Christianity is NOT a "feel good" religion

Osterloh

Osterloh

Christianity is about practicing righteousness ... versus ... practicing lawlessness!
Christianity is about practicing righteousness ... versus ... practicing the breaking of God's laws!
... As evidenced by Mathew 7:21-23 ... and many other NT verses.
The most important topic re: Christianity is ... What is required to gain eternal life (salvation)?
Everything else are merely "feel good" topics.
.
 
Osterloh said:
Christianity is about practicing righteousness ... versus ... practicing lawlessness!
Christianity is about practicing righteousness ... versus ... practicing the breaking of God's laws!
... As evidenced by Mathew 7:21-23 ... and many other NT verses.
The most important topic re: Christianity is ... What is required to gain eternal life (salvation)?
Everything else are merely "feel good" topics.
.
Click to expand...

Actually...….Christianity is NOT a religion!

It is a Relationship rooted in a PERSON......the Lord Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to knock on doors, shave your head, avoid meat, or ride a mountain bike while wearing a tie to be “religious.” A group of people adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices qualifies as a religion. In that sense, all people are religious in some way or another. However,, religion will not get you to heaven. In fact, it may just keep you from heaven.

Preachers and Pastors who offer sinners “a relationship with Jesus Christ” are too late. The crucial point that seems lost on many modern evangelicals is that everyone has a relationship with Jesus Christ. The question is whether that relationship is a good one or a bad one.

Every single person on the earth is one of two things. We are either LOST or we are SAVED.

The New Testament defines mankind’s relationship with God under two major categories—those who are His enemies who are LOST and those who are reconciled to Him because they are saved. And conversion is the transition between those two states.

Romans 5:10-11...…...…..
"For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him. "
Click to expand...
 
Major said:
Actually...….Christianity is NOT a religion!

It is a Relationship rooted in a PERSON......the Lord Jesus Christ.

You don’t have to knock on doors, shave your head, avoid meat, or ride a mountain bike while wearing a tie to be “religious.” A group of people adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices qualifies as a religion. In that sense, all people are religious in some way or another. However,, religion will not get you to heaven. In fact, it may just keep you from heaven.

Preachers and Pastors who offer sinners “a relationship with Jesus Christ” are too late. The crucial point that seems lost on many modern evangelicals is that everyone has a relationship with Jesus Christ. The question is whether that relationship is a good one or a bad one.

Every single person on the earth is one of two things. We are either LOST or we are SAVED.

The New Testament defines mankind’s relationship with God under two major categories—those who are His enemies who are LOST and those who are reconciled to Him because they are saved. And conversion is the transition between those two states.

Romans 5:10-11...…...…..
Click to expand...

As my Pastor likes to say "It's not about a religion, it's about a relationship."
 
Webster's dictionary states:
Definition of religion
1a : the state of a religious // a nun in her 20th year of religion
b(1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural
(2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Shall we then choose to ignore the definitions of the language in which we choose to communicate? Christianity does fit the definition of a religion, which includes our personal relationship with Christ. We are still practicing a personal belief though faith.
 
thenami said:
Webster's dictionary states:
Definition of religion
1a : the state of a religious // a nun in her 20th year of religion
b(1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural
(2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

Shall we then choose to ignore the definitions of the language in which we choose to communicate? Christianity does fit the definition of a religion, which includes our personal relationship with Christ. We are still practicing a personal belief though faith.
Click to expand...

I do not know that we are ignoring the English language as much as we are explaining a subject that is not explained by a dictionary.

IT is my personal opinion as well as many others that Christianity is not about signing up for a religion or a faith.

If you consider it for just a moment I think that you will see that Christianity is about being born into the family of God.

John 3:3 says...…..
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

So then by that action we can see that Christianity is a relationship. Just as an adopted child has no power to create an adoption, we have no power to join the family of God by our own efforts. We can only accept His invitation to know Him as Father through adoption.

Ephesians 1:5............…..
"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,"

Romans 8:15...……………
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God".

So then by the Word of God we can see that when we join His family through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our hearts.

He then empowers us to live like children of the King. He does not ask us to try to attain holiness by our own strength, as religion does. He asks that our old self be crucified with Him so that His power can live through us.

Galatians 2:20...……….
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Romans 6:6...……………
"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin."

God wants us to know Him, to draw near to Him, to pray to Him, and love Him above everything. That is not religion; that is a relationship.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top