Religion is…

25 thoughts on “Religion is…”

1. Yes, but He saw that the night and day were both good. How can you say that night-time was bad AND completely dark when it had a great luminary(moon) shining forth? It wasnt complete darkness. Our night is darker now than when the days were first created, but I believe its reflecting man’s heart to walk in darkness and turn away from our Lord and Savior.

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2. Anymore, I just say a follower of Christ or a true Christian as opposed to religious or religion. If I’m curious what kind of faith they follow, I say, “What faith do you believe?” Instead of religious, I say, “I’m on fire for God!” I know what you mean though; some people say the word religion but they don’t mean it in the way we’re discussing here. They basically just mean, “I love the Lord” or, “I serve God.” We use a lot of words out of ignorance that we really don’t know their true meaning…that’s the problem in our English language; a lot of slang and ignorance, huh? God bless you!

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3. It is probably helpful to distinguish between the different ways that people use the word religion. Most people don’t differentiate between religion as a organized institution and simply “following Jesus”. I remember getting blank stare once when I tried to explain that I was against religion but followed Jesus. I also studied sociology for a while. Religion was tricky to define, but clearly included people that would insist that they weren’t religious.

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4. What you’re referring to here as Community, Friendship, Spiritual reinforcement, etc. is not religion; it is fellowship. Once we understand the true origin and/or meaning of a word, then we can better define the purity of that thing–the goodness or badness thereof. It’s one of those situations where we are giving a definition the wrong word to describe it. So, for what you are describing, religion is not really the appropriate word. You are speaking of, as I just mentioned, fellowship–which is good. Religion does not bring about fellowship; religion pushes people away…it binds, it constricts, it labels something. For example; when driving past a church, you notice the sign says, “Baptist,” or, “Lutheran,” etc. That is as if to say, “Baptists only” “Lutheran’s only” –We want you to convert to our religion! Can you see a Spirit Filled Pentecostal going to attend a Methodist or Baptist Service? What do you think would happen to that Pentecostal as soon as they started shouting Praise the Lord, lifting their hands, speaking in tongues, dancing in the aisles? Oh, I can tell you..I was raised Baptist and am now non-denom Spirit filled… you would get stared at like you were crazy, and deacons would come and ask you to be quiet, or you would get thrown out of the church. This is exactly what religion means–“religious, pious pride; set in your ways; it’s this way or the highway–our religion is the closest thing to perfect and everyone else has it all wrong!” So what happens then when a pentecostal drives past a Catholic church? “Oh, can’t go there, it’s Catholic!” Or, when a Methodist drives past a pentecostal church, “Ha ha! That’s a church full of a bunch of demon possessed holy rollers talking with tongues of devils!” Or, when a Baptist drives past a Catholic church, “We need to knock on their door and get them to come out to our church this Sunday, hand them a track, and show them how to be saved.” Or, finally, when a Catholic drives past a Charismatic church, “Oh no sweetheart, we can’t go to that church. They don’t use a rosary, nor do they have Preists!” This, my dear, is religion!

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5. Bazinga!

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6. The word “religion” is a derivative of the Latin word “religo/religare,” meaning “to bind”
   bind (bnd)
   v. bound (bound), bind·ing, binds
   v.tr.
   1. To tie or secure, as with a rope or cord.
   2. To fasten or wrap by encircling, as with a belt or ribbon.
   3. To bandage: bound up their wounds.
   4. To hold or restrain with or as if with bonds.
   5. To compel, obligate, or unite: bound by a deep sense of duty; bound by a common interest in sports.
   6. Law To place under legal obligation by contract or oath.
   7. To make certain or irrevocable: bind the deal with a down payment.
   8. To apprentice or indenture: was bound out as a servant.
   9. To cause to cohere or stick together in a mass: Bind the dry ingredients with milk and eggs.
   10. To enclose and fasten (a book or other printed material) between covers.
   11. To furnish with an edge or border for protection, reinforcement, or ornamentation.
   12. To constipate.
   13. Chemistry To combine with, form a chemical bond with, or be taken up by, as an enzyme with its substrate.

   1. To tie up or fasten something.
   2. To stick or become stuck: applied a lubricant to keep the moving parts from binding.
   3. To be uncomfortably tight or restricting, as clothes.

   I don’t know about you, but I want no part of religion! I only desire to be a part of Jesus Christ the Son of God, Yahweh!

   Interesting link regarding ‘religion;–http://hellbusters.8m.com/lettersoftruth/religion.htm

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7. Genesis 1:3-5 “Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saaw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and He called the darkness night.” ESV Study Notes: Light is the first of God’s creative works, which God speaks into existence. He separated light from darkness after He created light. It never says that God created the darkness. Darkness, again, is nothing. Nothing cannot be created. Darkness is the absence of God. NKJV Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.” No matter what version of the Bible you read, It only says he called the darkness night, and that he separated it from the light. It was an interesting point I had never noticed until I had read it one day in one of my Bible’s commentary…and so then I re-read the passage and saw that what the commentary told me was correct. I really wasn’t trying to offend anyone or cause a disagreement..just share something that I found interesting that I had never been aware of. To say that God created dark does not make sense. The Hebrew word for create is ‘bara’. Thus, bara signifies a work that is uniquely God’s. Bara, or create, means to make something out of nothing. God made everything out of nothing and then separated it. To say that he made nothing out of nothing does not make sense; it would be the same as saying that God made nothing. There are verses in Isaiah I believe that state otherwise; the problem is, you have to study the original greek/Hebrew context to really understand what is being said. If you look it up in the original gree/hebrew Bible, God makes something o ut of nothing (Bara, create) but He does not make nothing out of nothing. I hope I’ve helped.

   For further research, see this: http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/1453/did-god-create-darkness
   http://www.rense.com/general50/goddidnt.htm

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8. Hi lyn.leahz,
   Here is a link to a hebrew/english interlinear online bible.

   Click to access gen1.pdf

   Read verses 1-4 and tell me what you think of it. It doesn’t sound to me like the darkness was already present.

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9. Did anyone here know that God never created darkness? Nor did he create Satan. Read the creation once again…darkness was. Darkness is the absence of God. God created Lucifer, but he did not create Satan. Lucifer became Satan when he sinned against God by being prideful and attempting to overthrow Him. Just an interesting note that came to mind as I was reading through here about evil this, and evil that…

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10. I wanted to comment, simply put, that religion is derived from the word rigid…so how ever could people think that religion is something good? It irks me whenever I hear people boastfully bragging, “Oh, he/she is a very religious person!” Or, “I am a religious person!” I always cringe and say, “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.. that’s awful!” As they stare at me confusedly. I then proceed to tell them what I’ve just mentioned here—that religion comes from the word rigid; and if you stop and think about this for a moment, religion is rigid. Jesus was Jewish, and he never preached a particular religion. He said for us to follow Him. We are to use Him as our example of how we should be. So if there was any faith (not religion) that would be most perfect, since we are to be like Jesus, then it would have to be Messianic Judaism. The only thing that matters the most is whether a person believes in Jesus Christ,the Son of the living God, Yahweh…Jehovah Jireh…the Great I Am…the Holy One of Israel….the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End–Yes, His Son Jesus. I have to point this out because there are some religions who claim they believe in Jesus, but it is not the same Jesus that born again Christians believe in.
    God bless you!

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12. This is what I’ve been f…… saying

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14. Religion is mans attempting to reach God on their own merit. Religion separates people from God. I’m writing from a Christian viewpoint. There are many gods, which are all man made and religion is man made. God is only a title, the only true and living God is the God of the Bible, the creator of all things. (YHWH). Religion is works and works are contrary to faith. Christians are justified through faith in Jesus Christ and not of works. Religion is people trying to reach God by their works and they fail. In Christianity, God reached down to man. God did what we could not do for ourselves. Religions are rituals and ordinances of laws and, the does and the dont’s. Jesus rebuked the “religious leaders” of His days. It is not about religion, it is about a relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus came to set mankind free. Unfortunately, many do not listen and they are in bondage to legalism.

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15. I think religion is a good thing. Actually religion is one of the best things: Community, friendship, spiritual reinforcement etc…

    In my opinion, the reason why people are divided is not religion, it’s the excess that stems from belief. You think you are right and naturally everything should be how you believe and you can’t understand that somebody else could understand things differently.
    Once you understand that:
    1) No matter how much stock you are willing to put in your belief it is only as good as your understanding
    2) You are fallible and so is your understanding

    You realize that you are a work in progress, you stop being holier than thou and with humility accept other experiences as what they are works in progress too.

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16. Thanks for your comment, I don’t condemn “religion” per say, religion is just a word. I understand what you are saying. I was looking at religion from the perspective of Jesus, the Pharisees were very religious people, but only outwardly.Jesus himself called them white washed tombs. They had a religious appearance, but inside they were ravenous wolves. There are many “religious’ people out there. They have an outward appearance of holiness, but their heart is not in line with the heart of Jesus. They judge, condemn others and lord over people, many religious people have an attitude of self-righteousness. They do not walk by faith alone, they have a works based gospel of salvation. Blessings, Freddy.

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17. Like humanity, religion entails two sides: ‘evil’ and ‘good’. It kind of makes sense; religion has been created by mankind. But before you condemn it, think about the peaceful side of religion. Many families, friends and even strangers, unite themselves to practice- and honor their beliefs and traditions. It’s easy to state that religion has some bad influences on us, but not so easy to state that it is purely evil.

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18. Many people have gone this rout in terms of religion. The issue is that Jesus never, not once condemned religion. In fact, He restored it to what it was supposed to be. He practiced religion. Paul even still held to the Jewish feasts and observances after his conversion. The truest religion is the one with Christ as the center, not any man-made god. Jesus is the only true religion. All others are false. It is the false religions that try to “ascend to the deity.” In the true religion, the Deity descended to us to rescue us.

    So I wouldn’t say Religion is the enemy of God, Religion was rebuked by Jesus,
    or that Religion separates people from God. I’d rather say that false religion is the enemy of God, that false religion was rebuked by Jesus, and that false religion separates people from God. The real truth is that people don’t need anything to be separated from God except being born. False religion is a method used by the enemy to keep things that way. Fortunately, the grace of God penetrates even the deepest depths of the darkest forms of idolatry (false religion) to rescue helpless sinners from their sin.

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23. Hi Freedy what people call self-righteousness has become very confused today the Pharisees had it, they were trying to commend their own works as justification for being saved and although they studied the Scriptures they did not come to Jesus to know The Truth but depended on their own understanding, logic and wisdom

    I feel grieved when someone who is Teaching or sharing with others from God’s word tells me we can’t know Him or His Truth because it shows they haven’t asked for God’s wisdom or if they have they don’t believe they have received it, I will leave a link that will cut out a lot of wordage here, it’s simple and straight forward. I have no doubt that I have God’s wisdom and that what I share is His Truth yes I’m still learning but what God has already shown me I have no doubts about and the Scriptures always confirm it.

    http://freedomborn.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/the-gaining-of-wisdom/#comment-561

    God also tells us to be perfected in Love now not that we have to wait till we die, how said that unlike Paul there are those who hang on to their childish understanding and don’t aim for this.

    1John 4:16-17 And we have known and believed the Love that God hath to us. God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our Love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world

    Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

    2Timithy 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

    1 John 4:17-19 Herein is our Love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in Love; but perfect Love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in Love. We Love Him, because He first Loved us.

    Christian Love Anne

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24. Freddy you are exactly right. People tend to get caught up religion and forget Jesus. But religion cannot save, only Jesus can.

    Thanks for sharing. God bless.

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25. Short, sweet and to the point!
    I agree with you 100%.

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