Isaiah, Amos, Dan and James on Religion
Isaiah 1:11, 17 11″I am sick of your sacrifices,” says the LORD. “Don’t bring me any more burnt offerings! I don’t want the fat from your rams or other animals. I don’t want to see the blood from your offerings of bulls and rams and goats. 17Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows.
Amos 5:21-24 21″I hate all your show and pretense–the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. 22I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 24Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.
“God commanded his people to offer burnt offerings, and then said, “They make me sick.” He wants us to live with a heart of passion for justice — period. Religious deeds, be it prayer, fasting, giving, sacrifice, song, or dance, turn God’s stomach when we do them without a heart for righteousness. And living out righteousness is no less than creating a holy, beautiful, sacred space for glory to grow. God doesn’t give us a to-do list; instead he calls our hearts to holiness and justice. “
~ Dan Allender
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
