have ever been, and only in Christ will you finish the journey. Now that you are out, why don’t you try praying again from this place of authenticity, when you do, you’ll discover that your feeble prayers of your childhood were actually answered… through your pain.

In this new moment, you’ll have the Spirit within, and you’ll never be the same, and you’ll realize there were no dead ends, no unanswered prayers, no unbelief, only the arrival, the advent of Christ in and as your life.