Can You Call Yourself a Christian and Not Be Religious?

[phkrause]

I know this is not an issue in Adventism per say, but it is an issue in Christianity! What do you think?

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Gallerie..._term=yahoo.com

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Reminds me of the old "How to be a Christian Without Being Religious" book by Frtiz Ridenour that we all had to read in academy "way back when"...

[Gregory Matthews]

Yes, as some define religion one can be a Christian without being religious.

[OzarkWoman]

Religion is man-made and biblical. The "Church" that is spoken of is all people who believe and follow God and Jesus.

[JoeMo]

There is a difference between being religious and being spiritual. I agree with OW that religion is a man-made construct. It is one person's (or a group of people's) opinion of how they think God (or gods) and men should interact. But different people need different things. Some people revel in their freedom in Christ; and seek a personal relationship with their deity over a list of rules. I would call these people "spiritual". Some people need a list of rules and conventions to define their faith - I would call these people religious. There is nothing wrong with a group of like-minded people joining together for corporate worship. Where "religion" gets off track is when strategies for financial sustainability and conformity override strategies for getting closer to one's deity and spreading the gospel. For me at least, I am saved by my deity (Jesus Christ); and not by my religion (read "denomination"). It is more important to me for people to see Christ in me than for them to see Adventism in me. That being said, I actively particpate regularly with "Adventists" at two pastorless churches that present themselves as Sabbath-keeping non-denominational churches. I wouldn't give up either one for anything.

[fccool]

Both "religion" and "spiritual" are very vaguely-defined terms that can be applied to a wide array of things, and usually fall in context of your own relative understanding.

For some "religious" may carry negative context. For some, it may be very positive. Not all religious and spiritual experiences are equal enough to be thrown in the same bucket and dismissed.

Religion, in its purest form, is a re-linking with divine... so I don't really see how one can be a Christian without being religious in that context.

[debbym]

true religion is loving mercy, doing justice and walking humbly with your God.

doing justice has to do with protecting and helping those without, those who are suffering and disenfranchised in many ways.

In biblical history this group was the widows and the fatherless, because the construct of society had no provision for them. It was a patriarchal system and if you had no family patriarch to provide for you, you were left to perish.

loving mercy is being gracious and generous to those who are unworthy. We are all unworthy in ourselves of God's blessings, but he blesses generously because He is merciful, good, and kind to all.

walking with God is walking in peace and joy, and in humility and confidence in God's great goodness towards yourself.

this does not require church services, and hymns, and so forth, but if God is blessing in these ways you recognize it and support it.

[Tom Wetmore]

Justice and mercy are two sides of the same divine coin. God exercises justice and mercy together and seeks to set things right, correct all wrongs, repair all damage. You make a very important point that distinguishes divine justice and mercy from the human sense of those two virtues. Humanly we frame justice as punishing/destroying the wrongdoer and show mercy only to the victim. God's justice is to repair the damage done to the victim, restoring them. And His mercy is most profoundly directed to the wrongdoer to forgive them to restore them as well.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

His mercy is most profoundly directed to the wrongdoer to forgive them to restore them as well.

It is worth noting that God's greatest act of mercy is the giving of the gift of repentance to those who freely desire to walk different than their former behavior, and which without, the consequences of deliberate disloyalty to the Creator cannot be overruled and is not forgiven.

Where our heart remains determines our future. Remember Lot's wife.

God cares! Jesus saves!

[immanuel]

Religion as defined by the Bible:

Quote:

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.

James 1:27

Anyone can call themselves whatever they want. In light of the Biblical definition it would seem illogical to call yourself a non-religious Christian.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

Anyone can call themselves whatever they want. In light of the Biblical definition it would seem illogical to call yourself a non-religious Christian.

Perhaps that is the Biblical definition of the word "religion?"

However, we live in a society that has defined that word in another way. In this situation if we use the word "religion" in a manner that is not in accord with the definition that society has given it, no one will understand what we mean.

[debbym]

Quote:

In this situation if we use the word "religion" in a manner that is not in accord with the definition that society has given it, no one will understand what we mean.

exactly.

religion as it is practiced and understood today is usually about manipulation of your mood or your mental state, submission to religious authority, which can be very emotionally releasing, and sometimes your state of consciousness. the practice of religion has powerful cultural trappings, and it remains that we are indeed culturally blind to God.

candle lighting, mantras, dancing, music, chanting, marches, robes, repetition, ceremony at home or in groups, euphoria, fire, highly defined intellectual preciseness, perfectionism, control, the power of humanly enforced exaction,

when and if some arrangement of sacred practices, whatever you can humanly perform, is your relationship to God, then in today's vernacular you are practicing religion.

Jesus really upset the apple cart when his expression of His relationship to God resulted in Him going about doing good, and pouring love and mercy and power upon the oppressed, and those suffering from the power of sin and evil. this was whether it was death, disease, prejudice, abuse of authority, ignorance, poverty, and all kinds of misfortune that can be common to all.

three passions drove Christ's life, Love to His father, love to suffering humanity, and a great passion to glorify God's character or love, in all the splendor of it's wisdom, majesty, strength, honor, power, riches, and and glory.

God who created all things perfectly knows it's heights of potential, His ideals for humanity are exalted, and ennobling. and religion as we know it and practice of it apart from Jesus' way of life is basically self serving.

[Tom King]

Let's not buy into the anti-religion propaganda shall we?

A religion is a system of beliefs according to Webster and "usually based on a belief in a deity". According to the actual English usage as codified by a reliable dictionary, religion is not the pejorative many would have you believe. A religion is not necessarily a church with all its trappings. It can be argued that atheism, a very strict belief system is a religion.

How a person practices his or her religion, may be delightful to his or her fellow humans or obnoxious. If I am caring for the "widows and orphans" and trying my best to be "unstained by the world" some people may find me pleasant and a delight to live next door to. My neighbor with whom I have had many lovely chats about religion (he's a Christian Scientist) once said we were the nicest Christian people he'd ever known. It's what we were going for by adhering to the Golden Rule as best we could. His reaction to us was a direct result of us being "religious".

If by "religious", you mean self-righteous and obnoxious, the problem dear friend is that you misunderstand the definition of "religious". Religious merely means true to your belief system. If you are an obnoxious Jehovah's Witness, Primitive Baptist, Adventist or Atheist, you are nonetheless practicing your religious beliefs, even though, especially in the case of Adventists, you may be at variance with the teaching of the church. I don't recall "Thou shalt be self-righteous and obnoxious" as being one of the 27 Fundamental Beliefs.

Being a "Christian" which is a set of beliefs and being "religious" which is adherence to a set of beliefs, while not exactly the same thing are intertwined. You can believe in the Christian belief system without practicing those beliefs. I think the prophecy that this age's church would be lukewarm referred directly to this trend of "believing" without putting a lot of effort into practicing your beliefs.

I am religious. I am unashamed to be so. If I practice my beliefs as Christ did, not everyone will like me. Jesus told us this would be true. He said, "“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matt. 5:11).

If they hated and persecuted Jesus simply for being who he was, what makes us think that if we quit being "religious" that we will escape criticism or worse by evil people. The question is not whether we can avoid being "religious" and still maintain our Christianity. It's actually whether we are avoiding being Christian by not being religious. I don't think you can separate the two.

If we accept our enemy's attempts to redefine the idea of being "religious" to mean some kind of bad behavior, then we accept the idea that Christian behavior should be hidden from the world because it offends them.

When I was a kid, I endured a lot of bullying. That's what this redefinition of what it means to be religious is all about. It's an effort to make anyone, who disagrees with how the world's dominant set of "religious beliefs" behaves, to sit down and shut up.

The Bible says that if we are silent, the very rocks will cry out. If we hide our light, our light will go out and we too will be left in darkness. It's perfectly okay, even noble to be "religious". It simply takes some courage and Jesus even promises to supply that along with the grace to do it as he did it. But even "gentle Jesus meek and mild" was hated so much that the "religious" leaders plotted to kill him. There's "religious" and there's "religious". How religion is practiced is based on the person's underlying belief system and there may be beliefs in that system that aren't spelled out in the catechism or the 27 fundamental beliefs.

So can you call yourself a Christian and not be religious. Sure. You can call yourself a rutabaga and never go into the soup, but what's the point. There will apparently be a lot of guys like that at the judgement. The trouble for them is that God does not know any of them. I think I prefer to be recognizable as a Christian. What do you think?

The Journal of Hairy Chested Adventism

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

three passions drove Christ's life, Love to His father, love to suffering humanity, and a great passion to glorify God's character or love, in all the splendor of it's wisdom, majesty, strength, honor, power, riches, and and glory.

God who created all things perfectly knows it's heights of potential, His ideals for humanity are exalted, and ennobling. and religion as we know it and practice of it apart from Jesus' way of life is basically self serving.

Wonderful to consider, and where I fit into the underlined and sense condemnation from whatever source, the promise below tells me where that condemnation is coming from, whether or not it is just from my own mind being manipulated by the enemy of souls, or one of his slaves in their effort to put me in my place, according to their opinion of where my place should be.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

God cares! Jesus saves!

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

How religion is practiced is based on the person's (core)underlying belief system and there may be beliefs in that system that aren't spelled out in the catechism or the 27 fundamental beliefs.

parenthesis mine LHC

Quote:

So can you call yourself a Christian and not be religious. Sure. You can call yourself a rutabaga and never go into the soup, but what's the point. There will apparently be a lot of guys like that at the judgement. The trouble for them is that God does not know any of them. I think I prefer to be recognizable as a Christian. What do you think?

Wish I'd have said all that. [#688154]

Soon all will know whose side they have been on.

"Jesus replied, Are you saying this of yourself [on your own initiative], or have others told you about Me?

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your [own] people and nation and their chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom (kingship, royal power) belongs not to this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My followers would have been fighting to keep Me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, My kingdom is not from here (this world); [it has no such origin or source]." John 18:34-36 AMP parenthesis brackets theirs' LHC

Welcome aboard, Tom. Your geographic location puts you in a similar location where a number of years of my own experience was spent. God bless your input here, and I wish the same for all who post on CA who still see themselves as flawed seekers, for the glory of the King of kings.

God saves! Jesus saves!

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

. . . religion is not the pejorative many would have you believe. . .

Correct.

While people may use it in that manner, that is NOT the common meaning attached to that word. That is not the meaning attached to it by sociologists. It is not the meaning attached to it by those who study that subject field.

Under the standard meanings attached to it one may be religious and not a Christian and one may be spiritual but not religious.

[Naomi]

Excellent

Welcome to C/A, looking forward to reading more of your comments.