Opiate-Based Religion

Religion, according to Karl Marx, is the "opium of the people," something to salve society's wounds. According to the Marxist view, religion is nothing but an invention of man to help him endure the ailments of his environment.

Jesus takes a different view. From His perspective, religion is the cure for man's spiritual disease. "Those that are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk. 2:17). The Great Physician calls broken spirits to find deliverance and rest through the blood of the New Testament.

Jesus and Karl Marx shared one thing in common: They both understood the desperation of the world. Marx believed Communism was the answer. Religion, according to his philosophy, only dulled the senses and made the world more tolerable. Jesus, on the other hand, presented Christianity as the way to abundant life (Jn. 10:10).

Everywhere the pure gospel is preached that life is possible. However, those who water down God's word to make it appeal to a generation disinterested in moral reform distort the gospel. They reduce it down from the remedy for sin to a painkiller that treats the symptoms of soul-sickness but falls short of a cure.

Opiate-based religion still exists.