Anti-Religion Nonsense, Religion v. Relationship Replaces Gospel Message.

[presidente]

When I was a child, religion was an okay word at church. Our religion was Christianity. Vain religion was deceiving yourself and not bridling your tongue. Pure religion was "visiting the fathers and widows in their affliction and keeping himself unspotted from the world." Then there was a crusade. The preacher said religion was man reaching out to God, but Christianity is God reaching out to man. Seemed like a point that didn't go anywhere. Maybe that was my sense of the feel of the audience, or maybe it just seemed like a weird point to me. 'Religion' pretty much means Christianity in the old Puritan writings.

Preachers used to preach Christ's suffering on the cross. If they had 'sinner's prayers' they followed Romans 10:9-10 as a means of confessing faith in the resurrection. People would be at 'altar calls' confessing they were sinners, and other aspects of the Christian faith.

Fast forward 8 or 10 years or so, and I heard a preacher say, "I don't want you to be religious. Being religious is a bad thing." I thought what a strange statement that was. A visiting unbeliever who came would probably think, 'If religion is so bad, why are you here in church? Why did you pray?"

Doing a little research with searches on Google Books, the first reference to a "Christianity is not a Religion. It is a relationship." I also found out that pan-religionist types don't like the word religion. The phrase 'Spiritual but not religious' (often used by carnal unbelievers) was used in the early 1960's. My guess is some folks in the Jesus people movement came up with the relationship not a religion saying maybe to connect with the 'spiritual and not religious' crowd or maybe some niche hippie beliefs.

But my thoughts on this is that this 'It's not a religion. It's a relationship.' talk is a smoke screen that probably just confused overwhelmed unchurched believers. Religion means 'that which has to do with God or gods' or 'activities or faith that honors God or gods' or whatever the dictionaries say in the minds of most people. It does NOT mean empty rituals. And you know what-- man reaching out to God isn't bad, since God gives grace to enable men to do it. I am guessing this whole speech on religion versus relationship was influenced by Karl Barth's writings on religion, too, before the other influences.

So basically, an unbeliever comes to church. He hears all these evangelicals talking about how 'religion' is bad. He has to learn what they mean by 'religion.' They might tell him it is man reaching out to God. Good works. people trying to be holy on their own-- some new made-up definition that does not match our Bible translations or the Christian writings before 1980 except for maybe those who said that during the Jesus movement or people who thought the comment was actually meaningful from Hal Lindsay's book.

Then, this type of thinking discourages good religious practice. I saw some young people in their 20's jumping on a trampoline who were talking about not wanting to be 'religious'. When the Bible study started, they did not come in and join. They kept jumping. I have encountered people online who did not want to be religious who thought it was not good to have a set prayer time as a discipline. The idea that 'religious ritual is bad' is too extreme. We get baptized. We have the Lord's Supper. I'm not dousing people with holy water, sniffing incense or wearing a fish hat.

Before I was born, 'personal' was added to presentations of the gospel. 'Personal' got added before Savior. Without explanation, throwing personal around like that seemed kind of strange. I think the original meaning was each of us individually has to repent. That's fine. But without explanation, "Jesus is MY Savior. I have a personal computer. It's mine, you can't use it. It's my personal property, and Jesus is my Personal Savior." Then you have preachers who say "ALL that matters is your personal relationship with God." And you wonder why people repeat a prayer and never come back to church. These messages teach people that community is not important, church is not important, and other people and their being saved is not important.

I just read this quote today:
John Wesley (1703-1791):
“Christianity is essentially a social religion; to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it.”

He didn't consider 'religion' to be a dirty word, and this touches on the 'personal' thing as well.

I go to a Bible study and the host things this 'spoken word' rap thing is so deep, and it's about how bad religion is. Religion doesn't feed the poor. I'm thinking what are you supposed to do when you feed the fatherless. If I get a chance to teach there, which is likely, I may address the topic, if there are not more worthy things to teach.

The thing I lament is the 'It's not a religion; it's a relationship: talk replacing the Gospel. There are generations of Christians who haven't heard the preaching on the cross before the sinner's prayers. They haven't heard the sinner's prayers rooted to scripture about the resurrection. It seems typical in a lot of churches to hear a sermon on some topic not about salvation, followed by what must seem like confusing nonsense about religion being bad...in church at that!!! (putting myself in the typical unbelievers shoes). Then this is followed by some vague reference to someone named Jesus, Who can help you somehow if you accept Him, and the preacher does not explain what that means. Maybe he promises you something great, maybe eternal life. You repeat a prayer that says nothing about the cross or salvation from God's wrath, or Jesus rising from the dead. Then the preacher says if you believed that you are saved and get to be in heaven forever.

"Oh, yay! If I believe religion is bad and relationship is good and repeated some words that mentioned something about someone named Jesus, they say I get to go to heaven? Heaven sounds like good things in pop songs about intimate relationships, so that must be good. Well, that sure was a long meeting at that church place, so I might not go back, but it is good to know I am going to heaven."

 

[Gideon300]

When I was a child, religion was an okay word at church. Our religion was Christianity. Vain religion was deceiving yourself and not bridling your tongue. Pure religion was "visiting the fathers and widows in their affliction and keeping himself unspotted from the world." Then there was a crusade. The preacher said religion was man reaching out to God, but Christianity is God reaching out to man. Seemed like a point that didn't go anywhere. Maybe that was my sense of the feel of the audience, or maybe it just seemed like a weird point to me. 'Religion' pretty much means Christianity in the old Puritan writings.

Preachers used to preach Christ's suffering on the cross. If they had 'sinner's prayers' they followed Romans 10:9-10 as a means of confessing faith in the resurrection. People would be at 'altar calls' confessing they were sinners, and other aspects of the Christian faith.

Fast forward 8 or 10 years or so, and I heard a preacher say, "I don't want you to be religious. Being religious is a bad thing." I thought what a strange statement that was. A visiting unbeliever who came would probably think, 'If religion is so bad, why are you here in church? Why did you pray?"

Doing a little research with searches on Google Books, the first reference to a "Christianity is not a Religion. It is a relationship." I also found out that pan-religionist types don't like the word religion. The phrase 'Spiritual but not religious' (often used by carnal unbelievers) was used in the early 1960's. My guess is some folks in the Jesus people movement came up with the relationship not a religion saying maybe to connect with the 'spiritual and not religious' crowd or maybe some niche hippie beliefs.

But my thoughts on this is that this 'It's not a religion. It's a relationship.' talk is a smoke screen that probably just confused overwhelmed unchurched believers. Religion means 'that which has to do with God or gods' or 'activities or faith that honors God or gods' or whatever the dictionaries say in the minds of most people. It does NOT mean empty rituals. And you know what-- man reaching out to God isn't bad, since God gives grace to enable men to do it. I am guessing this whole speech on religion versus relationship was influenced by Karl Barth's writings on religion, too, before the other influences.

So basically, an unbeliever comes to church. He hears all these evangelicals talking about how 'religion' is bad. He has to learn what they mean by 'religion.' They might tell him it is man reaching out to God. Good works. people trying to be holy on their own-- some new made-up definition that does not match our Bible translations or the Christian writings before 1980 except for maybe those who said that during the Jesus movement or people who thought the comment was actually meaningful from Hal Lindsay's book.

Then, this type of thinking discourages good religious practice. I saw some young people in their 20's jumping on a trampoline who were talking about not wanting to be 'religious'. When the Bible study started, they did not come in and join. They kept jumping. I have encountered people online who did not want to be religious who thought it was not good to have a set prayer time as a discipline. The idea that 'religious ritual is bad' is too extreme. We get baptized. We have the Lord's Supper. I'm not dousing people with holy water, sniffing incense or wearing a fish hat.

Before I was born, 'personal' was added to presentations of the gospel. 'Personal' got added before Savior. Without explanation, throwing personal around like that seemed kind of strange. I think the original meaning was each of us individually has to repent. That's fine. But without explanation, "Jesus is MY Savior. I have a personal computer. It's mine, you can't use it. It's my personal property, and Jesus is my Personal Savior." Then you have preachers who say "ALL that matters is your personal relationship with God." And you wonder why people repeat a prayer and never come back to church. These messages teach people that community is not important, church is not important, and other people and their being saved is not important.

I just read this quote today:
John Wesley (1703-1791):
“Christianity is essentially a social religion; to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it.”

He didn't consider 'religion' to be a dirty word, and this touches on the 'personal' thing as well.

I go to a Bible study and the host things this 'spoken word' rap thing is so deep, and it's about how bad religion is. Religion doesn't feed the poor. I'm thinking what are you supposed to do when you feed the fatherless. If I get a chance to teach there, which is likely, I may address the topic, if there are not more worthy things to teach.

The thing I lament is the 'It's not a religion; it's a relationship: talk replacing the Gospel. There are generations of Christians who haven't heard the preaching on the cross before the sinner's prayers. They haven't heard the sinner's prayers rooted to scripture about the resurrection. It seems typical in a lot of churches to hear a sermon on some topic not about salvation, followed by what must seem like confusing nonsense about religion being bad...in church at that!!! (putting myself in the typical unbelievers shoes). Then this is followed by some vague reference to someone named Jesus, Who can help you somehow if you accept Him, and the preacher does not explain what that means. Maybe he promises you something great, maybe eternal life. You repeat a prayer that says nothing about the cross or salvation from God's wrath, or Jesus rising from the dead. Then the preacher says if you believed that you are saved and get to be in heaven forever.

"Oh, yay! If I believe religion is bad and relationship is good and repeated some words that mentioned something about someone named Jesus, they say I get to go to heaven? Heaven sounds like good things in pop songs about intimate relationships, so that must be good. Well, that sure was a long meeting at that church place, so I might not go back, but it is good to know I am going to heaven."

The problem with "religion" is that it lumps Christianity in with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam etc. I don't recall any of the apostles telling people that Christianity is a new and better religion. Every religion has some common attributes. There is a "holy book" with lots of rules to follow and a dead founder.

Failing to preach the cross is commonplace, I agree. It's created a church full of make believers. However, I can't see that calling Christianity a religion is going to resolve that problem. People need to be convicted of sin and to realise that they are headed for an eternity separated from God. I am not convinced that the meeting of the church is the place for this. I used to attend a Baptist church where there was a regular Saturday night gospel message. No one was prevented from attending the Sunday meeting, but unbelievers were steered towards the gospel meeting.

 

[Dino246]

Language changes over time, whether we like it or not. I run into this fact often when discussing the KJV; people think that a word familiar to them means the same thing today that it meant in 1611... which ain't necessarily so (and unfortunately, we don't have a dictionary from the early 1600's to assist us).

"Religion" is a case in point: it is now generally regarded as an all-inclusive term for any worldview/belief system, and is neither exclusive to Christianity nor even considered accurate among many Christians for their own beliefs. If one is going to use it, then they need to accept that it may require explanation so that the intended point is received. If it is our goal to reach people for Christ, then using terms that they understand, or explaining those they don't, is necessary. English-speaking missionaries don't insist that "foreigners" learn English before they teach the gospel; rather the missionaries learn the local language and use that to teach.

 

[Blik]

When I was a child, religion was an okay word at church. Our religion was Christianity. Vain religion was deceiving yourself and not bridling your tongue. Pure religion was "visiting the fathers and widows in their affliction and keeping himself unspotted from the world." Then there was a crusade. The preacher said religion was man reaching out to God, but Christianity is God reaching out to man. Seemed like a point that didn't go anywhere. Maybe that was my sense of the feel of the audience, or maybe it just seemed like a weird point to me. 'Religion' pretty much means Christianity in the old Puritan writings. "

To make this long story short, we need to keep our mind on Christ in Christ's simplest form, and that is to repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. That means we keep our eyes on Christ and what Christ tells us to do with our lives, repent if we don't come up to the mark, and live a free forgiven person.

There are even people tangled up with Paul's truths and decide those truths do not add up to what Paul tells us they do but mean it is OK not to want our lives to follow the things Christ tells us they should, that they say. is law and we must not follow law.
Christ as a man was practical, he spoke simply and to the point. He gave simple easy to follow instructions about how to live free and joyful in our earthly life and live in the mansions God has for us eternally. Christ said repent and want to live without sin and live as if we are in the kingdom of heaven, live as God wills us to live. If we then slip up, God forgives.

 

[presidente]

The problem with "religion" is that it lumps Christianity in with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam etc. I don't recall any of the apostles telling people that Christianity is a new and better religion. Every religion has some common attributes. There is a "holy book" with lots of rules to follow and a dead founder.

The word 'religion' doesn't save people. They don't get saved by using it in a positive or negative way. But in order to understand our Bible translations of James 1.... this anti-religion made up message is just confusing. I think it confuses most English speaking non-believers because they have to learn the new evangelical definition, or one of the definitions. And I do not think I found any one of these new definitions of religion and arguments against it that really align with any message I can find in the Bible-- not with the lack of explanation that comes with these diatribes.

'Religion' comes from 'religio' which meant something like 'obligation', but was used to refer originally to the state religion, but of course the meaning of 'religion' changed over time to refer to Christianity specifically in Puritan literature and such.

I would much rather call Christianity a 'religion' than hear people call Muslims and Hindus 'faiths'. They that are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Even Jews if they rejected righteousness by faith and the Messiah 'sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.' 'Religion' is a generic term. And a lot of unbelievers can't even have an conversation with the Gospel with an evangelical hardly without getting corrected for saying 'religion' instead of 'relationship'. But the word 'relationship' doesn't make sense in the sentence they want to say.

A bunch of mumbo jumbo and jargon about religion has replaced the gospel in a lot of churches and evangelistic situations.

Failing to preach the cross is commonplace, I agree. It's created a church full of make believers.

Someone mentioned 'easy repeatism' on line. I'll have to add 'make believers' to my basket of terms.

However, I can't see that calling Christianity a religion is going to resolve that problem.

Your write. It has narrow benefit-- teaching James 2, but a broader benefit in actually being able to communicate with people in one-on-one scenarios without jumping on their case for some stupid non-reason.

What I would like to see is to drop the speech on religion that ranges to generally not-too-helpful to downright unhelpful from supposed Gospel presentations and to spend that time actually preaching, teaching, sharing, etc. the gospel.

People need to be convicted of sin and to realise that they are headed for an eternity separated from God. I am not convinced that the meeting of the church is the place for this. I used to attend a Baptist church where there was a regular Saturday night gospel message. No one was prevented from attending the Sunday meeting, but unbelievers were steered towards the gospel meeting.

Church meetings are for the edification of the church, prayer, breaking bread. But Paul seems to acknowledge the presence of unbelievers and seems to imply doing things that are positive for them is a good thing in I Corinthians 14, even though the meetings are for the edification of the church. And in I Corinthians 15, it is important for believers to keep in mind the Gospel they already heard and continue to stand in it. So teaching on that can do double-duty if unbelievers happen to be present.

 

[studentoftheword]

All religions are man made so they are all worldly connected and not derived from any Spiritual source -------Christianity is no different ---you do not need to be a Christian to become Born Again and have a personal relationship with God ------Religion is a big FARCE in my view ------Religion keeps you in bondage to their different views and all their different traditions ------Religion is made up of Man made rules and expectations --

Jesus was very clear and pulled no punches telling the Pharisees that their man made rules and traditions in their Religion of Judaism ----meant nothing to Him ---He made oi clear that their rules and traditions may make them look White washed on the outside but they were filthy rags on the inside ------

God warns people of their own philosophy and intellectualism-----and all man made Religions have their own things going on ---and when you join a certain Religion your saying I will abide by Your traditions and rules -----which squeezes God out in most cases ------


Colossians 2:6-8 ABCE----Note verse 8


6 As you have therefore received Christ, [even] Jesus the Lord, [so] walk (regulate your lives and conduct yourselves) in union with and conformity to Him.

7 Have the roots [of your being] firmly and deeply planted [in Him, fixed and founded in Him], being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more confirmed and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.


8 See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teachings of] Christ (the Messiah).


In the Scripture below Israel as fallen away from God ------and He tells them what He dislikes about what they are doing and refuses to acknowledge them ------

Amos 5:21-24 GNT -----

21 The Lord says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them!

22 When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings.

23 Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps.

24 Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I say -----this is a 3.5 min video ----see what you think ---

 

[presidente]

All religions are man made so they are all worldly connected and not derived from any Spiritual source -------Christianity is no different ---you do not need to be a Christian to become Born Again and have a personal relationship with God ------Religion is a big FARCE in my view ------Religion keeps you in bondage to their different views and all their different traditions ------Religion is made up of Man made rules and expectations --

This is what I am talking about. This definition was made up--or came into evangelical acceptance, between the time I was a young man and the time I graduated college. Someone reinvented the word 'religion' to mean the kind of stuff you are talking about. The definition does not match our Bible translations, historical Christian writings on 'religion', or the definition in the minds of unbelievers. So Christian are talking about how bad 'religion' is, and they have to figure out what these people are trying to say, instead of focusing on the gospel.

I did not participate in the redefinition of the word 'religion', and at this point I refuse to. it's a red herring, IMO, for the most part, and a distraction FROM the gospel rather than something that is useful to clarify the Gospel

James wrote about 'vain religion'-- deceiving oneself and not bridling ones tongue. 'pure religion' which involves visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keeping himself unspotted from the world.

And you linked the same rap that I found irksome at the Bible study? I'm not going to listen to it again, but he said something about religion not feeding the poor. Might not someone with 'pure religion' who visits those widows and fatherless in their affliction feed them if they are hungry? If they read the rest of his epistle, they might.

What is the point of this redefinition of the word? It obscures the meaning of our own Bible translations and Christian writings used for centuries, devotional books, for example, disconnecting people in a way from the past. It leads to people thinking they shouldn't do 'religious' stuff, so why have a set prayer time or regular Bible study? Let's jump on the trampoline while the house group or home church is going on; we aren't religious? Why get baptized or take the Lord's Supper if "It's not about religion" at all?

And forget having a normal conversation with an unbeliever who brings up 'religion' and wants to discuss it, if you insist on everyone using one of these ill=defined sets of definitions of 'religion' that are used in the evangelical cultural bubble. If you speak English, though, they might understand.

What percentage of the population, other than evangelical Christians who have accepted this redefinition, define 'religion' this way. Dictionaries don't. Maybe...maybe..... some of the 'spiritual but not religious crowd' does. Google book search shows that phrase going back to 1963 if I recall correctly, but the 'Not a religion; It's a relationship" type saying going back to Hal Lindsay's book in the early '70's. There are some similarities to theological writings by Karl Barth, but not as extreme against religion. Probably some Jesus People picked up some language to try to relate to 'carnal spiritual but not religious' unbelievers and turned it into a doctrine and a bunch of evangelical cliches that don't mean much to people outside of our group.

Some of the anti-religious concept do not fit well with the Bible either. That is one problem I see with it. The other problem is preaching this, and not the cross, the resurrection, the Lordship of Christ (or omitting some of it) and then rushing people to pray some prayer and declare them saved after substituting a man-made religion speech for the Gospel.

I might call some of the 'religion' speak 'religion' if I accepted the redefinition of the word, and say that there are a lot of people who are religious about not being religious.

 

[studentoftheword]

I dare anyone to find me a Scripture where Jesus said Follow My Religion --Where Jesus says My Religion of Christianity is the right Religion to Follow ------

 

[presidente]

I dare anyone to find me a Scripture where Jesus said Follow My Religion --Where Jesus says My Religion of Christianity is the right Religion to Follow ------

Religion shows up twice in the Bible in James 1 right there towards the end of the chapter. The word comes from 'religio' in Latin, which etymologically probably came from a word that meant 'to bind' but referred to obligation, and was used for something like 'religion' in Latin. Of course, it's meaning change over time.

Since the word only shows up twice in probably every translation I've ever looked at, you are not going to find that quote. But you might find one from His brother, unless James was written by His disciple the son of Zebedee.

If you look through the Bible, you aren't going to find anyone preaching how evil religion is, and then telling people to repeat a prayer to get them saved, for believing religion is bad, either....or confess their faith after such a speech.... or repent after such a speech.... or be baptized after such a speech.

 

[Runningman]

I think nowadays when people talk about religion they are referring to head coverings, who’s allowed to talk/teach in a church service, the church service itself, who the “worship leader” is, and many many more divisive things.

All of those things that, while harmless, actually just don’t really mean anything.

As we all know, Jesus did away with the temple and priesthood and spiritualized everything. Now your body is a temple, your worship is spirit and truth, your sacrifices are giving thanks, your priest is Jesus, you can talk directly to God in prayer, the church is a spiritual body, not a brick and mortar building, etc.

 

[presidente]

Religion shows up twice in the Bible in James 1 right there towards the end of the chapter. The word comes from 'religio' in Latin, which etymologically probably came from a word that meant 'to bind' but referred to obligation, and was used for something like 'religion' in Latin. Of course, it's meaning change over time.

Since the word only shows up twice in probably every translation I've ever looked at, you are not going to find that quote. But you might find one from His brother, unless James was written by His disciple the son of Zebedee.

If you look through the Bible, you aren't going to find anyone preaching how evil religion is, and then telling people to repeat a prayer to get them saved, for believing religion is bad, either.

I think nowadays when people talk about religion they are referring to head coverings, who’s allowed to talk/teach in a church service, the church service itself, who the “worship leader” is, and many many more divisive things.

All of those things that, while harmless, actually just don’t really mean anything.

As we all know, Jesus did away with the temple and priesthood and spiritualized everything. Now your body is a temple, your worship is spirit and truth, your sacrifices are giving thanks, your priest is Jesus, you can talk directly to God in prayer, the church is a spiritual body, not a brick and mortar building, etc.

That is yet another definition of what 'religion' is that does not fit with all the others I have heard. The thing is a lot of preachers and pew sitters talk about how religion doesn't say and say stuff about religion without defining it, and their audience probably doesn't get it if they haven't grown up in the evangelical bubble. There are pan-religionists that consider themselves 'spiritual but not religions' and the anti-religion rhetoric might have come into evangelicalism through Jesus people trying to relate to Hippies who thought like that. We are stuck with the rhetoric as preachers use it, even when we are not talking to that subculture.

 

[studentoftheword]

Religion shows up twice in the Bible in James 1

The word Religion in this scripture is not 'religio' -----

the word religion in this scripture is

thréskeia -----which is used in the context of external Worship-----it has nothing to do with belonging to a Religious denominations group ----which is man made ------The Word Christian was used by the Gentiles who called the Disciples Christians ----Jesus never --ever used this word it was used by unbelievers in a mocking way ------and Paul keep the name ------

THE WAY _____ is what Jesus Called the Disciples to do -----Follow MY Way -----not any Religion -----


I say ----This is your scripture you speak of ------this says -------- you think your all that with your Religious external acts ----

worship
Definition: I go down on my knees to, do obeisance to, worship.----


James 1:26-27 ABCE

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).

27 External [a]religious worship [[b]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.


Strong's Concordance
thréskeia: religion

religious worship, external James 1:26


I say
So this scripture is saying nothing about all Religious Denominations being OK to Follow nor does it say anything about Christianity being the right religion ---

it is saying that if you think your Religious ----(this is -----your external worship ) and you can't bridle your tongue this person’s religious-----external worship ---- service is worthless (futile, barren).


So I say when Religion is used in Scripture --it is used as worship ---not as Religion as an institution -----or as denominations -----

 

[Amanuensis]

I hear you.

I don't believe that the word religious is a bad way to describe someone who is.

In prison if you are known for being "for real" about living your new Christian faith, people respect you and call you "religious" in a good way. They can't stand the hypocrites and don't respect them. They don't call them religious. That word is reserved for the ones who are actually living what they preach.

Most people in America who are not openly hostile toward God when calling someone a religious person usually mean it in a positive way. They would ask you to watch their house when on vacation.

Christians who try to witness to others by telling them they are not religious are not putting themselves in the shoes of the unlearned about Christian concepts of the "born again" culture. They have not redefined that word to mean something negative as you and I hear it in the Christian circles.

It annoys me when believers say that they are not religious because it sounds like those that say it are uneducated about how the word is used in literature including most of the best Christian literature ever written.

Another example is the use of the word "Piety, or pious. In literature it was a good thing. It was like calling someone serious about holiness and living separate from the world. Now we have ignorant, unread believers confusing it with pompous and suggesting that being pious is a bad thing like being stuck up.

When people redefine words in an attempt to communicate something they end up not communicating what they think they so effectively communicated. The uninitiated in Christian-eze leave them wondering "what's wrong with religion?" I don't get what they were trying to say.

 

[presidente]

The word Religion in this scripture is not 'religio' -----

the word religion in this scripture is

'Religion' is used in our translations. That's an English word. It derives originally from a Latin word. Threskeia is not English and English readers do not understand that.

thréskeia -----which is used in the context of external Worship

External worship is in the category of 'religion' for people who speak regular English who have not been subjected to this forced vocabulary change that has overtaken the US evangelical subculture.

-----it has nothing to do with belonging to a Religious denominations group ----which is man made ------

'Religion' has broad use in English.

The Word Christian was used by the Gentiles who called the Disciples Christians ----Jesus never --ever used this word it was used by unbelievers in a mocking way ------and Paul keep the name ------

That sounds like your own theory to me. Acts mentions they were first called Christians in Antioch. There is nothing negative there. They were followers of Christ. In some dialects, the e and i sounds were pronounced like 'i' so Christian sounded like 'good person'-- and maybe they used it like 'goody goody' or 'goody two shoes', too. I think it was Justin Martyr who asked why the pagans would persecute someone for answering yes if he were asked if he were a chrestian, a good person.

THE WAY _____ is what Jesus Called the Disciples to do -----Follow MY Way -----not any Religion -----

James 1:26-27 ABCE

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).

27 External [a]religious worship [[b]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

Hmmm. Why didn't you read the next verse?

27 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.

If 'pure religion' is a good thing, all religion cannot be bad. The issue here is some preachers hijacking the word 'religion' and making it mean something it has not for 1000 years. It never made sense to me. I saw a lot of confusion about this, and it seems like most people who go on about this leave out the cross and the resurrection and then tell people to repeat prayers to be saved.

So the gospel is either left out or truncated beyond recognition, but this little religion versus relationship speech-- which is not the gospel-- is substituted for the Gospel. A lot of people will nod their head if they hear I am saying. But some people don't really study their Bible and get their doctrine from the pulpit, YouTube, and TV, and they think I'm being a heretic for disagreeing from some idea from a book in the 70's that got popularized in the '80's or '90's.

Also, some of the concepts and activities that are rejected with the word 'religion' are good-- like praying, getting baptized, partaking of the Lord's Supper, assembling with other brethren, anointing the sick with oil, feeding the poor out of devotion to God or because Jesus taught it. This is all religion. Abstaining from sin (keep himself unspotted from the world) is religion, too. And that's not bad.

So this scripture is saying nothing about all Religious Denominations being OK to Follow nor does it say anything about Christianity being the right religion ---

You need to do more research than quote a two or three word concordance gloss to know the full range of meaning of a New Testament Greek word, so I cannot say if you are right.

There is this
Acts 26:5 Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion G2356 I lived a Pharisee.

I suppose he is talking about the Jewish religion he had in common with the Jews there, so that's kind of like the meaning of the word 'religion' in the sense you disagree with.

But I can say we speak English and if you have a conversation with an unbeliever, it does not make sense to jump all over their case because they used the word 'religion' different from the way the people in the evangelical cultural bubble uses it.

 

[Amanuensis]

External worship is in the category of 'religion' for people who speak regular English who have not been subjected to this forced vocabulary change that has overtaken the US evangelical subculture.

Well said, I would change one word.

Sincere worship is in the category of 'religion' for people who speak regular English who have not been subjected to this forced vocabulary change that has overtaken the US evangelical subculture.

 

[studentoftheword]

Pure religion

Your Grasping at straws to prove your belief -----so you can belief as you wish ----but no where in Scripture does it says follow the Christian ---Catholic ---Protestant --Baptise ----Lutheran----Calvin ----Judaism ----Islam ----Hindu ----or any other Religion -----

The Greek word for Religion in the Scripture means external worship only ------that what it says -----you need to understand what the scripture is really saying not what you want it to say ----- your twisting Scripture to suit what you personally want to believe -----

 

[Nehemiah6]

And you linked the same rap that I found irksome at the Bible study? I'm not going to listen to it again, but he said something about religion not feeding the poor. Might not someone with 'pure religion' who visits those widows and fatherless in their affliction feed them if they are hungry? If they read the rest of his epistle, they might.

"Pure religion" is a term that God has given Christians in His Word through James. So any preacher worth his salt should always clarify and say that there is either "pure religion" or "impure religion". Pure religion then would be the same as Christian good works, and God has ordained all Christians unto good works (Eph 2:10). Furthermore the preacher must explain that pure religion comes from a genuine living relationship with Christ. So it is the children of God who practice pure religion.

Now "impure religion" is what is found in all world religions, which encourage salvation by good works or ascetism, or practice idolatry, and also have false gods and false prophets. So Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. are impure religions since they all reject salvation solely through Christ and His finished work of redemption,

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Christianity is definitely a relationship, since Israel is frequently compared as a naughty wifey in the OT, and the Church is defined as the bride of the Lamb in the NT. You know why God identified himself as JEALOUSY, which is kind of a very negative, pejorative word in modern English? This word SPECIFICALLY describes that feeling of insecurity in a RELATIONSHIP. You don't get jealous when you see other people having nice things, that's ENVY. You get jealous when your partner is turning to other people who have nice things. God uses this kind of romantic language for a purpose. He wants you to adore Him and follow Him voluntarily out of LOVE, not out of fear.

 

[presidente]

Well said, I would change one word.

Sincere worship is in the category of 'religion' for people who speak regular English who have not been subjected to this forced vocabulary change that has overtaken the US evangelical subculture.

Religion can be good or bad in James 1. There is vain religion and pure religion.

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Religion can be good or bad in James 1. There is vain religion and pure religion.

Religion leads to "secular-sacred false dichotomy", "license to sin", "hypocrisy by virtual signaling", "legalistic rule keeping", "man made traditions", etc, everything the pharisees are guilty of.

And by the way, religion is not limited to the worship of specific deity. In modern times it's often disguised in ideology. Believe it or not, Climate Change, Critical Race Theory, Scientism, Marxism and other liberal ideologies are all false religions from Satan.