Is Christianity a Religion?
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." - James 1:27
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THE ANSWER IS NO...
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A RELIGION!
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“The difference between Christianity
and every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man reaching
up to God. Christianity is God reaching down to man.”
Religion is a system of beliefs or a code of moral conduct that judges (qualifies or disqualifies) a person based on their adherence and obedience to certain codes, rules, laws, traditions, or the performance of required acts.
Religion is the result when powers attempt to maintain, increase, or abuse their power over others.
Religion is the creation of man and is not the intention or design of God.
When Jesus was on the
earth, religion was very rampant, as it is today. Jesus hated this!
When you practice religion, your relationship with God is degraded to a
mathematical formula. It was never intended to be a list of rules that
can be relegated to a checklist ( when selecting what religion you belong to on some form). We are talking
about love.
For example, the
Pharisees took the commandment to remember the Sabbath and added religion to it
by making that ridiculous rule about spitting on the ground. Jesus showed
his complete disregard for their rules when he repeatedly healed people on the
Sabbath. The Pharisees considered this “work”.
On one particular
occasion, He healed a blind man on the Sabbath by spitting on the ground,
making some mud, and rubbing it on the man’s eyes. Jesus was God.
He didn’t have to spit on the ground to heal the man. He was making a
point to the Pharisees and everyone watching him that religion was wrong and not to think of your faith as a religion, but a personal relationship.
Religion is about what man has to DO to be right with God.
Christianity is about what God has already DONE to provide us the opportunity to be right with Him.
Religion says you must EARN your salvation by doing good deeds or certain acts and not doing evil.
Christianity says all we need to do is BELIEVE that Christ has already paid the price for the evil we have done.
Christianity says we are all evil (filled with sin) and there is nothing we can do to earn the right to be saved.
Christianity says that God (in the form of Jesus Christ) stepped into our place and paid the awful price that had to be paid for us. He gave us the free gift of salvation if we choose to believe in Jesus. - 1 Pet 3:18
There is no rhetoric or rituals that have to be
practiced. Believe that Jesus Christ came to earth and died for
your sins, accept his FREE GIFT, let God help you to love Him and love others.
That’s it!
This is the difference between religion and true Christianity. There is no checklist or list of rules that you must follow. It is ALL about your relationships, vertical and horizontal.
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