MARKDALE BAPTIST CHURCH
  • Home
  • Jesus?
    • Tell Me More >
      • Who is Jesus?
      • What is Christianity All About?
      • The Sinner's Prayer
      • FAQ
  • About
    • Baptism and Membership
    • Beliefs
    • Donate
    • History
    • Missions
    • Photos
    • Programs >
      • Life Group Questions
    • Virtual Tour
  • Announcements
  • Worship
    • Service >
      • What to Expect
      • LIVE Stream
      • Phone In
    • Sermons >
      • Coming Sermons
      • Past Sermons
      • Past 5MMs
  • Who's Who
    • Leaders
    • Our Pastor
    • Pastor's BLOG >
      • Drippings from the Honeycomb
      • Memory Verse Songs
  • Contact Us

Drippings from the Honeycomb

Religious?

11/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Many people today would not identify as “religious” but rather “spiritual.” Part of this is a reaction against the nominalism and abuses of organised religion. Part of this is also due to the anti-authority climate of the day, which rejects what Divine religion may require, favouring instead the subjective notion of being “spiritual” as one personally chooses to define it. Picking up on this language shift, either consciously or unconsciously, many Christians will often respond to an unbeliever’s comment, “I’m not religious,” with a “Neither I’m I, it’s not about religion but a relationship,” or “I’m not religious, I’m a person of faith.” Now neither of those two responses, and others like them, are in themselves wrong— I’ve used them myself. However, is religion an altogether unhelpful word?

Religion means: a) of reverence to the Divine, or b) a set of beliefs, or C) to be devoted and zealous.
Not that this alone sanitizes it, but it is a word we find used in the Bible:

Negatively of man-made religion (Acts 25:19, 26:5; Col 2:23) or of mis-guided religion (Acts 17:22).

More positively, though in a form of a warning, we find it used in James 1:26–27:

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (emphasis mine).

Here James is not saying religion is bad, rather he is contrasting a worthless and a worthwhile form of religion, or true religion and false religion.

Historically, to say one was religious was synonymous with saying someone was a Christian. To be non-religious or of another religion was to embrace false religion (just as being “spiritual” does not necessarily mean the “spirituality” one has embraced is positive).

Though “religion” is an unpopular word, I do not think it has lost its value, if clarified. Christianity is a religion, it is a set of beliefs (divine revelation). Christianity is a religion, it is reverence and devotion to the true God. Religion is truth and anything other than the truth is a false religion. Certainly a relationship is central to the Christian religion, without it all that is left is a dead religion, however, it is still a religion and something to be proud of if asked to declare your religion—CHRISTIAN!

So the next time someone derides what is actually a helpful idea, you might reply (either within the church or in apologetics and evangelism without) with one of the following responses. Person A, “I’m not religious.” Person B, “Why not?”, or “What does religion mean to you?”, etc.

Something to think about.

The Lord’s Sweetest Blessings,
Chris
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Chris Crocker

    Pastor, historian and beekeeper.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All
    Acedia
    Age
    Apologetics
    Apostacy
    Bible
    Book Recommendation
    Christmas
    Christ's Return
    Church
    Church Life
    Communication
    Communion
    Contemporary
    Conversation Starter
    Conversion
    Covid
    Culture
    Definitions
    Devotional
    Dilemmas
    Discernment
    Discipleship
    Doctrine
    Doubt
    Error
    Eschatology
    Evangelism
    Faith
    False Christianity
    False Teachers
    Fasting
    Fear
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Gender
    Giving
    Gospel
    Government
    Hard Passages
    Heresy
    History
    Holidays
    Job
    Leadership
    Liberalism
    Licentiousness
    Local Church
    Marriage
    Ministry
    Mission
    Moral Failure
    New Covenant
    News
    Nominalism
    Observation
    Orthodoxy
    Other Sermons
    Personal
    Politics
    Prayer
    Preaching
    Public Holidays
    Real Christianity
    Recommended
    Reflection
    Salvation
    Sanctification
    Sexuality
    Sin
    Smallness
    Spiritual Disciplines
    Spiritual Warfare
    Standing Firm
    Stewardship
    Submission
    The Lord's Day
    Theology 101
    Tithing
    Truth
    Worship

    RSS Feed

    Click the RRS feed above to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts. 

Location

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Picture

Sunday Service Times
Morning @ 10:00 a.m.
Evening @ 6:00 p.m.
​
Contact Us

P- 519-986-4372
E- markdalebaptistchurch
@hotmail.com


dONATE
  • Home
  • Jesus?
    • Tell Me More >
      • Who is Jesus?
      • What is Christianity All About?
      • The Sinner's Prayer
      • FAQ
  • About
    • Baptism and Membership
    • Beliefs
    • Donate
    • History
    • Missions
    • Photos
    • Programs >
      • Life Group Questions
    • Virtual Tour
  • Announcements
  • Worship
    • Service >
      • What to Expect
      • LIVE Stream
      • Phone In
    • Sermons >
      • Coming Sermons
      • Past Sermons
      • Past 5MMs
  • Who's Who
    • Leaders
    • Our Pastor
    • Pastor's BLOG >
      • Drippings from the Honeycomb
      • Memory Verse Songs
  • Contact Us