“Spiritual But Not Religious” Is Actually Ancient News
What if the most cutting-edge spiritual trend in your city is actually 3,000 years old?
You have probably heard someone say it. Maybe you have said it yourself. “I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious.” It shows up on dating profiles, in dinner conversations, in the quiet part of people’s hearts when they can’t quite bring themselves to commit to a creed or a church. It sounds modern. Progressive. Liberated.
Here is what scholars who study the ancient world will tell you: it’s not new at all.
The ancient Mediterranean world operated on exactly this principle. Religion was not about exclusive commitment to a single truth. It was a buffet. You worshipped whatever god seemed most useful for your current need, at whatever temple happened to serve that function, without any sense that your beliefs needed to be coherent, consistent, or even true in any objective sense.
Nobody had a creed. Nobody compared denominations. Nobody argued about which god was the real one. You just showed up, did the ritual, hoped it worked, and went home. The gods were not demanding your heart. They wanted your offerings and your performance. How you actually lived your life was, frankly, none of their business.
There is something deeply human about this arrangement. It is comfortable. It is low-stakes. It lets you stay in control.
But the God of Israel had a different idea entirely.
Yahweh declared himself the only God worth worshipping, not because it was culturally fashionable, but because it was true. His people were not allowed to pick and choose. They were not permitted to hedge their bets with offerings at other shrines. And the reason was not arbitrary rigidity. It was relational logic. You cannot be in a genuine, covenantal relationship with someone and simultaneously be fully committed to someone else. Yahweh was not one option on a spiritual menu. He was the one who actually existed, the one who actually spoke, the one who actually acted in history. The exclusivity was a function of reality, not preference.
This is precisely why the first commandment is the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod 20:3). In a world full of gods, that statement was not just a religious instruction. It was a declaration about the nature of reality itself.
Here is the thing worth sitting with: modern “spiritual but not religious” culture and ancient Mediterranean polytheism share the same core assumption. That assumption is this: religion is about what you feel and what you want, not about what is actually true. Your god can be “the universe,” or “a higher power,” or a vague cosmic warmth, and that is fine because it makes you feel whole. But if God is real, and if he has actually revealed himself, then our feelings about the matter are beside the point. A God who exists independently of your feelings is the only kind of God worth having. Otherwise, you are just talking to yourself.
(How did Yahweh reveal himself and why should we trust that he did? The historical evidence for this is examined carefully in Chapters 2 and 3, and the case may surprise you.)
What to do this week
Be honest with yourself about which version of God you actually pray to. Is it the God revealed in Scripture, the one with a specific character, specific demands, and a specific rescue plan? Or is it a more customized version you have quietly built over the years, one that mostly agrees with you?
There is no shame in asking the question. Jesus himself said that eternal life is knowing “the only true God” (John 17:3). It matters who you think you are talking to.
The ancient world tried the buffet. It didn’t satisfy. Jesus came to introduce them to something entirely different. He still is.
Want to go deeper? (Re)Discover Jesus walks through all of this with historical scholarship and modern application, making it ideal for personal study, a small group series, or a church-wide reading plan. Grab a copy for yourself, order a set for your group, or invite Dr. David Pendergrass to bring these ideas to life in person at your church.
