Jesus Hates Religion: How to Lead the Conversation on God with Love

Jesus hates religion? Dr. Alex Himaya thinks so. A Senior Pastor in Oklahoma, Himaya defends a faith first approach as salvation toward Jesus Christ.

When he says that Jesus Hates Religion, which is the title of his new book, Himaya means that the path to Jesus is not one established by man-made procedures and rituals. What is first and foremost vital for those of us on the path to God’s saving grace is our faith in Him. Our works are not enough to get us there. Those works that we do must be an expression of our faith to be even potentially worthy. “Nothing we do – our behavior, our beliefs, our best efforts – will ever make us good enough to approach God. The only way that happens is through grace.”

Himaya also believes that Jesus hates religion because of its power to stop the spread of the Word of God. He recalls conversations on planes where he opened with introducing himself as a pastor. More often than not, the fellow passenger would immediately want to avoid conversation. As a result, he stopped leading with his position, and used the opportunity to learn more about the other person, letting them open up to him first. Once, after the conversation had progressed for a while, the other passenger paid him one of the best compliments: “Really? You’re a pastor? … But you seem so down to earth and you haven’t judged me.” With his new approach, Himaya has found that even without his bringing up his faith or occupation, the topic of God and religion tend to come up anyway.

Himaya criticizes Christians who leap into conversations with their own beliefs and conceptions of what is right and wrong instead of love. Christians have become stereotyped as immediately judgmental, and that turns away many others from the Word of God. Rather than leading with a barrage of what everyone else is doing wrong, Himaya challenges us to engage people with the love and compassion of Jesus.

You can buy Dr. Himaya’s book Jesus Hates Religion here on Amazon.