From Bondage to Liberty in Religion: A Spiritual Autobiography

by George T. Ashley

I have thus gone at some length into this doctrine of atonement and redemption. Perhaps I have wearied the reader. But as it is the most fundamental doctrine of the whole orthodox Christian system, and has been such a bone of contention in all the ages of the Christian church, and was such a stumbling block to me for so long a time, I felt that my "Confession of Faith" would be incomplete if I did not go into it in some detail.

My final conclusion is, that man never fell, but always has been and still is imperfect and incomplete, but ever striving upward. As man was never lost or stolen from God, he needed no redeemer to buy him back. As he was never an enemy to God, but always his child, God was never angry with him; hence he needed neither mediator, nor any one to make any atonement for him.

CHAPTER VII

A NEW INTERPRETATION OF RELIGION

What is religion? This over which men have waged the fiercest controversies known to human history; that has been the source of more strife and bloodshed than any other single cause known to mankind; and perhaps, in one way or another, more than all other causes combined, previous to the recent World War. It will be remembered that I said after finishing my special course of study on the origin, authorship, history and character of the Bible and the processes of reasoning which it inspired, "that I gave the whole thing up, inspiration, revelation, church and religion, as a farce and a delusion, as 'sounding brass and tinkling cymbals'; and cast it all into the scrap-heap of superstition, legend, fable and mythology." But after several years of study and observation I changed my mind again. I found that what I had always been taught and understood to be religion was not religion at all, but only a form of religious expression. Creeds and beliefs I found were not religion, but the products of religion. That subtle emotional experience which I had always been taught was religion, I found was itself but a form of religious expression. I learned that religion was not something one could "get," by repentance, faith, prayer, etc., as I had been taught and taught myself for years; but something every normal human being on earth had by nature, and could not get rid of.

Then what is religion? While it is the simplest thing on earth, it is yet perhaps the hardest to define; especially by one person for another. Its very simplicity eludes definition. In trying to define it I shall use in part the definitions given by others, as these are more expressive than any words of my own that I can frame: "Religion essentially consists of man's apprehension of his relation to an invisible power or powers, able to influence his destiny, to which he is necessarily subject; together with the feelings, desires and actions which this apprehension calls forth." Another definition that is perhaps more direct and simple than the above is this: "Religion is an impulse imbedded in the heart of man which compels him to strive upward. It is a yearning of the soul in man to transcend its own narrow limits, and to soar to the heights of supreme excellence, where it may become identified with the noble, the lofty, the divine." Another has said that "Religion is simply the zest of life." To these I will add that I understand religion to be that inner urge in all humanity that pushes it onward and upward; that inspires in man the desire to rise above his present station and attainments, and improve his condition; that spirit within man that has lifted him from the lowest savagery to the highest attainments in civilization, refinement and culture that man has yet reached; and will still lead him on to heights yet invisible and undreamed of.

This inner urge is common to all humanity, different only in degree, and not in kind. It is possessed by the lowest savage, tho often in latent form, yet capable of being touched and aroused into life and action, as thousands of modern examples attest, as a result of some form of missionary effort. From the time that man first emerged above the brute, stood erect, looked up, beheld the phenomena of nature about him, thought, and recognized that somehow and somewhere there was a Power above, beyond and greater than himself; and conceived in his own mind, however crude, the first faint spark of an aspiration to improve and better his condition, man became a religious being, and has been such ever since, varying only in degree, not in kind.

All religion is therefore one and the same. There may be many religions. But back of all these is religion. Religion is one in its origin. It is a part of the fundamental essence of human character. It is inseparable from the faculties of thought, reason and will. It is one and the same with these. Man without these faculties of thought, reason and will would not be man at all, but a brute. So without this inner urge, and the faculty of aspiration upward, which I have defined as the very fundamental essence of religion, man would still only be a brute. He would not be man at all. Religion is one in its origin because it is an essential characteristic of all human nature.

All religion is one in that it recognizes SOMETHING above man. I use this word advisedly. If I had said, "Because all men recognize the existence of God, or a Supreme Being," I would have been misunderstood and the statement challenged. Men have become so habituated to calling all other men atheists who do not accept their particular definition of God, that I omit the word entirely until I can further define my meaning. Because Voltaire did not believe in the God of Moses and the Pope, he was dubbed an atheist, altho he was a devoutly religious man, and built a chapel at his own expense on his estate and dedicated it "to the worship of God." Man instinctively recognizes something above him. It is immaterial by what name this may be called; whether Jehovah, Elohim, Allah, Heaven, Nirvana, or Jove; nor what attributes we give it, whether we call it Person or Principle, the Great Unknown or the Ultimate Cause; or whether it be a mere abstract Ideal, the creation of one's own fancy; it is still that "Something" which man recognizes as above him, toward which he aspires and hopes to attain.