Religion is reconnection

There are many religions throughout the world such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism as major ones among them.  According to some scholars like St. Augustine, the original meaning of religion is “reconnection.” So we can say that the main purpose of religion is restoring the connection between man and God. Naturally, all the religions assume that man is disconnected from God and has fallen into an inadequate state, for example, morally corrupt, physically weak and sick, and powerless in ability. on the other hand, these religions promise salvation, which is reconnection to God and the restoration of the perfectly good state. Moreover, in order to attain the reconnection to God, they provide moral and ritual codes and say, “Observe these codes, then you may be reconnected to God in the future.” This is the case for almost every religion, except Christianity.

 

Then how is Christianity distinguished from other religions? It says, “You have alrerady been reconnected to God, so now observe the codes.” Reconnection is first and it is followed by new life. You may know Mark Twain’s novel “The Prince and the Pauper.” Prince Edward and Pauper Tom switch their clothes. Then, Tom, posing as a prince, struggles to deal with court customs and manners. This Tom is the image of a Christian. A pauper became a prince overnight. Likewise a sinner becomes a child of God overnight. How? By exchanging his dirty clothes for the clean royal uniform of Jesus, the Son of God. Then, the uniform declares that the sinner is now a righteous child of God. In this uniform, he struggles to learn court customs and manners. Gradually his inner self is reshaped and in the end he becomes a prince not only in name but also in nature. In order to become a Christian, the thing we need to do is just admitting that I am a pauper and my clothes are dirty.