What does Les say religion precipitates?
Religion precipitates war. It also prompts hatred and takes people down the dark path of legalism. Religion is always man's attempt to somehow please God, while Christianity is never a religion; Christianity is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race.
Les teaches that religion is the most awful term in the human language. He explains that religion prompts hatred, precipitates war, and takes people down the dark path of legalism, because it is always man's attempt to somehow please God. By contrast, Christianity is never a religion; it is God reaching down in mercy and grace to a lost human race. Religion never does that. Les also notes that Paul used religion in a bad light, saying he was saved out of the Jew's religion; as a religious person, Paul hated the very name of Jesus of Nazareth. In verse 17, Paul addresses the religious person, the Jew who rests in the law and boasts of God.