Is the church vital to developing a relationship with God? Obviously, the church believes so, but experience can say otherwise. Can you connect to God intellectually? Or by meditation alone? I preach a naturalistic approach wherein you simply “interact with God” with a clear understanding that God exists; all you need do is behave like He does and treat it like any other relationship; converse and share your life connectedly. However, it’s the humanness in ourselves that gets in the way. Our brains want to categorize materially what is only spiritual, i.e. invisible. This is where religion can assist.

If you’re educated in a traditional school system, you build knowledge from an early age with simple to understand information and build upon it throughout your developing years; combining the new knowledge with the old to form the foundations of usable information. In the 12-20 years of education many people commit to, you’ll eventually have a formidable mind, especially in those subjects that you give extra attention to. The same goes for your spiritual development. Religion is your learning institution and works in the same way; and like to like, if you go to a good school you’ll get a better education than from a run-of-the-mill one.

Imaging trying to acquire all the knowledge from your school years on your own. It would be impossible. 99.99% percent of us probably couldn’t invent the wheel on our own with no prior knowledge of it’s existence or any other knowledge. Starting from scratch we’d have to identify the problem to solve and then work out solutions, over and over again. We couldn’t figure out language and communication. We couldn’t hunt or grow food. And so on. Humans require the foundations of knowledge to be imputed into our brains manually. So, if that’s true for all forms of knowledge it must be true for spiritual knowledge as well.

Religions mistake is with non-essentials and when being intentionally ambiguous and convoluted. This leaves those willing to learn with muddy information. However, esoteric knowledge is a real thing and very advanced. For some it comes naturally, but for most of us, not so. Most people will never get it no matter how much effort they apply. There’s a reason why I always use words like develop when discussing spiritual matters, because it is just that, a “development” that happens over time; a layering of knowledge, experiences and divine interaction that hones our spirit selves into more than basic material humans. This process does not come without great effort and diligence, and most people only get a fraction of the way. The “set it and forget it” promises of most religions is a myth. It is not true.

If you use the analogy of becoming an athlete you’ll understand that by just telling someone what a great baseball player is, it won’t turn them into one. Only practice, over and over, with proper training over decades can they achieve any kind of prowess, and with varying degrees of success person-to-person. It cannot be done any other way, period. Same with spiritual development. Jesus was born divine, but he also spent a lifetime studying and nurturing his divine nature. He was a Jewish scholar, an intellectual, a philosopher, a life-time practitioner, unwaveringly faithful and then the divine is added to that. Is it any wonder why he was so connected to God; not by accident, and not just by divine rights; Jesus too had to do his studying, homework, thinking, praying, etc. Religions sold us slogans that say we can get the same results by just signing on the dotted line and proclaiming our loyalty to the church. It is not true.

It is important for proper learning, especially for contemporary people, that we begin with the proper motivators too; i.e. the why. If the answers to the why are acceptable they act as the catalysts for the process. A willing mind, heart and spirit will journey further than one fighting against it. “To connect with God” is the goal. That connection manifests a new level of being. That new level has its value, call it benefits or perks if you like, but value is better even if it doesn’t initially sound as enticing as a reward or upgrade; it is for sure, but you cannot be motivated by the desire for selfish gain. In fact the gain only comes to those who are selfless in their pursuit, i.e. seeking God, not for the door prizes or club points rewards.

To skip wasted time when going at it alone use the amassed available knowledge. You may find that you need multiple sources to gain truer understanding, maybe even from combined religions; God is God, regardless; there is only one; purple or blue, white or black, Russian Jew or Spanish Jesuit; it’s all the same God. Think of the differences as shared knowledge but from different perspectives. It’s natural to want to go to one place for all the complete answers. Unfortunately, that’s not possible no matter what any group claims. However, the established religions are a persons best starting point. Judaism is a method. Christianity is a method. Buddhism is a method. They all lead to God; from their perspective. Why choose Christianity? The answer is because Jesus did the hard work. He’s like the best professor from the best university. Study from the best and you will gain the best knowledge; and why wouldn’t you?

My pastoral advice from a practical actionable method is to get yourself a bible and read it. It’s that simple. Many people and four thousand years have given us a gem of human spiritual knowledge. It’s all right there for the taking. Read it slowly and privately. If you know how to read you can handle the information. Some of it is dry, but most of it is exciting and beautiful. It’s human wisdom in a book you can carry with you. As for church, it’s more complicated because you have people in charge that have their own way of doing things. Luckily, the bible is universal. There is no difference between institutions, except cultural ones. The Old Testament is Jewish yet it’s the same for Christian’s. Jews have added books, etc. but what the Christian bible has is the same as what they have. It is astonishing, truly, that the knowledge has remained unscathed through all the centuries of change that man has undergone. It will be so thousands of years from now, maybe forever until the Earth expires; which means you can have a level of trust that it’s the same for all of us.

Read the bible and go to church. Ultimately, you can only gain what you actually seek. Trust the process by accepting that it is a process. There is nothing automatic. Use your own powers of discernment. Ask questions and seek the answers for real. Little by little it’ll all make sense. As that happens you’ll get more and more connected to God.

---

©2026 Pastor Robert Perez