5 Jesus Isn't Religion
5.1. The Definitions Don’t Fit
Sociologist Émile Durkheim described religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things”— “things set apart as forbidden that unite adherents into a moral community.”
Anthropologist Edward Tylor defined religion as “the belief in spiritual beings,” noting that narrowing this definition would exclude many cultures and traditions.
Clifford Geertz says religion is “a system of symbols which establishes powerful, long-lasting moods and motivations by formulating conceptions of existence, with an aura of factuality.”
Jesus definitely did NOT come to bring a new religion to our Milky Way Galaxy speck of rock and liquid. He did not.
5.2. The Master Teacher’s Demonstration
The Master Teacher created Earth ultimately to be a demonstration of His Life, “on earth as it is in Heaven.”
“Even the Angels long to look into these things.”
5.3. The Release of His DNA
He brought an Ecosystem to us. Not a System. Not a religion.
He brought Himself. The Life became the Light of men.
And then He deposited all of that into His blood-bought Family.
TRUE Christians, alone amongst the posse of Darwin’s mammals, have been joined to Him by His spiritual DNA. By abandoning our lives to Him—also known as having “Saving Faith in Jesus,” the Journey begins! His gifts and Spirit are infused into us, and now we begin to release and cultivate that new DNA by our humility and obedience and choices for Him.
He has now brought us into a living Organism, not a weekly appointment with a club or an organization.
He bathed and permeated His Life and Gifts into a kingdom of priests, the New Covenant. Jesus didn’t bring from Heaven a clergy-led audience, or a theology and social club or book club with a bunch of “know the Lord, know the Lord” rules. HE didn’t bring to earth the sacraments and posing and posturing, spoken or unspoken, of comfort and unchallenged love of the world and the things of this world.
5.4. Reality, Not Attendance
Jesus LIVES. He Lives, not as an idea. Not as a moral influence.
Not at a “Sunday mass” (Protestant or Catholic version) where everyone seems spiritual for 60 or 120 minutes. Many of us have tried that, sincerely thinking it was “biblical” because we “study” the Bible and use bible words. And everyone has been doing exactly that for the last 1800 out of the 2000 years since Jesus and His apprentices were here.
THEN we found, in moments of courageous honesty, after ignoring or explaining away a hundred tragedies that didn’t have to happen, 1) it doesn’t work as it should, and 2) it doesn’t exist in the Teachings and Life of Jesus or His hand-picked followers.
It was made up, however sincerely, copying the other world religions, and living for the “safe place” of convenience, predictability, and the conscience salve of a few minutes of “spiritual” per week.
Jesus absolutely did not have anything in common with other world religions.
God has no competitors, Doppelgangers, or twins.
Jesus teaches “as One with authority”—and anyone honest knows you don’t “attend” a forest fire.
So I say again: Gen Z will not tolerate the wax museum steeple-house or auditorium “service” version.
Gen Z will not be Gen Zzzzz, sleeping through ceremonies while the world burns and their souls starve. They will be Gen Zoe.
They see the artificiality instantly—just like watching an AI-generated animation that almost looks real.
5.5. Community, Not Ceremony
Most of us, if our parents were “religious” at all, grew up in a world of ceremonies and programs, not Presence.
Choreography, not community. Sermons and sacraments, not saturation.
The “attendance world” our parents inherited, and then we inherited, is nothing like Jesus or the Life from Heaven He lived in while here, and left in us.
And so?
There is some evidence that recently there has been a movement “back to church.” I’m sure that’s likely after all we’ve been through on this planet and in this country in the last few years. But simultaneously, a November 2025 Gallop Poll suggests attendance-based religion since 2017 is down another 35%, to a mere 48% who care about “religion” and the System at present.
People overall have been leaving by the millions. Eight million teens of “churchgoers,” 70-90% of all of them (depending on the study and poll), are slaughtered by the voids in the System every three years. Why?
Atheists and young people, churchgoers, youth groupers, and partiers are not seeing the person and life and gifts and daily wisdom of Jesus. The System isn’t being Jesus’ Life and Body. Jesus didn’t bring us the System. Jesus brought us an Ecosystem.
5.6. Jesus Is Attractive, Mixture Isn’t
I’ve had this conversation with atheists and agnostics, at Harvard and around the world.
I’ve had this same conversation with many Muslims and some Hindus. A high percentage of any human can be locked into, enthusiastic about the conversations about JESUS, but never about today’s version of religion. One person, last night, said “You had me at Jesus!”
Acknowledging the Good News that our personal lives need a Savior and Rescuer and Physician resonates. They want Jesus, but the System isn’t attractive to most after they’ve experienced it. The System doesn’t look like Him much, even if they “talk” about Him.
People want HIM! Who wouldn’t, unless they want to be “gods, and be in charge of what’s good and evil,” as was the temptation in the Garden of Eden.
A couple of us riding in a taxicab in Cairo asked the driver what “Friday (Jumu’ah) Mosque” is like where he “attends.” He said, “We have a predictable agenda, and then people fall asleep while the Imam gives his predictable speech.”
Many “unlikely” people admit they would be attracted to and fascinated by JESUS— but they aren’t actually given the chance by the System to see Him, in His Body. It was always HIS PLAN, His Design to show HIMSELF daily, at scale.
“Christ has generously given each of us grace, unique gifts that matches his Intent for us and all of us. As Scripture says, When He ascended to the heights, He took prisoners of the enemy and put them on display in a parade of losers, and gave booty and gifts to His own. He ascended means that He first came down to our world, living amongst us in the poorest and lowest parts of the earth. And the One who descended to us, the Light and Life of men, is the very same who ascended again far above all the heavens, filling the universe with His presence. And He gave parts of Himself, gifts, to all of those with His DNA, that He might make His Life manifest to the principalities and powers, and all of creation.”
The Ecosystem.
The Ecosystem of Jesus is now buried under the rubble of man-made Systems, for the most part.
Most teens never had a chance.
“THIS is HOW all men will know you are Mine, from Heaven, by the unfathomable love and death to self-life they witness in the midst of My Ecosystem.”
And only 9% of self-identified Christians hold anything resembling a biblical worldview, or understand the Good News. Wow. Ouch. (Barna and Lifeway polls)
5.7. Don’t Settle for Hopelessness
Adults wave around this slogan, to feel better about their failures:
“Teens NEED to sow their wild oats. It’s normal.”
Wrong. That’s only true in the System, the “way to have church” based on attendance at a place, on a schedule, with an automatic clergy-boss to run things.
This disaster is predictable in the Organization but isn’t normal in the Organism of HeavenLife Jesus brought us. The System, for those who really know what is going on in the youth groups and such, is, according to that Barna Research, a pig-sty mess. Jesus meant it to be the warm-up Dance for His Wedding Feast. But it doesn’t turn out that way when young and old don’t get a chance to meet Jesus—because we are not embodying Him in what we mistakenly call “church.”
The Answer has always been “in the Bible” but was excused away or ignored.
Reducing 70-90% fatalities down to 10% is totally possible and provable in the Ecosystem of daily Jesus-centered Living! Millions of saved young people are just watching and waiting, if we’d just give them a chance to MEET the real Jesus. In His Body, in His Ecosystem.
Most have given up, though it is plain as day in our Bibles what the Church, the Ecosystem looks like. The daily real Thing exposes and builds and cleanses and grows, goes through seasons and pruning, blossoms, and ultimately “bears fruit,” in season, “that will last.”
You can forget forever now “Learned Hopelessness.”
Seligman’s Dog, Pavlov’s Dog: we no longer need them either! Get a different pet.