My religion is
following Jesus

Tammy.jpg (10137 bytes) By Tammy Tkach

During the two years between my graduation from Ambassador in 1978 and getting married to Joe in 1980, I worked for a development corporation in Denver, Colorado.

The owners of the company were Jewish, as were most of the employees. They let a few of us gentiles work there, but I was always a bit of a mystery to them.

Shortly before the Day of Atonement one year, one of the men asked me why I was taking that day off. I told him and then he asked if I'd be fasting. When I said yes, he said, "You're a better Jew than I am!"

He must have wondered what kind of church I attended, in which we weren't Jewish, but kept the Jewish laws and days better than many Jews.

So what religion was I? This question came up at the company where I worked after I was married. It always made me a little uncomfortable. Like everyone else, I had to ask for time off for the Feast days.

They wondered why I needed two weeks off in the fall, plus a few other days scattered here and there throughout the year, and I wasn't even going on vacation.

My answer was a shaky, well, I attend the Worldwide Church of God, and we're sort of our own religion. Then I would explain that we observed the Old Testament festivals.

A strange expression would cross their faces. I was sure I understood why I observed the festivals, but it didn't seem to make sense to others. And I knew I could explain it only so far because I wasn't a pastor. I thought pastors were the ones who could explain difficult scriptures and complicated things like prophecy.

I realize now that I was suffering from cognitive dissonance, a condition where you hold two opposing beliefs at the same time.

It's a trick of the mind, and it can go on for a long time without a person knowing it's happening. In this case, it was a matter of believing I was Christian but not wanting to be called one. I had brief feelings of discomfort at times, but didn't stop to find out why.

Now I know what I believe and why. When someone asks what religion I follow, I can confidently say I'm a Christian. I don't have the cognitive dissonance with those feelings that tell me something isn't quite right. I know now, by the grace of God, that "Christian" is the only name by which I want to be known.

Someone once said God is not religious. God is God. People invented religions. Like Paul, knowing Christ and him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) is all I need to know and all the answer I need to give to those who ask me about my beliefs.

Labels aren't important. We can call all believers brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are unified by the Spirit and not divided by manmade differences unimportant to God.

My religion is following Jesus, loving God with my whole heart, mind, body and soul, and loving my neighbor as myself, and I choose to worship with the Worldwide Church of God.