“THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS DNA” – Part III

However, our text in Matthew 3: 8-9 asserts that the idea of an exclusive God gene, however old or new, is inadequate for authentic religion.

And the idea is challenged by no less a prophet than John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest of the prophets. Ascetic and austere, preaching to large crowds on the banks of the Jordan River in the Judean Wilderness, John was not one to mince words. Fearing no man, he took on the military, the “tax collectors”, as well as the general populace which had been numbed by domination, exploitation and hard work.

But even more significantly, he took on the religious establishment. Usually doing battle with each other, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders, united in their caustic criticism of John. When he demanded repentance of them they sniffed, turned up their noses, and said in effect, we don’t need repentance. Don’t you know we have the God gene? We have Abraham as our father. We are righteous because of our genes and, therefore, not in need of confession of sin and repentance.

It was then John made bold proclamation, “God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9) In fact, that’s how God did it in the first place, that is, raised up humanity from the dust of the earth and breathed into us the divine breath of life. We all have the God-gene. It is not the exclusive possession of the descendants of Shem or Abraham or Muhammad or Jesus or anyone else. The God gene is our human heritage. That is why, most all humans are incorrigibly religious.

(to be continued)