What is religion according to Les?
Religion is man's attempt to somehow reach and merit favor with God. It includes Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and any system where man does something to please God, as Adam and Eve did with fig leaves. True Christianity is the opposite: God reaching down to unworthy, sinful man.
Les teaches that religion, whether the Jewish religion Paul practiced in Galatians, Buddhism, Hinduism, or anything else, is man's attempt to somehow reach and merit favor with God. At that time Paul had no relationship with God, only religion. Religion says, as Proverbs puts it, if I do this, then certainly God will be pleased. Adam and Eve acted religiously by sewing fig leaves, thinking their covering would make God accept them. All world religions try to merit God's favor; they may be good as far as they go, but they can never merit favor with God. True Christianity, a real salvation experience, is exactly the opposite: God reaching down to unworthy, sinful man. That is what God has done for man.