This post is by Dr. David Ryser, one of our site’s contributing authors, and Ralph Ray.
Religion (noun): A return to bondage. The word is traced to the Latin re meaning “again” and ligare meaning “to bind.” (Andrew Farley, in his book: God Without Religion.)
Once upon a time there was a flourishing and blissful kingdom ruled by a wise and benevolent King. The King took every opportunity to bless, nurture, protect, and provide for His people. The people lacked for nothing and enjoyed intimate fellowship with their King. The King loved His people…and they
loved Him.
It could have gone on like this forever.
But one day an evil sorcerer came into the kingdom. This wizard was the sworn enemy of the King and hated everything about Him. The sorcerer despised the King, His kingdom, and everyone in the kingdom. Seeking to grieve the King, the sorcerer used his enchantment to turn the hearts of the people
against their King. They rebelled against the King. They rejected His lordship…and His love.
The heartbroken King reluctantly accepted the decision of His people and went into exile.
The kingdom was plunged into darkness. The sorcerer oppressed the people and abused them unmercifully. This once happy and prosperous kingdom became a place of misery and squalor. The people were forced to serve the sorcerer’s every whim. And they were cruelly punished if they failed to please him in any way.
Over time, many of the people forgot about their exiled King and the blessings of His kingdom that they had once enjoyed.
But the King had not forgotten about His beloved people. He yearned to be reunited with them. He frequently communicated with those…however few…in His kingdom who had not fallen under the enchantment of the evil sorcerer. He promised that He would send a Deliverer to them. This Deliverer would come to His people and demonstrate the King’s love for them…and for all of the people. He would defeat the dark magic of the sorcerer and begin to turn the hearts of the people back to their King. He would commence to reestablish the former kingdom and then turn it over to His people so that those who had once been oppressed would themselves become instruments of liberation for the rest of the
people.
It was a good plan. And it would have worked.
One day the Deliverer came into the kingdom and began to undo the sorcerer’s enchantment. Those who loved their King received the Deliverer with open arms. Some others…who heard the Deliverer’s words and saw His deeds…also turned their hearts back to the King they’d forgotten. The sorcerer was incensed! He, and those who aligned themselves with him, attempted to subvert to work of the Deliverer. But their efforts were of no avail. The Deliverer outmaneuvered and confounded them
at every turn.
Then, having taught His people how to carry on the work of reestablishing their beloved King’s kingdom, the Deliverer left them for a time to prepare for a triumphal entry back to the
kingdom upon the sorcerer’s eventual…and inevitable…defeat.
The revolution began.
The struggle was fierce. The Deliverer’s people were badly outnumbered, but they began to turn the hearts of the people back to the King using the strategies and the methods the Deliverer had given to them. The King aided them in their fight by providing them with what they needed to accomplish the work that the Deliverer had given them to do.
The sorcerer fought against them with all of the weapons at his disposal. He first tried to ridicule and belittle them, but could not dispirit them. He imprisoned and executed several of their leaders, but this strategy also proved ineffective because their leaders were not like those of the sorcerer.
Their leaders were everywhere! The older and more mature among them would teach the others the ways of the Deliverer…with great demonstrations of power. And they were not afraid to die. Their blood was like seed…the more of it that fell to the ground, the more of them that were produced.
Then the sorcerer had an idea….
He offered the followers of the Deliverer a truce. And it was so much more than just a ceasefire. The sorcerer agreed not only to stop the opposition and persecution, he even promised to assist them with their efforts to restore the kingdom of the King. Because the job of reestablishing a kingdom is hard work…even without opposition… the sorcerer offered to the Deliverer’s people the services of a white elephant.
What a magnificent creature!
The white elephant was big…it was huge! And strong. And smart. And seemingly able to do the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom without much effort on the part of the Deliverer’s people. The sorcerer even supplied a large group of handlers who were trained to be experts in the care and feeding of the white elephant. The Deliverer’s followers were only required to pay for the elephant’s upkeep…along with the salaries of the handlers…and to perform any menial tasks requested by the handlers to assist in contributing to the well-being of the white elephant. The Deliverer’s people enthusiastically
embraced the sorcerer’s proposal.
And this arrangement worked great! For awhile. And then it didn’t.
You see, the white elephant the sorcerer gave to the Deliverer’s people was a baby elephant. The more the handlers fed the elephant, the larger it grew. And the more they cared for it…and pampered it…the lazier it became. Over time, the elephant did nothing but eat. And grow. And sleep. Maintaining the white elephant required an increasing flow of resources…in time, energy, and money…from the Deliverer’s followers. In addition, more handlers were required to oversee the feeding and coddling of the ever-expanding elephant, so the salary burden on the Deliverer’s people greatly increased as well.
It finally reached the point where all of the people’s resources went simply for the white elephant’s upkeep.
When the Deliverer’s followers questioned the handlers concerning the extreme cost of maintaining the white elephant…along with an accompanying complaint of how little, if any, work the elephant was accomplishing…the people were reminded that the handlers were the elephant experts (also known as clergy) while the people were untrained and unqualified (also known as laity) in feeding and caring for
elephants.
Properly chastened, the Deliverer’s people continued… submissively…to provide for the white elephant.
So the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom went undone. The white elephant required an increasing supply of food and nurturing, while producing nothing. The Deliverer’s people no longer had the resources to put toward the work of reestablishing the King’s kingdom because they were putting all they had into the maintenance of the white elephant.
There was only one thing the people could do. They appealed to the King.
They fervently petitioned (one might say “prayed to”) the King for more provision to pay for the upkeep of the white elephant. The King’s refusal to grant their request was communicated in a short, tersely-worded reply.
The note read: If you had needed an elephant to reestablish My kingdom, I would have given you one.
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