Is religion the opiate of the masses?

This is a thought that keeps swirling around my head these days. I can’t get away from it. The longer I live the more I wonder if Marx wasn’t right. Now this quote is often used by atheists to make fun of Christians but it seems Marx intended it as a challenge to people who numbed the pain of life with religion instead of dealing with the issues that came their way. For Marx the issue he saw was an economic one. Today I wonder if people don’t use religion to numb any number of pains caused in our world.

I keep wondering if he wasn’t right. When people look for a church, what do they look for? A place that will help them grow? A place to challenge their faith as it pushes them in new directions?

Maybe I am becoming a cynic because of what I see. I hear people tell me they want these things and yet when they don’t find the exact blend of songs old and new or the exact right quota of kids they move on. I hear people tell me they want to make a difference in the world. I hear people tell me that they want to grow and yet what I see people doing is tenaciously holding to their old way of doing everything in their lives.

It seems that people go to worship to use it as a drug. To feel better about themselves. What’s ironic is the churches that frown and look down at others who emphasize experience are just as guilty but in a different way. Their drug is the lack of feeling they get in a worship setting. The more brainy the better.

What they don’t realize is they are seeking the same numbing opiate. Instead of soothing themselves with emotions they soothe themselves with the same sermon on the same topic with the same scripture for the two hundredth time. They feel better but do they live better? Am I being to harsh? I can’t help but feel like something is off. It seems that church has become one big search for a numbing drug and each style is just another brand name elixir.

I don’t know. I just wonder. Maybe I thought being a Christ follower would be so much more. A new movement promised a better experience but all I have found is the same drug with new packaging. Very graphic and experiential but just the same. Now the opiate comes in the form Charlie Hall or Tomlinson. Numb me so ignore the fact that I look just like everyone else, believer or not.

I don’t think religion is supposed to be a drug that numbs our pain but the longer I live the more I wonder if, I’m just wrong. Is there hope for anything different or have I missed something and that really is what God intended?

I just don’t see Matthew leaving his business to numb the pain. I don’t hear in Zacchaeus a man who was looking to escape his everyday existence. I don’t think Paul abandoned all and started building tents as a common man so he could show up each weekend for an I’m OK your OK moment.

A couple of years ago I preached a sermon with a basic point that being a Christian meant you felt more not less. Two years later I wonder if it is true, and if it is, what could be done about it. What do you think? Help me along in this journey.