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T
We can't deny that all christians are believing in a religion. We all, including watchmen, have a set of beliefs and practices. It is a religious belief that we need to love God. If we actually do love Him, is that religion anymore? It's a religious belief, that we need to repent our sins. If we do feel sorry for our sins, is that religion anymore?
A person cann't get saved through a religion- through believing in God, reading the bible etc. A person gets saved, when he loves God, gives his heart to Him, repents his sins. I don't think that qualifies as beliefs and practices anymore, right? If we worship God, because that what we need to do, then it's a religious practice. If we worship God, because we just want to lift His name from our heart, then I think it's not religion anymore.
I guess religion is bad, when it becomes more important, then God and when people think, that religion is all you need. That's when we can say religion sucks. But we can't love God, when we don't believe He exists. Believing that He exists is religious.
Does any of what I said make any sense?
A person cann't get saved through a religion- through believing in God, reading the bible etc. A person gets saved, when he loves God, gives his heart to Him, repents his sins. I don't think that qualifies as beliefs and practices anymore, right? If we worship God, because that what we need to do, then it's a religious practice. If we worship God, because we just want to lift His name from our heart, then I think it's not religion anymore.
I guess religion is bad, when it becomes more important, then God and when people think, that religion is all you need. That's when we can say religion sucks. But we can't love God, when we don't believe He exists. Believing that He exists is religious.
Does any of what I said make any sense?
C
Religion Christ spoke against. Christianity is not a religion. It is called a religion to satisfy the
need of man to name everything something. Christianity is a Way of Life following Christ.
There were many religious christians in Jesus day which He told them He did not come for them. He
came for those in need and the sick.
Christ isn't interested in your religion. Christ is interested in your decision to follow Him and do
His Will as you apply His precepts and concepts to your life as you keep His Commands. Christ
said If you love Me, you will keep My commands.
Christ always spoke against religion since it was the religious leaders that were so religious they
murdered the innocent Son of The God they supposedly served.
Muslims could say they aren't a religion eitherI suppose, "It's a personal relationship with Allah". I think everyone who is in their own religion thinks their own religion not to be a religion, but a way of life. Buddhism is a way of life, so is following Allah. You know this idea of a way of life thing and having a personal relationship with God isn't exactly exclusive to Christianity.
We can't deny that all christians are believing in a religion. We all, including watchmen, have a set of beliefs and practices. It is a religious belief that we need to love God. If we actually do love Him, is that religion anymore? It's a religious belief, that we need to repent our sins. If we do feel sorry for our sins, is that religion anymore?
A person cann't get saved through a religion- through believing in God, reading the bible etc. A person gets saved, when he loves God, gives his heart to Him, repents his sins. I don't think that qualifies as beliefs and practices anymore, right? If we worship God, because that what we need to do, then it's a religious practice. If we worship God, because we just want to lift His name from our heart, then I think it's not religion anymore.
I guess religion is bad, when it becomes more important, then God and when people think, that religion is all you need. That's when we can say religion sucks. But we can't love God, when we don't believe He exists. Believing that He exists is religious.
Does any of what I said make any sense?
A person cann't get saved through a religion- through believing in God, reading the bible etc. A person gets saved, when he loves God, gives his heart to Him, repents his sins. I don't think that qualifies as beliefs and practices anymore, right? If we worship God, because that what we need to do, then it's a religious practice. If we worship God, because we just want to lift His name from our heart, then I think it's not religion anymore.
I guess religion is bad, when it becomes more important, then God and when people think, that religion is all you need. That's when we can say religion sucks. But we can't love God, when we don't believe He exists. Believing that He exists is religious.
Does any of what I said make any sense?
Thank you.
L
No. Jesus did not speak against religion. Jesus spoke against the pharisees and sadducees who twisted the religious standards of Judaism in order to make the religion beneficial to them.
No. Jesus did not speak against religious Christians, because Christianity was not around when Jesus was alive. Christ spoke against hypocrites, not against religion.
A religion is a way of life. Without a religion, do you know what you are left with? The same beliefs that satan's demons have. Demons believe in God and Jesus, but they do not serve Him. That is because they are not religious. They have no beliefs or standards by which to worship God. We, as Christians, have standards and beliefs by which to praise our God. If you do not want religion, stop worshipping God. Stop reading your Bible. Stop praying. Stop doing good. Start sinning. Stop telling people what they must believe in order to be a Christian. Stop telling people what is wrong and what is right. Just stop it all, and start living like the world. That is the only way you can avoid being religious.
I don't get it. If the Jews keep God's commandments they are religious, but if Christians keep God's commandments they aren't religious? Double-standard, thy name is concernedguy.
No. Once again, Jesus did not speak against religion.
No. You cannot make the generalization that it was because of all religious leaders that Jesus was killed. Not all the Sadducees and Pharisees were over-zealous hypocrites more concerned with appearing holy than with being holy. Not all the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted Christ crucified.
No. They did not serve the son of God. It shows a complete lack of knowledge about the Jewish religion to say any Jew would serve both God and the son of God. "Sh'ma Yisrael, Ad-nai eloheinu, Ad-nai echad" Hear Yisrael, the Lord is our God, the Lord is ONE. They would not worship the son of God. That would be idolatry, so they did not claim to worship the son of God. They worshipped God, and God alone. You may try to put your Christian understanding of the Bible into a Jews way of life, but it doesn't work.
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The main problem here is that people are replacing the denotated meaning of the word Religion with the connoted meaning of the word Religion. The word Religion dennotes a set standard of beliefs and such centered around a Supreme Being that one follows. That is it. The connoted meaning, however, brings in hypocrisy, double-standards, holier-than-thou and all those other fun things that makes Christians cringe and shy away from being called religious.
It is the exact same thing with the word Christian. The word Christian denotates one thing, but it also connotes hypocrisy and all that jazz. In response, many Christian become ridiculous and say "Oh, I'm not a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ." That is simply silly and is a simple matter of semantics one is arguing. If someone says they are a follower of Christ, I am left thinking "You realize follower of Christ is exactly what the word Christian means, right?" Likewise, you say "I have a set standard of beliefs, values, norms, etc that I follow in order to live for and grow closer to my God." and I am left thinking "You realize that is the exact definition of the word religion, right?"
Stop trying to make the connoted meaning of a word the denotated(aka, dictionary meaning) meaning of the word. You can say you are not religious in the connoted sense of the word, but you will always be a Christian in the denotated sense of the word.
No. Jesus did not speak against religious Christians, because Christianity was not around when Jesus was alive. Christ spoke against hypocrites, not against religion.
A religion is a way of life. Without a religion, do you know what you are left with? The same beliefs that satan's demons have. Demons believe in God and Jesus, but they do not serve Him. That is because they are not religious. They have no beliefs or standards by which to worship God. We, as Christians, have standards and beliefs by which to praise our God. If you do not want religion, stop worshipping God. Stop reading your Bible. Stop praying. Stop doing good. Start sinning. Stop telling people what they must believe in order to be a Christian. Stop telling people what is wrong and what is right. Just stop it all, and start living like the world. That is the only way you can avoid being religious.
I don't get it. If the Jews keep God's commandments they are religious, but if Christians keep God's commandments they aren't religious? Double-standard, thy name is concernedguy.
No. Once again, Jesus did not speak against religion.
No. You cannot make the generalization that it was because of all religious leaders that Jesus was killed. Not all the Sadducees and Pharisees were over-zealous hypocrites more concerned with appearing holy than with being holy. Not all the Sadducees and Pharisees wanted Christ crucified.
No. They did not serve the son of God. It shows a complete lack of knowledge about the Jewish religion to say any Jew would serve both God and the son of God. "Sh'ma Yisrael, Ad-nai eloheinu, Ad-nai echad" Hear Yisrael, the Lord is our God, the Lord is ONE. They would not worship the son of God. That would be idolatry, so they did not claim to worship the son of God. They worshipped God, and God alone. You may try to put your Christian understanding of the Bible into a Jews way of life, but it doesn't work.
***
The main problem here is that people are replacing the denotated meaning of the word Religion with the connoted meaning of the word Religion. The word Religion dennotes a set standard of beliefs and such centered around a Supreme Being that one follows. That is it. The connoted meaning, however, brings in hypocrisy, double-standards, holier-than-thou and all those other fun things that makes Christians cringe and shy away from being called religious.
It is the exact same thing with the word Christian. The word Christian denotates one thing, but it also connotes hypocrisy and all that jazz. In response, many Christian become ridiculous and say "Oh, I'm not a Christian. I'm a follower of Christ." That is simply silly and is a simple matter of semantics one is arguing. If someone says they are a follower of Christ, I am left thinking "You realize follower of Christ is exactly what the word Christian means, right?" Likewise, you say "I have a set standard of beliefs, values, norms, etc that I follow in order to live for and grow closer to my God." and I am left thinking "You realize that is the exact definition of the word religion, right?"
Stop trying to make the connoted meaning of a word the denotated(aka, dictionary meaning) meaning of the word. You can say you are not religious in the connoted sense of the word, but you will always be a Christian in the denotated sense of the word.
L
I just realized these statements contradict each other. You say religion is simply a name people use because they need to name everything. If that is the case, and religion is just a name, why would Jesus speak against it? Wouldn't that be rather trivial of him to speak against something that is no more than a name?
Either you believe religion is a bad belief system, or you believe it is no more than a word. You cannnot believe both. I am inclined to agree with the belief that religion is just a word; a very useful word that helps us to classify things, but a word nonetheless.
Religion is a word just like tree is a word. Without the word tree, would trees cease to exist? No, so the word tree is important only to help us classify what a tree is. Imagine how hard it would be to talk about trees if we had no name for them. "I saw a huge trunk with branches on it today. Very beautiful. It was an Elm." That is the same for religion. Instead of us having to say "My class is very diverse. There are 3 Muslims, a Hindu, an athiest, 5 Christians, 1 Wiccan, and 2 Jews in there." I can say "my class is very diverse. There are 13 students, and 5 different religious beliefs within those students." Or how about "In my class today in which we discuss the differing strong beliefs in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny, we talked about the differences between the Christian Mary and the Ancient Egyptian Isis." would it not be easier to say "In my religion class today, we discussed the differences between the Christian Mary and the Ancient Egyptian Isis."?
Either you believe religion is a bad belief system, or you believe it is no more than a word. You cannnot believe both. I am inclined to agree with the belief that religion is just a word; a very useful word that helps us to classify things, but a word nonetheless.
Religion is a word just like tree is a word. Without the word tree, would trees cease to exist? No, so the word tree is important only to help us classify what a tree is. Imagine how hard it would be to talk about trees if we had no name for them. "I saw a huge trunk with branches on it today. Very beautiful. It was an Elm." That is the same for religion. Instead of us having to say "My class is very diverse. There are 3 Muslims, a Hindu, an athiest, 5 Christians, 1 Wiccan, and 2 Jews in there." I can say "my class is very diverse. There are 13 students, and 5 different religious beliefs within those students." Or how about "In my class today in which we discuss the differing strong beliefs in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny, we talked about the differences between the Christian Mary and the Ancient Egyptian Isis." would it not be easier to say "In my religion class today, we discussed the differences between the Christian Mary and the Ancient Egyptian Isis."?
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