Revelation

Euphemia said:
Isaiah 1:13-14 (NLT)
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;
the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath
and your special days for fasting—
they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.
14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!

Psalm 40:6 (NLT) David came to a true revelation:
You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings.
Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand—you don’t require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

Amos 5:21 (NLT)
I hate all your show and pretense—
the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.

Micah 6:6-8 (NLT)
What can we bring to the Lord?
Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
with offerings of yearling calves?
7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
to pay for our sins?
8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.

There's the crux of it all: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10.

The scriptures reveal to us that Israel had forgotten her relationship with the living God and lapsed into a religious system of works, sacrifice and offerings and expected out of that to appease God and to receive redemption, but we can see in the scriptures above that God says, "You can shake and dance and burn your incense all you like---I don't care about them! I’m not interested in your religious activities, I want your heart!” He says it distinctly in:

Isaiah 29:13 (NLT)
These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.


Jesus Christ Himself cited this same passage and added more in:

Matthew 15:8-9 (NLT)
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’
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Amen sister. All of those scriptures are true. And humbling ourselves before God is religion, it's religion that is please to God. But yes all those offerings and fasting means nothing if our heart is not right. Right on Euphemia! Thanks for sharing those scriptures my sister in Christ :)
 
Major said:
I believe what Euphemia is referring to is Christianity. We as believers accept Christ and He is person not a religion.

At Least that would be my opinion.

A religionist would need a tax exempt status, but a Christian possess Christ and come taxes, hell or high water, we belong to Him.

But I do agree that why is religion the word now a bad word???
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Well, followers of Buddha are Buddhists. Buddhism is a religion.
Followers of Allah are Muslims. Islam is a religion.
Followers of Jesus Christ are Christians, so why wouldn't Christianity be a religion? What other word would you use?
Personally, I've never liked the idea of a "personal lord and savior Jesus Christ." Growing up, I learned that Jesus was for everyone, and this all sounds a bit too selfish: MY personal savior, ME, MINE, etc.
Just my opinion however.
 
Major said:
I believe what Euphemia is referring to is Christianity. We as believers accept Christ and He is person not a religion.

At Least that would be my opinion.

A religionist would need a tax exempt status, but a Christian possess Christ and come taxes, hell or high water, we belong to Him.

But I do agree that why is religion the word now a bad word???
Click to expand...

This makes sense. If Euphemia is talking about what the world considers to be religion then I get what she is saying. The Pharisees considered themselves very religious, but they were in the wrong, because James 1 says pure religion is to keep oneself from being polluted by the world, and I don't think that's what they were doing, so they basically had the wrong type of religion.
 
Where is the Messiah said:
Amen sister. All of those scriptures are true. And humbling ourselves before God is religion, it's religion that is please to God. But yes all those offerings and fasting means nothing if our heart is not right. Right on Euphemia! Thanks for sharing those scriptures my sister in Christ :)
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Humbling oneself before holy God is not religion in any way.
 
PeaceLikeaRiver said:
Well, followers of Buddha are Buddhists. Buddhism is a religion.
Followers of Allah are Muslims. Islam is a religion.
Followers of Jesus Christ are Christians, so why wouldn't Christianity be a religion? What other word would you use?
Personally, I've never liked the idea of a "personal lord and savior Jesus Christ." Growing up, I learned that Jesus was for everyone, and this all sounds a bit too selfish: MY personal savior, ME, MINE, etc.
Just my opinion however.
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Well it's suppose to be a personal relationship. God is a jealous god. This is a good thing. :)
 
Definition of religion:a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of asuperhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotionaland ritual observances, and often containing a moral codegoverning the conduct of human affairs.

So you can call me relationship with Christ a religion, or you can not call it a religion. It doesn't change anything for me, so it's not that important.
 
PeaceLikeaRiver said:
Well, followers of Buddha are Buddhists. Buddhism is a religion.
Followers of Allah are Muslims. Islam is a religion.
Followers of Jesus Christ are Christians, so why wouldn't Christianity be a religion? What other word would you use?
Personally, I've never liked the idea of a "personal lord and savior Jesus Christ." Growing up, I learned that Jesus was for everyone, and this all sounds a bit too selfish: MY personal savior, ME, MINE, etc.
Just my opinion however.
Click to expand...

Christianity is not just another choice of so many world religions, the way you seem to put it. Christians are set apart from all of that, because we have a God who is alive and saves each of us PERSONALLY from sin and from the punishment that is set to come for sin and sinners. God has provided a way for us to have an intimate PERSONAL relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus. He is all about family, drawing us in and making us His children. We who know Him through relationship (and not religion) enjoy the benefits of being in His family and having Him as our Father. It isn't religion at all.
 
In defense of Euphemia, I googled "bible dictionary" and found this definition for religion:

Religion[N]
Due to the wide range of its usage, the English word "religion" (from Lat. religio) is not easily defined. Most commonly, however, it refers to ways in which humans relate to the divine (a presence [or plurality of such] or force [sometimes construed as plural] behind, beyond, or pervading sensible reality that conditions but is not conditioned by that reality). All such "ways" include a system of beliefs about the divine and how it is related to the world. Most also involve an attitude of awe toward the divine, and a pattern of actions (rituals and an ethical code). By extension, "religion" is often used to refer to systems of belief and related practices that play an analogous role in people's lives (e.g., Buddhism, Confucianism, and even humanism). The word is, thus, an abstract term adaptable to a great variety of referents.

Neither the Hebrew nor the Aramaic languages of the Old Testament have a word with a corresponding semantic field. For that reason, one does not find "religion" or "religious" in most English versions of these Scriptures. English translators of the New Testament do use these words at times to render various forms of three Greek terms: deisidaimonia [deisidaimoNIVa],threskeia [qrhskeiva], and eusebeia [eujsevbeia]. Yet all three words also fail to fully capture the import of the more abstract English "religion."

Both Old and New Testaments speak pervasively about matters "religious." Every word in these writings is in one way or another focused on the Creator-creature relationship. Every line revolves around that thematic center of gravity: how the Creator relates to his creation, especially humanity, and how humanity does and/or ought to relate to the Creator. In fact, every line of Scripture seeks to evoke from the reader right ways of relating to the Creator. In that sense, "religion" is pervasively the theme of Scripture.
 
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