Here’s a statement that might get you scratching your head: I’m a serious follower of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God), but I’m not into religion.
Huh? For a lot of people, religion and spirituality are the same thing. But many people of faith will tell you that’s not so.
Psychiatrist Richard Pratt sees the difference this way: “Religion is a search for peace and security in an unsure world. Spirituality is that personal urge many of us have within, to listen to an inner voice from a deep ‘something’ that is calling us from the inside out.”
There’s nothing wrong with searching for peace and security. In fact, my commitment to following Jesus provides just that. However, it’s my faith, NOT my religion.
Fine, fine, you say. But am I guilty of linguistic hair-splitting? Some might say yes, but I’ve often found that religious people can be unpleasant and “legalistic” — that is, they spend too much time making sure they and people around them are obeying rules and keeping up proper appearances. Often, these rules and appearances have nothing to do with following Jesus.
There’s no shortage of examples: earrings on guys; drinking the occasional glass of beer or wine; attending a mainstream rock concert; getting a tattoo; shopping on Sunday; smoking cigarettes or cigars; missing a church service now and then.
Granted, just about everyone knows smoking is terrible for your health, but guess what: Jesus never called it a sin. In fact, He never mentioned smoking, tattoos, earrings, mainstream music and “religiously” attending worship services are not mentioned at all. Alcohol? One of the four original-source biographies recounting the life of Jesus has Him turning water into wine at a wedding.
So where does this “religious” drive come from? Part of our desire for peace and security translates into everyone thinking and acting similarly. That makes it easy for people to see who’s “with us” and who’s not. But it seems clear to me that God didn’t make the world for me or anyone else to mindlessly brand (and by brand, I mean “judge”) others.
In fact, Jesus had an issue with this branding/judging. One of His most famous instructions is to avoid judging people because whatever standard we use in our judging, that same standard will be used against us.
Paul, an early and influential Jesus follower, wrote a powerful reminder for all people: “It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between — not each other.”
I hope this means something to you, if you’ve ever been left with a bad taste after encountering a religious Jesus follower. And it’s my prayer that Paul’s reminder will stick with me, no matter who I encounter in this life.
Frank's Cottage 
If we remove the different dogmatic practices of religion and focus on the raw message, then this message is the same as that revealed in metaphysics- We are one and the source is unconditional love. Have a splendid day! 🙂
Do you refer to this unconditional love as YHWH…God…or do you feel it is some supernatural force, but do not believe it is the YHWH that people of the Christian Faith believe? I couldn’t tell for sure from your post, so I thought I would ask. Hope you don’t mind.
I believe all of life springs from the same Source, regardless of terminology. I bid you a wonderful day! 🙂
So, do you accept the Bible as true, and do you believe in Jesus Christ….and the Holy Trinity? I welcome you to read some of the articles on my page as well if you haven’t already. http://LynLeahz.com
Although I do not believe in “religion,” the only way is Jesus Christ. No matter how good any of us are, or try to be, if we don’t accept Jesus in our hearts as Lord of our lives, unfortunately, He can’t adopt us from the kingdom of hell.
Once again, unfortunately, while we’re here on this earth, we can only serve two masters–Lucifer or YHVH (God Almighty). If we do not serve YHVH by accepting the Holy Spirit, which gives us the ability to stand in the presence of God, otherwise, we appear the same as the darkness in His light…then we spend eternity separated from Him in the place that was made for Lucifer and his enemy troops…Hell.
I’m sorry if I offend, but as a disciple of Christ, it is my duty to share this important detail with the world, for YHVH does not want anyone to spend their eternity there; only Satan does.
He creates lies, fantasies, and deception within our feeble human minds in order to lure us into false doctrines and the like. So if we believe in forces that are higher powers, and that we’re all part of it…but do not give it a name (which is gnostic), we will be lost when the dark day comes.
Good day to you as well, and God bless you abundantly.
Even more interesting, the word “Religion” is derived from the word “rigid”. Also, The word religion is a word of forced application when used with respect to the worship of God
The root of the word is the Latin verb ligo, comes religo, to tie or bind over again, to make more fast – from religo, comes the substantive religo, which, with the addition of n makes the English substantive religion.
So, is this not what religion does? It binds and ties down…the word “ties” to me means “bondage” and bondage in the Bible usually means Satan. Good post! Stop by and visit my site sometime; http://LynLeahz.com
For a long time I made the same distinction. Early in life I developed a distaste for religion but have no particular disinclination to faith, although admittedly I wasn’t much into it either, but at least not hostile.
What changed all that came later and in particular the push for creationism in school, not in philosophy or literature or some class where it might be appropriate but as science. That became a line in the sand for me and guess where that leads. I actually didn’t even begin to seriously think about faith either until then.
As example of how naive I was, I naturally actually thought there were manuscripts somewhere for the bible. That was actually one of my first lines of inquiry. With some many translations available and so many interpretations which one was really correct, presumably not that hard to settle, just go look at the original sources. You can imagine where that line of inquiry goes. And the final step was the general intrusion of religion (I’ll accept your distinction and not blame faith per se) into politics and particularly partisan politics.
Whether the religious know it or not, I’ve learned enough history, esp, of our mother country, to know what happens when government does establish religion. I have relatives who fled Europe because they had the misfortune not to believe the established sect and thus were persecuted.
It’s really simple (and I even ignore all the non-Christian religions) you can not have religious freedom when someone else’s religious is imposed upon you by government. So the agenda of the religious right is not only anti-democratic and anti-woman, it is anti-religious freedom. So a journey started in my youth with mostly aimless wandering became focused into a hostility toward religion. And so I’m not so sure I can separate faith and religion as you do.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment! There’s no doubt about it, “religion” imposed by governments is simply nasty. And I can confidently write that if I had not been able to separate what most folks think of as “religon” from a real life-changing relationship with Jesus, I would Not have become a Christian.
This is a great topic! I hear variations on this statement from people all the time: “I’m not religious”, when in reality neither are they particularly spiritual, or “I don’t need church. I can pray/worship anywhere”, when in reality they don’t have a solid prayer life, either.
Makes me think of Jesus’ words, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” And the inverse, too – if we don’t have a hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will continue to stumble along under our own power, without the righteousness, peace and joy that only Jesus Christ can provide.
Great words, Brook. Thanks for contributing. 🙂
This is very wise and I agree with all my heart. In the part of the world in which I know find myself there was an ugly history of condemnation to the point of banishment, torture, and even execution for those whose Christian views did not agree with the Puritan majority.
Execution in God’s name! Just imagine it! Just as today I cringe and feel aghast at things that are done supposedly in Jesus’ name.
I often wonder why it is that I do not speak forcefully or even at all against such harsh judgementalism. “Seek not the mote that is in your neighbour’s eye, but rather see the mote that is in your eye.”
Excellent thoughts, Carolyn. Thanks for reading and contributing. 🙂
Frank, I tend not to identify with the conclusions of your posting, but I would like to thank you for offering a perspective to consider.
Thanks for your kind response, Sidd. I appreciate it. 🙂
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thank you! 🙂
Quibbling about the word “religion” has done a lot of damage. It is understood in the faith community because they get sermons to explain it but non believers think you are dissing/putting down faith in general. Sad!!
Thanks for your comment. It’s been my experience that just the mention of the word “religion” is a major turnoff to many, many people who don’t follow Jesus of Nazareth. “Faith”, on the other hand, seems to be taken as neutral. That’s why I thought it was very important to point out the differences between the two words.