Yes, God hates religion…
I will give you Biblical support for that statement in a moment.
Someone may be thinking “I thought God invented religion!” Sorry, but God invented Man and Man invented religion.
Humankind is by our very nature, (designed so by our Creator) drawn to relationships. Relationships that range from familial, to friendships, to marital as well as communal. These relationships that we don’t even think about give us insight into what God intended for us. From the time we are born we learn that the family relationship provides security and safety and unconditional love. (That is why we call God the “Father”). A healthy family creates a relationship of trust, security and encouragement. As we grow older we learn the value of a loyal friend that we can trust with our cares and stand beside us when we need help. (Jesus is referred to as the “friend that sticks closer than a brother”.) As we mature and attract a mate, we learn how marvelous the intimate relationship between a man and woman becomes, and how to depend upon and serve each other to the point of becoming “one flesh”, as the Bible states it, not only physically but emotionally and spiritually. That relationship of marriage is the pinnacle of relationship theology. This is why Jesus is called the “Bridegroom” and the “Church” (don’t get ahead of me, just keep reading!), which is the entire congregation or number of believers, is called the “Bride of Christ”.
Now, we all know that not all of our relationships always work out this nicely. I would venture to say that those relationships not working out is not because God had anything to do with them, but more than likely because we kept Him out and did what we wanted to do. In other words, the reason the relationship failed is one or both parties put self interest ahead of the other. Self. God had nothing to do with the failure of those relationships. Can a broken relationship be restored? Sure! It happens all the time, but not until those interested persons are willing to put someone else ahead of themselves. This humility of spirit, seeking and offering forgiveness and restoration is absolutely necessary for a reconciled relationship.
God created Man for the express purpose of mutual relationship with him, but gave Man the power of choice and free will. Man chose to break that relationship and has been trying to find his own way by inventing religions and cults of all kinds in an effort to replace that void left by lack of relationship with his Creator.
But relationship with God cannot be found through religion. In fact, religion is the biggest roadblock to seeking a relationship with God. Religion is simply Man trying to reach out to God by doing something that he thinks will please God. “If I can do enough, say enough, pray enough, give enough, sacrifice enough perhaps God will show me favor”. Every religion is based upon this “works theology”. Neither ceremony, liturgy, creeds, sacraments nor money have ever brought one soul into a reconciled relationship to God. Abstaining from drugs, alcohol, tobacco, illicit sex and the places that provide them is a healthy thing to do but cannot of itself restore a broken relationship with God. Giving up a favorite food or drink, reciting ‘program prayers’ or self mutilation does nothing to convince or satisfy God.
“But my denomination teaches…” Do you really believe that God favors your denomination over others? Quite the contrary, if your denomination professes to be “the only true way”, I can pretty well guarantee that it isn’t! Do you think that God’s intention was to have eleventy-five different denominations of His Church? They can’t all be right, and more than likely they’re all wrong.
Now, I realize that thus far I have been speaking in terms of Christianity. But the cults such as Islam easily fall precisely under the premise of “God hates Religion”; after all, I observe no one more committed to their religion than an Islamic Fundamentalist. Although the Muslim serves a different god (Allah is not the God of the Bible), he too is seeking to appease his god by doing. That is “works based theology” no matter how you slice it.
So you may be wondering where in the Bible it says that God hates religion. Starting in the Old Testament I will show you several references and then finish off with what Jesus Christ Himself said concerning religion.
Isaiah 1:13-14 states, “Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies…it is iniquity…Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.”
David prays to God in Psalm 40:6, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;…Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.”
Amos 5:21 says, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell (the odors of their sacrifices) in your solemn assemblies.”
Micah 6:6-8 includes; “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”
And there it is: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10.
You see, the Israelites (Jews) of the Old Testament had forgotten the relationship with God and became dependent upon the religious system of works and sacrifice and offerings expecting spiritual redemption or to appease God. But in these passages we see God Himself saying, “I don’t care how you shake and dance, I’m not interested in your religious activities, I want your heart.” In fact that is exactly what He expresses here in Isaiah 29:13, “Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me…”(Jesus quoted this passage in Matt. 15:8-9 adding “…in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”)
Imagine a pyramid which represents religion. The base is guilt, upon which is laid fear. Religion uses guilt and fear to incite works to appease which when applied results in pride.
Pride is the capstone of religion. But as in any pyramid scheme, only a few get to the top; everyone else is trying to work off their guilt and fear. It is a bondage that Jesus confronted with a tongue lashing directed at the religious leaders of the day; the Pharisee’s of Judaism. They sought to entrap and discredit Him and asked Jesus, (paraphrasing) “Why are your disciples disregarding our traditions…” Jesus answered, “Why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?…You hypocrites!”(Matt 15:1-9)
Jesus really lets them have it in Matthew 23. Talking first to the people He said (paraphrasing), “The scribes and Pharisees sit in high seats and bind heavy burdens upon you that they themselves won’t even lift a finger to bear! They make themselves look pious before men so everyone will recognize their positions.” Then turning on the religious leaders He calls them hypocrites, fools and blind, tombs full of dead men’s bones. “Every time you open your mouth death comes out!” He called them snakes headed for the damnation of hell! These were the religious leaders!
Jesus said “Come unto me… and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) Religion can’t save you; only relationship and that comes through humility and repentance. Christ says in John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be 
saved…” Guilt is the natural state of Mankind. We are all guilty before God. This leads to fear of all kinds. Fear of being found out. Fear of failure. Fear of change. Fear of the opinion of others. But doing something good (works) will notchange the fact you are guilty. The only cure is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ who took upon Himself my guilt and fear. I am no longer guilty and can act fearlessly and rest secure that I have a relationship with God, which then enables me to “work”, that being striving to do things that honor my relationship with Him.
The works are not to gain God’s blessing in my life; but to reflect God’s blessing in my life. “We don’t do to be, we do because we are.”
The relationship with God through Jesus Christ is more perfect and full than any earthly relationships we can forge because God is perfect. Other people are not. And even though we can have wonderful relationships with one another, these pale in comparison to a relationship with Him.
As with everything in Creation, the physical (material) is a manifestation of the spiritual. The human relationship of family teaches us of the security we have in Him as the perfect Father. The friendship we experience of our most loyal friend on earth is still imperfect compared to the Friend we have in Jesus. The picture of marriage shows us the intimacy and devotion that He has for us when believers are referred to as the Bride of Christ. If you read the Song of Solomon with the King as Christ and the bride as the “Church” you will see how this works. Better yet, if you have a great marriage, you have experienced the wonderful earthly manifestation of this relationship.
But as humans, we are flawed creatures, and still struggle within these relationships on the human level. The relationship with God puts Him as the guardian of the relationship and Jesus promised “I will never leave you or forsake you.” And if your relationship with God is good, you will realize that your relationships with other people are much better. That is, indeed, the abundant life that Jesus promises.
It is impossible to work your way into a relationship with God. You must be born into it. The second birth. The spiritual birth. Religion is not the answer. Religion is the problem.
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I agree fully with your explanation of religion instead of being in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Steve McVey, a nondenominational teacher, explains it simply as the difference between having a map to go by in order to get to your destination (religion/works/following the map carefully in order to “get there”) versus having Jesus to go with you to your destination (living your life in relationship to Christ Jesus, your Guide). There is a big difference between those two!
Just wondered why not CHARITY instead of WORKS being the enabling influence of the relationship with Christ?
An interesting presentation that draws on scriptural support. The meaning of Religion that I garnered from the presentation is: man’s efforts to fill voids that are the result of disobeying God. Is there any scripture that supports religion as man’s invention? The Apostle James describes the kind of religion that pleases God and qualifies it as “pure”. In this regard, should we distinguish between pure and impure religion or true versus false? What does the scripture say about the origin of religion? I am searching for an answer!
This may be the most challenging and thought provoking question on this entire board! 4leaf, I congratulate you.
I think the answer must be found in Genesis, but will not be “glaring”, but subtle. We know that man’s sin resulted in ejection from the Garden. This must be the nexus for religion; a quest for the Garden. Or perhaps, attempting to appease God’s Judgement, which was the curse He placed on the Earth as a result of Man’s disobedience. This, we know as the consequence of Man’s sin, which caused the ultimate consequence of “death”. Not simply, the death of Man, both physically and spiritually, but the death of innocence; the death of the sacrificial lamb that God slew before this sinful couple in order to cover them; the death that creature did not deserve, and Man saw first hand the consequence of his disobedience. The Judgement was heavy; the impact on Man was stunning that this innocent lamb died to cover their own nakedness. The guilt of that event instilled fear of God and Man set about trying to allay God’s Judgement in that very next generation: Able imitated God’s sacrifice by offering a living animal from his own flock; a blood sacrifice which necessitated the giving up of God’s most precious gift of Life itself. Cain gathered the fruit of his own labor, which cost him some sweat and perhaps loss of a meal, but he did not have to let any blood, and watch the life ebb from a live creation that breathed the breath of life.
This action of Cain was not accepted by God because Cain failed to humble himself in his own pride, offering that which would rot (corrupt-Matt 6:19)in a very short time. This I would contend is the source of the difference between religion and relationship. Cain’s religious activity was to appease; Able’s was b/c he had a heart for God, a relationship with Him. These two attitudes were not born out of these actions, but existed long before the actions were manifest.
You have prompted me examine this closer, and I shall! Thank you!
“Why not ‘charity’ instead of ‘works’?”
Another great question. While “charity” is indeed a “work”, there are other “works” which may not include “charity”. We understand Paul’s dissertation in I Corinthians 13 that charity connotates “love”, while “work” doesn’t necessarily do that. Many works done out of “appeasement” or even peer recognition, instead of “love” for God.
If there’s any further clarification as to the same after your first response. ingrafted, I would be much obliged. Thanks.
The origin of the church was in fact man made. It was started by the Apostles (aka mankind). So let me ask you this. If God hates religion, then is it a sin to be part of one? Religion is the main starter for a war. If you take a look at history, conflict over religion has killed thousands upon thousands of people. Do you believe God wanted that? I believe it is okay to not be apart of a religion but to just fallow the WORD of God. There is not rituals made by man, only the love that God offers and the love you are willing to give in return.
Freedom,
The 20th Century was by far the bloodiest century in human history. Indeed, atheism in the form of Communism/Socialism killed more people in the 20th Century than all the “religious” wars combined. Not just thousands, but scores of millions. There is one particular religion that does practice war as an ongoing tenet; that being Islam. It has it’s basis in the directives of the Quran. Christianity on the other hand, has no such directives. Jesus The Christ never exhorted His followers to use the sword in His cause; indeed to the contrary, He reprimanded Peter when he attempted to defend Jesus in the Garden. If you are referring to the Crusades, those were not based in any teachings of Christ, but in fact were begun in the name of the Roman Church by the Pope Urban in 1095AD. Muhammad instituted Jihad in 623AD. There were less than 20 offensive battles fought by the Crusaders. Jihad’s offensive has continued for over 1400 years and many hundreds of battles. Yet, still Communism/Nazism slaughtered more people.
It is written in the book of Revelation Chapter 10 Verse 12 “Behold I come Quickly and my reward is me, to render to each man according as his work is” in other version “Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. WORK simply means OUR COMPLIANCE TO THE COMMANDMENTS OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. The religion or religious organization that complies to the biblical commandments is the true religion.
Ephraim,
The problem is that no one ever has, nor can we comply to the Commandments of God, try as we might! If that were so, then Jesus died for naught! The relationship through Him is the “work” that saves.
“Is there any scripture that supports religion as man’s invention?”
The bible is the word of God, written through man.
God spoke to man, and man recorded it.
The comment above you mentioned a difference between a map and a guide. The bible is a map. God is the guide.
In order to support a theory, you need a premise. You cannot prove a negative premise. A better question would be, “Is there any scripture that supports religion as God’s invention?”
A scripture referencing proof is not necessary.
Religion is Man’s invention until proven otherwise. The burden of proof lies with the claimant. I hope that clears it up for you 🙂
In Genesis, the Tower of Babel: In the beginning, there was only one language. Because of this, they started to become too organized and ignored God’s plan. Eventually, God knew that if this happened, they would no longer listen to him. So he c
onfused the language of the people and scatteed them throughout. This is parallel with organized religion. Organized religion makes their church a priority and not Jesus.
No ,i don’t agree. I consider all religions to be totally fraud activity n nothong but making fool of people through psychological brain washing .
You mean like government run public education?
I agree,
Because im 39 and cant fig out
I’m trying to learn these things and I’m trying to understand what you are saying. what are some examples of things that people do that are ‘following a map’ rather than using God as a guide? Also, can you give examples of how God wants us to use him as a guide? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.
God hates religion. Amen !
http://www.mosquitonet.com/~prewett/
i fully doubted religion since my mind goes matured. i am thinking why they compete,stating they are true.,,????omg! am i right that religion is business?
Business is subsequent to what is central to all organized religion which is POWER. Power over those who choose to follow make the ability to legislate behavior possible which includes the collection of financial resources which you call business. If you’d like to see the power of relligion in action just turn in to the PTL TV network. Or look into the history of the RCC and see how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Religion is unnecessary to be a Christian. Faith in Jesus Christ is all that’s needed to be a Christian. Praise the Lord!!!
Religion is business, especially Christianity. Most preachers begging for money through tithing. Does God need money to bless us? Most Pastors preach that, making their congregation feel guilty of cheating God by not tithing.
I do not disagree completely, but…
I wonder Try, how often you have attended church, and if you have tried more than one or two denominations.
I agree that religion is business, but it’s more about power. Christianity on the other hand, true Biblical Christianity is neither about money or power, but about a relationship with the one true God, who is manifest in Jesus Christ. A quick perusal of the New Testament will reveal that to anyone interested, and will also reveal that Jesus Christ spoke against those who would bind people with religion and guilt, coercing money from them.
I know several churches who do not take an offering by passing the plate. The tithe box is set at the door and you can drop something in it if you want. If not, God bless you anyway. These preachers do not spend much time at all speaking about, let alone “begging for” money.
Giving money is no more important than giving of your time and talent. But it is none the less important, not only so that the local church can operate it’s various ministries, but the self discipline of regular consistent giving (tithing) is an expression of worship as well. No God does not need your money, but a proper attitude towards God will result in giving. And there are many places and ways to do that in addition to your local church, but the pattern laid out in scripture is to “bring the tithe into the storehouse”. The local church first, then be blessed by giving to other needs. After all, “God loves a cheerful giver”!
I wouldn’t put Works at the top. Works do sometimes follow, but if you are in a relationship with God, by this logic, you are not obligated towards works. The top is then Love, with works as a side-effect. A person in a relationship with God is able to love others and connect with them, and is able to love God. They do works as a consequence of their love of God, not for their own sake hoping to please.
Actually Sam, the point of the article is that the works actually are a product of the relationship (love) with God, not that you are obligated to perform works to please Him. Perhaps that is what you mean by “works are a side effect”.
Thanks for visiting and for your comment.
of which you are created for good works
You will be judged by your works, BRINGING MAN TO “GOD” spreading his word and for “GOD” to be praised. GOD wants us all to be saved. Keep an open heart to “GOD” and praise his HOLY NAME FOREVER. AMEN!
This is utter nonsense, “you shallow man”. (James 2:20)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Joh 14:15)
“Do this, and you will live.” (Luk 10:28)
8 For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, `Go,’ and he goes; and to another, `Come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, `Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Luk 7:8-9)
“Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luk 22:19)
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. (Jam 2:21-26)
The works is evidence of our salvation, not the cause.
Yes!!!!!
You have the wrong interpretation of scripture there. Are you using a Bible or Catholic Bible for the scripture?
The Christian Bible makes it very clear that salvation is through faith alone, not by works so no-one can boast, but that works will be seen as a nature response of the faith we have in Christ. Those who have less faith in Christ tuned to be very different people in the way they live their lives, and the challenges, situations and things that they will happy do for Christ; those with less faith, or who are not born again Christians will not step out in faith in this same way, as because they do not have the same knowledge of and therefore faith in Jesus, they live their lives more for themselves than for Jesus, and do what they want to do, instead of what God’s will is. The Bible says that we will know a tree by its fruit. So,done who has great faith in God will bear considerably more fruit than someone with very little faith. There will be a correlation between faith and the amount of fruit produced, and works a person does. The Bible says faith without deeds is dead; in others words our deeds show that our faith is genuine.
Yes, doing good things is important. The Bible speaks about love and loving God; and it says that those who love God will obey his commands. So yes, following God’s commands written in the Bible are important; but they are a result of the deepening relationship with God. We do them because it shows that we love and respect Him, not because doing good things means we will go to Heaven. If we did not decide to do what God tells us is right, and decide that we wanted to avoid those things which He says are wrong, then we would be saying to God we don’t care, and knocking His knowledge or right and wrong; God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our, just as Heaven is higher than Earth. God knows best, and so we out of respect and love should listens Him and do what He says. Ultimately, without Him we would all be heading to Hell. He is all powerful, all knowing, and all present and beyond our comprehension. He existed before time and always has been. We are nothing compared to Him, He knows what He’s doing and what is best for us, and we should decide to comply with that, not fight it.
Salvation is through faith alone, not by works, so no-one can boast.
For anyone to say that you can get to heaven by doing good things, but without a faith-filled relationship with Jesus; is wrong, and not biblical.
It is our faith in Jesus paying the punishment of our sins that gets us to heaven and enables us to stand until the end and so be saved. Those with a weak faith will not make it, the world’s pressures will eroded and destroy their faith. It is I nly those who are strong in faith and Holy Spirit-led, who will listen to God and follows His guiding who will stand firm to the end.
Good, except the “strongest survive” crap near the end. That’s Darwinism.
Well should get away entirely from the “God will choose us if” mentality. Even with regard to a faith-relationship. Our concern should not be trying to seek entrance into Heaven. If we are at peace with ourselves (not prideful, but…) in love with God, and living according not to please but to seek out one’s purpose.
this i very true…..
You’re right to highlight the relevance of works, which has been rightly pointed out to be as a result of a relationship with God (love) (see 1John 4:7).
I’ve come to understand ‘Christianity’ (being like Christ) as a lifestyle and the religion being ‘love’, as was Jesus’ summary of the commandments. It’s what being Christian is all about.
‘Faith’ is a product of love. It is simply trusting God’s love for you (regardless of the context/situation); 1Jn 4:18. Same way ‘works’ is a product of love (1Jn 5:1-2), because love drives you to ‘act’ in order to please your loved ones.
God doesn’t like poo pushers, disgusting behavior unnatural, against normal family life, destructive without remorse trying to test God as to how far they will go before he destroys them.
On Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 2:58 AM, Defining the Narrative wrote:
> Superman commented: “You’re right to highlight the relevance of works, > which has been rightly pointed out to be as a result of a relationship with > God (love) (see 1John 4:7). I’ve come to understand ‘Christianity’ (being > like Christ) as a lifestyle and the religion being ‘” >
I could be wrong but I think that by ‘work’ the scriptures refer to the motivation that drives us to do or not do. If you do works out of a sense of obligation, as a requisite well anybody can do that. I don’t want to but I have to kind of deal. If anything we do is lacking love it’s meaningless. Thus if our ‘works’ are motivated by love, love for our fellow man, great or small, the Lord will reward us after the fact that’s our salvation through his sacrifice. People give me this look as if I’m crazy when I tell them to free themselves of religion. Try my best to live doing the least harm, conscious or otherwise, to those around me. Instead I try to be helpful as much as possible. We have to give as we have received: freely and expecting for nothing in return.
Were the INQUISITIONS a “good” work ? [ps: I don’t think so]
Actually, they were for the vastly greater part, good.
The inquisitor would come and declare a general amnesty, and anybody who had held opinions contrary to the faith would be forgiven. He’d give a series of missions to illustrate the faith over against the heresy that was presented (some of which were _horrible_ deformations of Christianity, such as a return to polygamy, or the revilement of the body and suicide, killing children by drowning, etc), and those who confessed and sought absolution during the process (which was basically a trial) were also forgiven and let go.
The excesses in the inquisition were committed by the state in zeal – remember that people who rejected the local religion were _also_ rejecting the local law: in the historical period of the inquisition, there wasn’t the sort of separation we see today. The Church was a _moderating_ influence of the violence of the local government in most cases.
I’m not saying there is no fault here, but I am saying to look at them like you look at them ignores the historical reality.
But then, let me ask you:
Were not the crusades a “good” work? Or would you rather be praying 5 times a day to Allah? ‘Cause that was the alternative, there was no third option. Islam made it to the gates of Rome and the Eastern empire had collapsed, and Islam took all of Spain before we (well, Germanic Catholics) fought them back to more or less where they are today, precisely because of the notion of defending ‘Christendom’.
How about defending the Babarian invasion in an organized way? Would you have preferred to be wearing the skins of your enemies and trundling back and forth to China or Sweden when you got tired of raping and pillaging, or just being raped or pillaged every spring if you lived by a waterway? Us.
You notice how there hasn’t been much piracy? Piracy was a Muslim phenomenon of razzia on the waterways – and the Spanish Armada pretty much wiped them out.
How about universities? Were creating those good works? That was all us, baby.
Do you like Greek philosophy? We saved it for you, despite not believing in it (except Aristotle, who was almost Catholic before there were Catholics, by having looked honestly at the God’s revelation of Himself through the world – and I think certainly would have been Catholic had Jesus been born yet).
How about hospitals in general, or free clinics? Also us.
Or the rule of law, the idea of inalienable rights, innocence until proven guilty, procedural law, law in equity, notions of limited government? Even Kings had to submit to natural and divine law. Us.
Do you like to eat? Modern agriculture and animal husbandry, all from monks, which lead to the rapid growth of population(people could eat so they weren’t dying off as much) in the 14th C, which lead to the soi-disant “enlightenment”.
You like genetics, first studied by _Brother_ Gregor Mendel?
How about most western art? You like that? We commissioned it,bought it for you, and kept it hanging around for you, because it was beautiful.
Charity. Do you like any organized charities? Us. (St. Vincent de Paul, specifically)
And, the Bible. Are you familiar with it? Yeah – it was our book, we wrote it, for our purposes, so the Church who wrote it gets to interpret it – and not individuals, because individual people, being ignorant of history, nuance, and being darkened by sin, will _almost always_ get things wrong, leading to graver evil. Even look at the _incredibly_ degenerate translations today – the KJV with it’s over (by some counts) 120,000 errors in translation against any of the source material. Or the ones that don’t even count as Bibles anymore, like the one the 7th Day Adventists use…it’s all nonsense. Well, anyway – we kept the truths of the Bible alive, and we interpret the Bible properly, in the light of the Holy Spirit and the guarantee, given by Jesus, that “the gates of hell shall not overcome” the Church founded on Peter, the rock, and his successors.
Wow! So the Catholics wrote the Bible? I did not know that Moses, David, Solomon, and the apostles were Catholic! Individuals will get things wrong??? I believe it was the Catholic Church (made up of individuals) who take credit for doing away with the Sabbath, set apart as holy clear back in the 2nd Chapter of Genesis before the “law” was ever given, not to mention death edicts for those who kept sabbath or the feasts of the Lord. Paul said the Bereans searched the scriptures to see if what they were being told was true. (They only had the Tanach at that time.) So, it seems to me he is telling us that we ourselves can determine if what the apostles wrote and taught (or anyone after that) were teaching truth. By implication, Paul is saying that the teachings of the apostles (the NT) if properly understood, do not contradict the O.T. Quite frankly, most of Catholic and a large portion of Protestant doctrine contradict both the Old and New Testament.
My response is similarly as batTorah said really.
You said
“And, the Bible. Are you familiar with it? Yeah – it was our book, we wrote it, for our purposes, so the Church who wrote it gets to interpret it – and not individuals,”
I am not familiar with the Catholic Bible (in which I am assuming you’re referring to in particular), but with the Protestant Bible, it is not like that at all.
* God wrote the Bible for HIS purposes
* The Church DIDN’T write it, but the Holy Spirit (that is God) did.
*In terms of who ‘gets to interpret it’; God gives His Holy Spirit to those who choose to acknowledge that they are sinners, and believe that Jesus has already paid the punishment for their sins in full; and it is the Holy Spirit spirit living inside a born again believer who interprets the scripture for us, teaching us and helping us to understand His word (among other things). [if you are following man to know what the Bible is saying / meaning, then you are looking not to heaven but to earth for your answers. And a way that seems right to man leads to death.
God gave us the Bible so ALL could benefit from it and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, not so that only you could, as a group of Catholics, to keep it for yourselves. The Bible speaks about sharing God’s word with ALL nations in the Great Commission; not just Catholics. ALL have the ‘ability’ to interpret the Bible if they are Holy Spirit filled and are willing to listen to be guided by the Him.
We listen to God not man.
If you listen to man and not God, then you are not going to be guided the right way.
The Pope recently said that it is dangerous to have a relationship with Jesus…and that is completely UNbiblical. Also he said that Jesus is just a man; and that atheists are going to go to heaven. ALL
UNbiblical.
Firstly, if atheists are going to go to heaven, then what is the point of us having faith or being a catholic or Protestant in the first place?
Secondly, moreover, what then would the point of Jesus dying for our sins, if all will go to heaven anyway?
Thirdly, Jesus is not just a man, and wasn’t, when He was living on the earth, just a man. The Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glorify God. Therefore, if as the Pope said, Jesus is just a man, then He too was sin filled, and certainly therefore would not have been able to bear our sins as the Lamb of God, a pure sacrifice. The Bible says that there was no sin in Him [Jesus]. However, Jesus is sinless and pure and sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and I know that He would not be there now, if He had sinned, became He too would have also therefore fallen short of the glory of God, and wouldn’t therefore be able to enter heaven himself, never mind sit as an equal at the right hand of God.
The Pope declaring Jesus to be a just a man:
The Pope declaring that is it dangerous to have a relationship with Jesus:
I THINK YOU SHOULD WATCH THIS TOO, AS IF YOU UNDERSTAND LATIN OR CAN READ LATIN (IT IS IN ENGLISH SUBTITLES TOO), IT HAS MAJOR CONSEQUENCES…IT IS OBVIOUSLY UP TO YOU WHAT YOU DO, BUT WHEN YOU SEE WHAT WAS ANNOUNCED AT THE EASTER VIGIL, THEM YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHOICE, AND CONSIDER WHETHER YOU SHOULD CONTINUE DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I WOULD NOT LIKE TO BE IN YOUR SHOES, WITH THE POPE ALLOWING THAT TO BE ANNOUNCED IN HIS CHURCH, AND THEN EVERYONE SAID “AMEN” IN AGREEMENT (and the disturbing thing Is they most will not even know what they have just agree with / to. http://youtu.be/dcpVrtv2t-M
And then you said:
“because individual people, being ignorant of history, nuance, and being darkened by sin, will _almost always_ get things wrong, leading to graver evil.”
Are you saying that Catholics are not darkened by sin, and that Protestants are, and so Protestants cannot interpret the Bible properly?
The point of the Book of James is that works are the evidence of faith. The point of this article is not contradictory.
You quoted verse 20 of James but if you go back to verse 18 you get the context of 20. Paraphrasing, “my faith is not visible to you apart from my lifestyle (works).” However, we are saved by faith and not by works (Titus 3:5 and Eph. 2:8-9) “lest any man should boast.” Luke 10:28 follows 27 which says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God…” Again the root of the action is the faith. You don’t see the root of the tree but the root feeds the limbs which produce the fruit.
John 14:15 makes my point. The doing of the commandments manifests the faith of a believer. The doing does not make the believer.
The relationship must be tenured in order for the works to be legitimate. Colossians 2:6 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”. The receiving comes before the walking. The walking is your lifestyle.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:22, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
The religious action without the relationship with Christ condemns the soul. The works without the relationship is just religion.
And this is “shallow”? The gospel of Christ is very simple, but I would not call it shallow.
You’re arguing out of context. I was replying to this broken article, which made points like “God hates religion” (false), “religion is the biggest roadblock to seeking a relationship with God” (false), “the “Church”, which is the entire congregation…” (false), “relationship with God cannot be found through religion” (false), and especially ” Neither ceremony, liturgy, creeds, sacraments nor money have ever brought one soul into a reconciled relationship to God. ” – which is false, baptism is a sacrament and the proximal means that God, through the ministry of His Church (His Body), positively does bring one soul into reconciled relationship. It is, itself, an act of religion: “in baptism, we die with Christ…”.
Your paraphrase is not spot on. Anyway, let’s go back one more – there _is_ no faith absent of works:
17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. 18 But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder. 20 Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? (Jam 2:17-20 RSV)
When Paul wrote _against_ “works” he was writing specifically against works of the Mosaic law, and not about positive acts of all religion. This point was clarified as early as commentaries in the 200s, reclarified by Augustine, then again by Jerome when he did the translation, and of course, was fully clarified in the Council of Trent, that this was what was meant.
Well, I know you don’t have philosophy, but all good works (even those done by sinners) are rooted in God, since they participate in the transcendentals, specifically in “The Good” – which is convertible with Being, which is another way of saying the tetragrammaton.
The “shallow” thing was a bit of a tease, since this article is arguing against St. James who proceeds to show that faith without works “is barren”. The underlying contention of this article is that you can somehow have “faith without works” by pure relationality, that it is the _works_ that lead you away from God. Which is also false.
Yes, faith without works IS dead. But Paul was not teaching against the Torah, God’s instructions on how to live and worship Him. He says in Romans 3:31: “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? may it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” Jesus himself
said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Of course, even the Protestants teach all day long that he DID abolish the law. Fulfill does not mean to abolish. He came to show us how to truly live out His teachings.
Religion is definitely NOT something God likes.
I think you are getting mixed up between the Bible’s use of the word ‘religion’ and the modern world’s definition of the word ‘religion’.
The modern world’s definition of the word ‘religion’ involves following a set of rules in order to gain favour from, and to please a deity, or a permanent inheritance, such as a place in heaven, paradise, or to be enlightened or reincarnated as something better than they currently are, etc.
Christianity has NOTHING to do with rule following, and EVERYTHING to do with placing our faith in Jesus and HIS saving work on the cross. We do not have to add to His work….Jesus announced “it is finished”, and it is indeed finished. Sin has been defeated at the cross, and Christians are victorious against the law of sin and death through Jesus. Christianity is NOT about what WE can do to be saved, but about what JESUS has ALREADY done.
If you look at what God / Jesus says He doesn’t like…look at the descriptions, they describe religious practices today.
They used the word ‘religion’ differently in the Bible, religion just referred to Jews, Christians doing what they did based on what God / Jesus had told them to do.
What God / Jesus describes as things He doesn’t like, is rule following (if we are trying to get to heaven through our works, they are referred to as being like filthy rags), idol worship (which is described as being that of demons), incense burning, sacrificing, etc.
Christianity IS NOT a religion (we do not follow rules to attain salvation / heaven, we instead rely on our 100% faith in Jesus to get us there).
Catholicism IS a religion (you do follow rules in order to attain salvation / heaven, and do not choose to rely on 100% faith to get you there).
Christianity and Catholics are therefore different – one is based on faith, the other based on religion (following rules).
Therefore, I can understand your personal point of view that you don’t wish to acknolwedge that God hates religion, because this is what you are doing as a catholic, but He does hate religion. But He doesn’t hate you, just what you are doing.
God sent Jesus to die for us, for us to put our trust in Him, so that we can have the opportunity to go to heaven, not for us to then try to get to heaven through your own means, that is NOT something that God likes….Jesus would have then died for nothing.
It is not what WE can DO, but what HE has already DONE that matters.
The Bible says:
Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus. (v22)
All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (V24)
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. (V25)
God is spoken about as the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (V26)
A person is justified by faith (V28)
THE EMPHASIS IS ON FAITH IN JESUS AND HIS GRACE, TO BE DEEMED JUSTIFIED AND RIGHTEOUS….IT IS NOT OUR WORKS OF ANY KIND THAT JUSTIFY AND MAKE US RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD.
JESUS PAID THE FULL COST OF OUR SINS WHEN HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR US, SO WHY TRY TO ADD SOMETHING ELSE TO THE EQUATION? Jesus either died to pay for the punishment of our sins or He did not. I know that He did, and tha Bible states this too.
The scripture for this is below and taken from the book of Romans 3:22-28 (NIV Bible) it says:
22This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
26he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.
28For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. “
Your pride in your “Religion” is disgusting, and you just keep digging yourself deeper…. It is quite embarrassing to be honest. May your eyes be opened by The Holy Spirit. The Catholic “Religion” has MUCH to be sorry for and ashamed of. If Christ could be the focus instead of man’s traditions, your pride could be put in its place. May God Bless you. Amen
To: A. Nonymouse Catholic, I appreciate your comprehensive reply.
At this point in time, at least one of us is terribly deluded/decieved regarding what it means to be a “Christian” – Follower of Christ.
Christ likened His people to “sheep.”
Sheep are harmless.
Sheep rely on the shepherd.
“Just as it is written,” FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH
ALL DAY LONG;WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
Romans 8:36
The Inquisitors claimed to be serving God.
“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming
for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”
John 16:2
Those labeled “heretic” were tortured and murdered by a combo
of religious and state establishment. As was Christ Himself.
Jesus’s people were among the victims of the Inquisitions. Not the perps.
I’m glad you agree with me on something, that you’re deluded. 🙂
Admittedly, I actually have a great deal of compassion, since the errors of protestantism aren’t your fault.
That said, it must be nice to be able to criticize those long dead from the cheap seats. I have no such luxury to be comfortable holding a basically immature idea of historical circumstance nor a pacifist notion wrt the necessity of violence in support of the pubic weal – they were my brothers, so I have to see them as they are:
Shepherds are not harmless.
Shepherds defend their sheep.
Shepherds kill wolves.
The shepherds of the time were a little bit harsh about it, but less harsh than the temporal powers.
“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory.” (1Pe 5:1-4)
“12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. (Joh 10:12-13)
“3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. ” (Rom 13:3-5)
The “perps” were misguided but trying – and the alternative to doing what they did at the time were things like the verifiably murderous regimes early protestants (like Calvin) put together, which lead to things like the Terror in France, and ultimately to atheistic Communism/pogroms and National Socialists/holocaust, and “secular humanism” which lead to abortion.
i.e.: as soon as they stopped doing those marginal bad things the inquisition is accused of, the alternatives to those minor violences arose that have come to fruition today: hundreds of millions of truly innocent humans dead before their time, and many more headed to hell (by the grace of God, I hope they won’t go – but many people are headed that way today).
Certainly, I will grant, at the time, some of the people who were “victims” of the inquisition were of the flock and only misguided: but most of them were not – they followed a different Gospel.
As do you.
I have just one question for you… Do you have a personal relationship with God. Do you talk to him and does he talk to you.. Cause if you dont know him personally all our arguing is not gonna help…. I am not trying to fight here.. Its a genuine question that I want you to think about.. God Bless…
I did not agree that I am deluded. It’s plain at least one of us is, and obviously we DISAGREE as to which of us is deluded/decieved.
Our disagreement has been argued by millions for many centuries.
No doubt Christians argued with the creators and promoters of the imitation
“christian” Trinitarian Roman state cult created under the auspices of emporer Constantine which evolved into the RC cult and later into the many Prot cults.
We both look at the Vatican.
You see the HQ of the “Vicar of Christ,”
HQ of the “holy pure bride of Jesus Christ.”
I see the Great Whore described by Revelation 17 & 18.
The Great Whore that’s been “fornicating with earthly kings”
since it was born in Rome [“7 hills”] around 315 AD.
The Great Whore that “shed the blood of saints”
[who confessed Jesus while rejecting the papal claims.]
The Great Whore with worldwide influence [“many waters”]
Modern clergy are not heirs of the apostles.
Modern clergy are heirs of the Scribes and Pharisees.
“But you are not to be called rabbi,
for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. ” Matt 23:8
Nicely said. Thank you so much for putting it all together so well.
For years I was religious. I grew up surrounded by wonderful, loving Christians, who were doing, living and believing, what they were also diligently taught to do/live/believe. I have always loved Jesus and have tried to live my life according to the principles that he laid down. I felt I knew (know) God, but I couldn’t justify what I learned about him in the bible, to what I knew (know) about him through a personal relationship. I have always felt that I have a direct link to God, and that he also speaks directly to me. I always felt it odd, that pastors and preachers seemed to boast a better understanding and relationship with the Creator.
At a young age, I would argue (politely) with my Sunday school teachers about this or that story not making sense, or contradicting another story. (They would get so upset with me.) I wanted answers, but it seemed no-one had them. In college I learned more about the history of the bible and religious conquests throughout the world. Because the bible was transcribed by hand, (Too many times to count!) and considering the time elapsed between some accounts, and the outright changes made by Constantine and others in order to obtain power over the masses.
Simply put “…God invented Man and Man invented religion.” – To control other men.. me thinks!
Thanks again..
Moriah
NEVER ARGUE WITH A FOOL, BECAUSE A BYSTANDER WON’T KNOW
WHICH IS WHICH!! There is a Big difference between a Pure and undefiled religion (Doctrine) that belongs to God only, than that of Man’s or mankind Man’s religion is all these other gods, that God Hates. Such as Baptist, catholic, Mormons, and many many more. These are doctrines of men (devil’s) God’s Word is a mystery, it is sealed and past finding out. Only the humble will get this. Eccl.8:17 Isa.55:8 2Cor 3:5 Jesus said many times: Tell No Man!! Because they will speak evil of your good. When you tell flesh (men) You are casting pearls to the swine.
DIVA Read my Reply above
Well, actually, Paul did argue with fools in Greece though. The Word teaches to not throw your pearls before swines too. And that you should always be prepared to give a defense of the Gospel. I think it’s a matter of finding His time, place and a mount in this too.
[…] God Hates Religion […]
Question, why would God hate religion and yet James 1:27 talks about “pure undefiled religion”
James 1:27 (NKJV)
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
How can God hate something he designed?
I would rather believe that God hates what man has done with religion (His format) then to say God hates religion in general.
My guess is that we (the people) have been stigmatized by mans corruption with Gods true design of religion and turned it into idolatry, big business and a self promoting prideful spirit.
Well in James 1:27 it stats clearly, ” Religion that GOD OUR FATHER accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in thier distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Why would James say that? And it does say God acceptable religion. I will be honest I don’t like it much because people use it to hide behind it. Just make sure not to beat false witness 9th commandment. Also would it be considered false witness what I said?
I often believe that I have been such a danippointmest. But, know that when God sees me he sees Jesus. But, here is what I often think about. If God sees Jesus who died for all of our sins, what does Jesus see when he looks down on earth. I try so very hard to be a good person and when I try really hard, I fail. But, when I run to Jesus to say I am sorry, he holds out his arms takes me into a tight hug and tells me it is okay. Go try again but, let me help you. Each day is better than the day before.
True dat..i have many catholic friends who just last week celebrated ash wednesday. And they had to let go of meat for forty days and some thing that they adore, my friend let go of facebook for forty days, I told she dont need to do that to please god or let go of meat, thats why u pray and bless the food before u eat!! Yes all u need is a relationship with jesus christ and have faith and trust, get babtist and ur on ur way to heaven!!
I’ve been really xeeitcd to see PV’s mentality change just in the past year from bringing people INTO the church, to encouraging the church to go OUT. This year for Christmas, rather than doing the same Christmas program its done for over a decade, we’ve themed this Christmas Christmas to GO (picture a chinese to-go box as the image . Everyone in the Northland who has ever wnted to see The Singing Christmas Tree has come to PV to see it EXCEPT those who are homeless or in prison. So where are we taking the message of Christ? To the homeless and to prisons. I’m pretty xeeitcd about this I think this is one small way we see the Kingdom of God expanding in a real, and practical way.
Funny how churches of every denomination require the keeping of “traditions” and rules that are supposed to make us more pious, while telling us the ones God himself set up (Leviticus 23) have been done away with, even though He said they were forever. So it is legalism to keep God’s instructions, but not to keep the “traditions of men” that replace God’s instructions.
Baptism is also a “work” and not required. You may retort that Jesus Himself was baptized but that was prior to His sacrifice on the cross which paid for all sin making faith relevant and works irrelevant.
Amen
However, if we do wish to express outwardly the inward work God has done, then in wanting to be obedient we should do so 🙂 God changes our hearts when we are TRULY saved. Sure, it is a walk in progress, however some things begin to come as naturally as the conviction we receive should we disobey.
Luke 3 ” 21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
@Bruce…I agree its a work.. but I am waiting on the lord for his answer…. I think I might have a different explanation for this one… I would say that it is not the baptism of water that we need.. but the baptism of the Hold Spirit. Remember that Jesus said to the women at the well ““Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Think about and tell me what you think..
It is NOT by WHAT YOU DO, but it is by what Christ has ALREADY DONE 🙂
I saw this a few weeks ago. A powerful msesage for sure! For years I didn’t go to church, because I wasn’t sure how to pick a church or religion. I talked to and spent some time with people from different religions and various churches, it was all really confusing at first. And each person tried to tell me why their church or religion was best. Finally, one day, I drove out to a little church near where I grew up. The people were friendly and welcoming and laid back. They spend a lot of time helping other people in need. They sang lots of songs and shared bible readings. That’s all I needed. It was so simple once I took the obsessive thinking out of the equation. It really is about your relationship with Jesus, not where you go to church, or the name of your religion.
The Atonement through grace is how He shows His love for us. We cannot ONLY focus on that. We should also focus on our love for HIM. He told us how to do that. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (as opposed to the traditions of men.) Too many times we only focus on His love for us & fail to remember what HE says defines our love for him.
I believe what you write here applies to many religions/denominations, but not all. Unfortunately there are many people, even pastors, in Christianity who do not have a true understanding of what the Bible teaches, and that is how many people receive a Theology of Glory, which teaches, “I can do it” instead of a Theology of the Cross which teaches, “God (Jesus) has done it” An example would be that in the Lutheran confessions (found at bookofconcord.org) teaches that we are Saved by Grace Alone (Sola Gracia) by Faith Alone (Sola Fide) though Christ Alone and we learn this by Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura). Soli Deo Gloria! (To God be all glory!)
Dustin,
I appreciate your comment, and agree 100% with every aspect of it, with one reservation: To which religion(s) does this not apply?
Hello ^-^
I just wanted to let you know I was going to cite your blog post as a reference for my essay in my Bible as Literature class. This is absolutely brilliant work.
Glory to God, Kaitlynne. Thank you for the kind words and, oh, nice ears! 🙂
I love what you said the Good News we do not need any man’s religion, tradition or superstitions.
God knows all of our hearts, God needs no religion to feel your love, all God wants is for you to know him and to keep him in your heart. All this debating back and fourth is just what satin wants ( and not saying at all that this is your intention) remember satin (Lucifer) was created to be the same as God. He knows how to get to you even when you think your doing Gods will. Love God, Be close with God, and let God handle the rest. God knows your heart
John…you said “remember satan (Lucifer) was created to be the same as God”, I just wanted to point out to anyone who would misunderstand that sentence…that God and satan DO NOT have the same characteristics or power of each other. God is sovereign and not created, He always was and always will be; but satan was created, in the sense he was created originally as an angel in heaven, but he rebelled against God, got proud and started corrupting the angels in heaven, so God threw him out of heaven, and then he became who we refer to as the devil or satan.
[…] wants a relationship with us. What does that mean? See God Hates Religion at Defining the […]
Hi ingrafted. Here’s a little present for you and your blog: http://citizentom.com/2014/01/04/how-could-i-have-earned-a-sunshine-award-and-the-semper-fidelis-award/ God bless you!
Doesnt catholics and the catholic church break the second most important commandment? Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that that is in the water under the earth… And doesnt jesus the son follow the commandment of the father? Just a question…
They did more than break it. They eliminated it.
Here are the Catholic Ten Commandments:
1) I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
2) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3) Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4) Honor your father and your mother.
5) You shall not kill.
6) You shall not commit adultery.
7) You shall not steal.
8) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
The Word- Holy Bible
Exodus 20 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Ten Commandments
20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
There is only One Mediator to the Father and His name is Jesus Christ, not Pope Francis. Catholics pray to Mary and they are not saved, they believe in Jesus, but the Worship Mary, the mother of Jesus and that is IDOL WORSHIPING. Jesus went to the Cross, NOT Mary and she was not a virgin after the birth of Jesus, she gave birth to other children. Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,, NO ONE comes to the Father, except through the Son.
Yesterday after a bible study at my house. I was left so full of a questions and doubts. This morning i woke up wondering why God of love would agree with separation by agreeing with one religion. The answer is he does not…God is love and unity.
I was raised in the Catholic church and still assist and serve but whenever the topic of “defending” our religion comes up, something inside me leads me to believe Jesus did not want walls to be built around his teachings.
Let’s work on unity and love…let’s begin with ourselves!
Love and peace to everyone.
Jesus went to the Cross for all mankind, not the Pope, or the Virgin Mary nor any other idol. Those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Jesus is in your heart, not in a building.
Maria,
I am very glad that you stopped by and visited. This post gets more hits every week, and God is using it world wide. I trust it has been a blessing to you as well.
Your comment is thoughtful, but leaves for a bit of interpretation. If I may, I would attempt to clarify a couple of points you made:
1. “God is love and unity”- By this I think you are confirming the point in the article that God did not intend for believers to be divided by “denominationalism” (religion), within the framework of Jesus’ teachings that He alone is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.
God is love, this is foregone, but “unity” is present in the Trinity, and with HIs own (believers). Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-35, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother…” This is in the context of the previous passages in which He explains that those who follow Him will not be considered by unbelievers to be equal; but deserving of persecution. “And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake” (v.22). Of course, Jesus did not mean a literal sword to be wielded in battle, but “the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword…and is a descerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The “word” is referred to in scripture as a “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Galatians 6:17)
The Word of God is very divisive. The reason is that it is very convicting and passes judgement upon sinful mankind. People do not like to be judged. I don’t like to be judged, but in addition to God being Love, He is Holy and Just, and Justice requires Judgement.
This is why Jesus suffered and died; to receive the judgement that I was due.
There will not be peace and unity until the Christ returns and governs this Earth Himself.
2. “Defending our religion” – We are indeed to be ready to give an answer for that hope which lies within us (1 Peter 3:15), which is in a sense “defending the faith” (apologia) with knowledge of the Word, understanding and standing against heresies and false teachings of all kinds.
But as far as defending a specific denomination, I agree with you, we should not be causing divisions and strife. I also agree that introspection, or “self examination” is a good place to start.
God Bless you Maria!
“God did not intend for believers to be divided by “denominationalism” (religion), ” ….. Amen. “come out of her MY people”. A command. Not a suggestion.
Religion:
Man working for: under his own efforts, rights, rituals, sacrifices, laws or what ever else can be devised to achieve his own salvation.
VS
Submitting to the spirit and walking in the spirit which in turn leaves good works in its wake. Realizing that only through submission to Christ, that only He can save us, not our works, not our glory, not our efforts.
Christianity says you must submit and except that only God can save you. All the others tell you how you yourself can achieve salvation through one means or another. This is where Israel was straying they thought if they kept the law and practiced the rituals they would be saved. God on the other hand tells them otherwise.[Isaiah 1 11-18]
Jesus saves us, not our works and definitely not adherence to any manmade religion or oral history. Excellent.
Young preacher named Tommy Costa has made a short video on this topic. View here: http://www.jesus5.com/1/post/2014/03/god-hates-religion.html
Truly inspired and today I found the answer towards a question that has been hindering me, “religious rules that men made” just to satisfy themselves”
Yeah you right bro, God has no religion.
Lets be thankful we have this forum to share comments. We can read, share, and learn along this path. Truly God watches us and guides us as long as we pursue Him. Religion is not a path to salvation, but its usually part of the journey we all experience. Lets be humble and lowly as we reveal the truth to those still relying on traditions and works to try to earn God’s favor. Yes, God gave us a simple path to eternity… because He loves us. That is what leads us to a desire to work as His ministers. Love, not fear, is the way the true God motivates His children. Amen.
Here is the equation to salvation: Faith in Jesus Christ + nothing else = salvation. If you want to belong to a “religion” do so for the social interaction. That’s all it’s good for. Query Andrew Farley on YouTube. He speaks very eloquently on the above equation.
I would laugh at the comments made by A. Nonymouse Catholic – except that they are not funny. Catholics wrote the Bible? Funny that was not in the Bible.
The Bible was written by men yes, men that were inspired by the Holy Spirit, the men were merely the instrument used of God. The Bible was written in a period of roughly 1800 years by 40 different authors and does not contradict itself…impossible for men but not for God.
If people truly understood the complexity of the Bible, there would be no more of this nonsense about who wrote it etc. The OT refers to events that happen in the NT. The NT refers back to the OT. Over 300 OT prophecies were fulfilled by Christ in the NT. Numerology strictly speaking is not really viable as people get way carried away. There are however numerous places in the Bible where numbers do matter and reveal some pretty astonishing things. Chuck Missler has some good examples of this kind of thing.
What does James say about “true religion” – it has little to do with today’s concept of it. James 1:27 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.
I have written many articles on religion and the Church…this is spot on. Leave religion behind, it is man’s poor attempt at being right, and for many their attempt at justifying their own views right or wrong.
Instead of worrying over religion, why not spend your time doing as God created us to do…worship God – everything else is secondary.
Welcome Brother!
Thank you!
Great article, can I reprint it giving you credit of course?
By all means, please do!
I believe that we have eternity to worship God once we leave this place, but while we are here we are to contend for the faith and bring the true gospel to the lost. Worship is just me and God, and leaves out the rest of the planet. All believers have a commission to fulfill, and its a privilege and humbling act to go into all the world with the truth and light that is much needed in a dark and fallen world. Amen.
It seems that so many believers today practice nothing more than “praise and worship” yet fail utterly to share the gospel with an unbelieving world. They ignore the great commission because it is so difficult to face rejection. People take it personal, which is selfish, because it is God they are truly rejecting, not them. Praise and worship is easy and self-fulfilling, its an escape from the actual sacrificial life of the true Christian. This is the example of the apostles and of Christ Himself. Its actually the manmade religions that focus on praise and worship. Easy believism is the sad state of the church today and bears no reflection on our biblical examples of the Christian life.
A BIG THANKYOU TO THE WRITER
I have always told people that my faith is not a religion It is a relationship with my heavenly father. I can only tell you of my experience I can only bear witness to what my father has done for me. I ‘am not ashamed of who I belong to as I love him with all my heart and soul. The more I learn about him the more I truly love him. Jesus doesn’t ask me to do things he hasn’t done himself. I respect him for that, People have died for their faith But Jesus died for us first and yet he still lives. He lives thru me and my brothers and sisters in Christ Over the years I have grown to know I’ m nothing without Jesus just a speck of dust trying to find something to latch on too. So don’t latch your self’s to these false religions. Go out and find Christ because in finding him you’ll be finding God by finding God you will find peace , peace within your self’s Find peace the other gifts will follow
Peace be with you all and may god bless you
In reading your post I agree to some things and disagree with others while feeling that others should have been further elaborated. I have studied Islam, Christianity and a bit of Judaism and in some cases found striking similarities amongst all 3 faiths. I have many a times held a similar argument with people, where people tend to focus too much time and energy as to which religion is the true religion and/or the best in the eyes of God, and have many a times failed to get through the barrier of arrogance, belief that one religion is better than the other and most importantly ignorance. I have thus resorted to praising God in my own way that to me has made me a better person in life.
In terms of Islam, one may find striking similarities with the bible (this including the: “Our Father” prayer; that I can send you depending on your interests to grow your knowledge regarding the Islamic faith), and they too make mention of Jesus and all the prophets that came before him, this including some of the books of the Old Testament such as the book of Genesis. I believe that through time God has revealed Himself to His creation many a times, so much so that we have placed too much of our focus and attention to religion and less attention on God without notice.
In my culture (Zulu), based strongly upon spirituality and fear of God prior to our introduction to religion about 200 years ago or so. We believed in one God, uMvelinqangi (meaning: the one who came 1st, and thus created all that we see around us) whom through respect and fear of calling Him by name referred to Him as uNkulunkulu (meaning: the one that is big/great), through which our medium of communication with him was through our ancestors who had passed on, and as it was believed were closer to Him than we living beings are. In addition, those who know their history well within the culture will tell you that the reason behind going through our ancestors to communicate with Him was also due to us not finding ourselves worthy to communicate with Him directly due to His greatness. A lot of this history has been lost over the past 200 + years with the introduction of religion, and internet will tell very little of the history. One has been fortunate enough to have asked his elders prior to their passing to fill in the gaps found hard to fill by modern society.
One could go on about the discussion till the cows come home as it is a rather broad topic. However due to the constraints of external factors one would like to close this argument in stating that review ought to be made regarding Islam “Allah is not the God of the Bible”, I feel much stronger argument needs to be presented regarding that statement. In adding, many a times one would find that man people use religion to eat off the fear of others in aim to acquire material wealth or dominance off/over another.
Victor,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful and well stated comment. I am continually amazed at how this article is touching people around the world.
I think you may have a slight misunderstanding of the definition of “religion”. You stated your Zulu culture was based “strongly upon spirituality and fear of God prior to our introduction to religion about 200 years ago”. I am going to assume that “religion” you mention here is Christianity, as presented by Missionaries. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am going to bet that there were/are certain customs and rituals that had been practiced in recognition of uMvelinqangi, with whom, as you stated, the Zulu’s sought to communicate to through your dead ancesters. This too, with all due respect, is religion. As I explained in the article, religion is Man trying to reach God by doing something.
The contrast to that, is God reaching down to Man, through His incarnate Son Jesus Christ, who did the work that Man could not do, in order to bring Man into that fulness of relationship with Himself. Mankind, without a Savior, is hopelessly lost. Jesus fulfilled all that was required of Man by God. No other could do that. No other died, was buried, and ressurrected according to the Scriptures.
Concerning your final point about “Allah is not the God of the Bible”. Perhaps a more definitive statement is, after all, in order. In light of the fact that there are faithful Christians in the Arab speaking world who speak of the God of the Bible as “Allah”, the Creator God, I would offer this qualification. “Allah” of the Quran is not the Creator God of the Bible.
I have, as a matter of fact, spent several years in study of Quran and Islamic culture. There are indeed mentions of people by the same names who appear in both books, for example, such as Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob. There are many discrepencies between the two “revelations” however, that cannot be reconciled, either historically, or logically. More to the point, the “Prophet Issa” of Quran is not the same character (Jesus) as found in the New Testament, and some of what is written of him in Quran is found only in the Apocryphal letters. Since Muhammad did not read, someone told him of these, “extra-Biblical” (non-Scriptural) writings. Issa of the Quran was not the “only begotten Son of God”, he was not God manifest in the flesh, he was not crucified, nor was he ressurrected, as stated of Jesus in the Holy Bible.
As far as acquiring wealth and using religion to control people, Muhammad was a master at it. But you see, this is my entire point. As you so clearly wrote, “people use religion to eat off the fear of others in aim to acquire material wealth or dominance over another.” This is what Jesus confronted at every turn, as I covered in the article. I do not deny that the “religion” of “Christianity” has been used by evil men to do the same at times. It happens yet today. But please review the article, and realize that I am not defending any religion. I am advocating a RELATIONSHIP with the living God through Jesus Christ, the living Lord.
Neither do I condemn any culture who had never heard the name of Jesus Christ, but as you pointed out, the revelation of the Creator is present in all creation. So true! And thereby, everyone is exposed to that basic knowledge of the Creator. It is what the individual man does with that knowledge, just as is pointed out in the book of Romans chapter 1, New Testament. If that man then fails to glorify God, and becomes unthankful, unholy, and chooses another object of worship, including himself, then that man is “without excuse”(v.20). ONe is, however, held accountable if he has knowledge of Jesus Christ and refuses Him.
Again, religion, no matter what bent, is not the answer to reconciling a fallen Mankind, with his Creator. Only Man, humbling himself before God, seeking Him, and accepting that work which Christ has done on our behalf, can bring us into that “Relationship”.
My God Bless you through the Lord Jesus Christ.
A loving God would never allow, nor create, many different paths of salvation because of the obvious confusion and confrontation. We can see by the way things work on earth that its all about order. The “many paths” idea fails because it causes disorder, an ungodly outcome that we can imagine coming from satan. Indeed its that division and disorder that leads to the anger, hatred, and even murder which reveals its evil origin. God made things simple for us, because He loves us. Jesus Christ alone proved through His fulfillment of prophecy, miracles, and resurrection, that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that there was no other way to God but by Him. The “many paths to God” idea sounds nice on the surface, but in reality opposing faiths can’t both be right. God gave us one clear and simple path back to Him, and put Himself on that cross to show His profound love. Amen.
The new testament & Christ is a work of Fiction as are all the other religions, there is God past present future, he doesn’t need anyone to convey his message to humanity, just open your eyes and see the complexity of the world and the universe, enough for anyone with a brain cell to realise that the creator is in charge, enough of this religious brain washing, I don’t need the Salesman I can see with my eyes and hear with my ears and understand with my heart that we have been given a chance all of us to make a difference and make this world a better place. Too many people have died and been killed in the name of Religion .
Charles,
While there have indeed been atrocities committed in the name of Religion, I would remind you of the 20th Century-a century in which more genocides and murder was committed by atheists than all the religious wars in history.
Amen! This has helped me so much.
I love how this is communicated! I am a member of Christ’s Church. Thank You for choosing to publish the words and insight our creator and God has gifted to you… 🙂
I can see how you came to this conclusion. I believe that religions in the world today are twisted, and so everyone is confused. It makes since that God hates what goes on in the churches, synagogues, temples etc. I hate it too! The truth is that there is a true religion, read this: Jeremiah 7:1-7 NIV
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : “Stand at the gate of the Lord ’s house and there proclaim this message: “ ‘Hear the word of the Lord , all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord . This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord !” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.” – – This says that there is a wrong way to worship God(false religion), but also implies that there is right way(right religion). I what you really are talking about is the false religion. There is in fact a right religion that God loves! Read this: James 1:27 NIV “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” 1 Timothy 5:4 NIV “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. – – this was written to disciples of Jesus who were apart of the true religion. If you would like, I would love to send you a study on the church from the Bible. Or anyone that reads this for that matter.
Thanks James,
As you read through the comments and the article I think people tend to get stuck on semantics when using the word ‘religion’. Perhaps I am doing that as well. I’m sure you understand my point that ‘religion’ does not necessarily equal salvation or even faith in Christ. The religion that is spoken of in James is indeed works that give evidence of that “faith that lies within” but doesn’t lend toward the worker’s salvation in any form, rather is an expression of it. Paul calls it “working out your own salvation”, or revealing the life that Christ has given to your Spirit; that working out or setting forth your faith for all to see by the actions, or your lifestyle and service.
I would substitute the word “Faith” where you indicate the word “religion”, as in “true religion”. We do not disagree in principal, merely in semantics. I have self published my own personal study of the Church, although haven’t put in e-format yet. If you would care to put a link here in the comment section to your study, I would be happy to oblige :-).
I’m sorry but how could he replace ‘faith’ instead, when the word of God clearly states,’True Religion is this…’. No where in scripture does God say that he hates religion but he does express anger toward a false kind of religion. By you stating that He hates religion, leads people to consider if fellowship in Christ is important. The body of Christ is created to glorify the Lord. Therefore, the actions of the church, true act of practicing what we preach is religion. This is what God speaks of it being the Truth: Do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, do not shed blood or follow other god’s.
The false religion is: stealing, murdering, adultery, burning incense to other god’s to then stand before the Lord I think one is Ok. Every careless word will be held accountable, so when you say, ‘He [God] hates’ it must be He who actually said that sentence in scripture. As He did in in Proverbs 6:16-19…There are six things the Lord HATES, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, …
That’s what I said. Well said 🙂
Correction (typo): ‘ to stand before the Lord and think one is Ok before Him’.
Please do send a study!
Glance over this study of the church, Biblically:
The church page 1—https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1mM512vGpyyRXFkdmRXUUlpMXM/edit?usp=docslist_api
The church page 2–https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1mM512vGpyyV3dtdjJRWDA1dkE/edit?usp=docslist_api
The church page 3–https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1mM512vGpyyRjFXQzB1V3NwdDQ/edit?usp=docslist_api
The church page 4–https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1mM512vGpyycV9Za0t1TXpzdFk/edit?usp=docslist_api
Where does it say specifically that God Hates religion? As far as I know nowhere does he say that religion is all bad.
Matthew 23New Living Translation (NLT)
Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.[a] 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
Colossians 2New King James Version (NKJV)
Not Philosophy but Christ
2 For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and[a] of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it[b] with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power
Not Legalism but Christ
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins[c] of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not[d] seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore,[e] if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
I was raised and studied in a Catholic environment, with all Catholic teachings and stuffs. In school, we were required to memorise the commandments, the sacraments, the mysteries and so on. After a long time of doing those ‘practises’ (I don’t find the right term, anyways), I have these questions that sees the flaws of the religion I belong – and also of others. Like for example, why do we need to memorise everything if we could just manifest and/or do it? Why do we need to offer something during mass if we are not wholeheartedly giving it and was for the sake of grades, attendance or whatsoever? I don’t know if the approach was wrong or it was really like that.
When I came across to search about the Bible and such (for our scholarly paper in Mythology class) and see this article/write-up, I was convinced that being believer of God should not require any religion. I see religion nowadays as barrier to communicate with one another in terms about God. I seem to find ‘defending’ thingies pointless because it is a matter of respect and understanding. It think faith truly matters and not religion. (That’s my opinion, though) 🙂
God Bless everyone!
Hi Danielle,
Thanks for stopping by and reading. I hope that you have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that it is a very real part of your life. I think you have the right concept as far as liturgy and ceremony, but I don’t mean to infer there is no value to memorization, especially of Scripture, because as David said in Psalms, “I have hid thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Memorizing Scripture is one of the most valuable things you can do to enhance your personal experience of Christ. I think there is even some value to memorization of things such as the Apostle’s Creed (understanding that the line of “I believe in one Holy catholic Church” means the universal congregation of Christ, and not one denomination such as the “Roman Catholic Church”.), and also the “Lords Prayer”, which techinically is indeed Scripture. But, more important than just the memorization is the attitude or reason for it. There is your point of “Faith”. Faith is important. But more important even than faith, is the object of your faith. If your faith is in a “system” or denomination, or religion, then it is pointless, and that may be what you are driving at. But if your faith is most certainly in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, then the ‘practice’ or “manifestation” as you put it, is not in vain and will surely return blessings uncountable.
Consider this: If someone told you that they love you, and then treat you the way you treat Jesus, would you believe them? Now, don’t get defensive because I don’t even know you, nor am I making an accusation. But this is a question that every Christian must ask ourselves. It is what Paul calls “examining yourselves”.
There are certain disciplines that a follower of Christ should apply to his/her life. Thus the name “disciples”, or “disciplined ones”. But these have to come from a grateful heart. In other words, just as Jesus Himself said, “If you love me, you’ll obey my commandments”. It’s not a religious thing, set up by men or an organization, to try and earn God’s favor. It’s a love thing; We love Him b/c He first loved us. If we love Him, then we will learn of Him. “We don’t do to be, we do because we are.”
Bless you in your studies 🙂
Back me up where it says God himselves says I don’t care how you shake or dance I want your heart please!
Obviously a paraphrase encapsulating the aforementioned Scriptures conveying that God does not care for all that religious activity – sacrifices, offerings, song, dance, prayer and pious behavior. It all means nothing without your heart.
Wow… Amen very well put
Thank you! You are absolutely right!
true religion is not god,religion is driving us away from god
i go to jesus and my father only. they speak truth to me and told me that Religion is the antichrist and that the vatican is the great prostitute.
God spoke his wisdom to me at a young age when i had just invited jesus into my life and i just knew that it was all wrong. he lives in us and our understanding is his word in us.
i have come closer to my saviour and father then i ever did whilst attending church. i will go to church but i know i do not have too. the church is a spiritual body . i never put that i belong to a denomination because i dont. i belong to my father and i am his daughter.
we are brothers and sisters devided by denominations, devided by walls.
simple fact is we all believe jesus died for us do we may be born again into his family, his bloodline. nothing we do can change it.
i remember attending a baptism of a child and the priest said that the only way into heaven is through a water batism and my spirit just hurt at the lie.
ive not been baptised by water but by the blood of the lamb. i may get baptised i may not, its doesnt appeal to me and my father knows this.
same as jesus never told his disciples to do marriage ceremonies. he told them to go out and spread the light and show the world Jesus.
God bless you and i thank god that the truth is finally being revealed
it is so god when he reveals the truth to people like me..nobody but the priest who have had education and studdied scripture more etc are blind. i rely on god and jesus and the holyspirit reveals it all. its that simple isnt it. we just need god and jesus.
I just wanted to point out that you have mistakenly used ‘god’ in the last paragraph (last line and first line) of your response and not ‘God’ which is what I know you meant.
god is the religion ‘God’,
And God is the Christianity God.
god cannot reveal any truth because he is the devil and the devil speaks his native tongue, I.e. lies.
God, on the other hand, is the Father of all truth and knowledge and wisdom.
I know that you meant this, I just wanted to point it out as clarfiication to others and in case perhaps you could edit it and change it.
Well done.
There are so many people following god instead of God, and it hurts my Spirit too.
God bless you x
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“In fact, religion is the biggest roadblock to seeking a relationship with God. Religion is simply Man trying to reach out to God by doing something that he thinks will please God. “If I can do enough, say enough, pray enough, give enough, sacrifice enough perhaps God will show me favor”. Every religion is based upon this “works theology”.”
This is not true. This is not at all what religion means, maybe this is what the world or perversion of people grants it to be. Yes we can’t buy favor with God through our deeds, we actually can please God with our deeds, many bible verses support this.
I say that Jesus is my religion. Of course if you will consider religion to be something awful and bad, well of course if that is your definition of religion then yes its bad. but that is not the definition of religion.
I wont take a whole book to write my thoughts, but Just had to point this out.
Blessings.
Not because I’m good but Jesus in me whos making me good has cleaned me up from religion and religion is the worst thing to have and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for cleaning me up inward and out I’m under construction
Religion divides us but Christ unites us. Godbless!
Thank you for your diligence and obedience in your contribution for revealing God’s truth. As a born again disciple there are struggles that still remain. Yet it is my relationship with the Lord that sustains me. I am a year young witness to what you have written. May the Lord keep you under his wings.
sorry I meant to say 46 yrs young (smile).
I LOVE THIS PAFECT PROPHET KNOWN AS JESUS IM GLAD AND SECURE IN HIS NAME THANK YOU MY SAVIURE
Yes! Praise The Lord! Thank you Jesus for this man’s faith! You are secure in His name. Jesus is also my God, He is my Lord and Saviour. Jesus is the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him, and what a privilege that is, to belong to Him 🙂 Praise God that He gave us this free gift for us to accept (if we choose to), through Jesus’ death, resurrection and atonement of our sins…wiped away forever, and a place guaranteed in Heaven for me. What a wonderful promise, from God who is faithful and true. All his given to me because I trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Thank you Jesus! And thank you for coming to live in my heart when I decided to turn to you and live for you. Words cannot express what you’ ve give to me, and what a difference you make to me and my life. Life would not be worth living without you. I just pray that other people will realise that for themselves too. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!
James 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before god is this, to visit the Fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the wold.
God teaches about what religion is…so are we saying this is nonsense?….please think carefully before jumping to own conclusion. Religion is way to connect to God. With out it how? Maybe you just think that a group or a sect is religion….wrong! You need to join a group called church…inside that church wich god built you will hear and learn how to be religious…..you will practise religion.
Many have “learned how to be religious” yet have no more relationship to God than a rock. I seek to improve my relationship with Him, not learn something religious. The problem is man has confused religion as the way to meet with God. Relationship is the better way.
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen to that!
‘Ingrafted’ – You explained that well!
The way to get to know God, is only through a relationship with Him.
There is nothing more special and more precious than a relationship with the one who created us. He is waiting, and has open arms for anyone who wishes to come to Him.
Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus has opened up the way for us to have that personal relationship with our creator.
Nothing stands in the way of us approaching God once we have acknowledge that our sins have separated us from God, and believe, in our hearts, that Jesus died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day, so to make atonement for our sins (the payment for our sins has been paid)., and show us He is God (death had no hold over Him, for He was and still is without sin, perfect).
Christian worship and know the living God (who we know is Jesus). He isn’t dead, or just a memory or nice concept, but real.
Trying to explain how it feels to know God is one of those things that can’t be explained, it needs to be experienced…but it cannot be emphasised enough, that this is not through religion or any kind of ritual, or doing good things in the community, but through an actual relationship with Him.
Many do not believe that it is possible to have a relationship with God, but it has to be experienced to be truly believed. He loves me, and I love Him. He is always there for me, and I know He is faithful and I know all His promises are true.
One day jesus is coming back to ‘collect’ all those who are waiting for Him, who have a relationship with Him, and truly believing in His finished work on the cross in their hearts.
I pray that more will come to know God, and have a relationship with Him for themselves, before this event happens. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen! God bless you all x
Hello Gerald Villaruel, you say “inside that church which God built you will hear and learn how to be religious…you will practice religion.”
If you go into a church and they practice religion, then that isn’t a Christian church.
Religion is essentially doing things in order to, or in the belief that, it will please God. This is very different to having a relationship with God.
Yes, in the book of James that you quote, you are right James does use the word “religion” in his writing; however, what we must remember is that words can take on a different meaning later on, and also remember where he was coming from. James had only known religion around him in his community, and so when Christianity began with the early church, which he was a part of, he naturally called it a religion, because that is what the Jewish people called what they did…the Jews were religious, and for even all those who were worshipping idols, it was what they referred to as their religion. Words change their meanings sometimes. For example, the word “gay” now refers to a homosexual person; however, the word used to mean (something like) joyful. Back in biblical times the word “religion” was a word that was used when talking about God. Not everyone in the Bible was worshipping God, some were worshipping demons (idols, gods, etc), but they still called it a religion, either way.
There are much scripture that clarified what God likes, and these conflict with the idea of what we see outside of Christianity, in religions.
Christianity an actual relationship with God, started through faith, a faith in your heart that Jesus has made atonement for (paid for) all the punishment of your sins when he died on the cross. He rose on the third day, showing death had no hold over Him (he was victorious over death, and defeated satan). And believing the Jesus is coming back for those who are waiting for Him, who have faith in His work in the cross…and take them all to Heaven with Him. He knows which are His to take with Him as all genuine believers in Him have been given His Holy Spirit to live inside them, who is sanctifying (transforming) them inside ready for Heaven.
This is VERY different to a religion, where rituals and chanting, are what people think will gain them favour with God, and / or get them a place in Heaven.
For those of us who are genuine believers in His work on the cross, and have been given His Holy Spirit to live inside us. We acknowledge who Jesus is. And we can see that religion is different to the relationship we experience with Him.
I wish to make it clear…Christianity is NOT elitism. Christians are NOT superior to any other human. We just acknowledge Jesus as God and trust in the finished work of Jesus who died on the cross and then rose victorious again, and is now in Heaven waiting to return to ‘collect’ His.
Christianity teaches some very different things to the religions; and thus sets us apart as different.
I wish to make it clear that anyone can choose to believe what I have explained that genuine believers believe, and receive God’s / Jesus’ Holy Spirit themselves. No matter what religion you have followed before, or whether you didn’t even believe in God before; it doesn’t matter. Christianity is for anyone who has faith in Jesus – who He is and what He’s done, as was described previously.
Jesus accepts all, because He died for all, so all could be reconciled to God (brought back together (clean slate) with, God after your sins previously separated you from Him, and a relationship with Him).
Those who come to Jesus will find spiritual food and drink for their souls…compete nourishment for the whole person…not temporary relief, or a quick fix to life’s problems and burdens. When we are a Christian, Jesus will carry our burdens, and their is nothing He can’t help us with.
Knowing you Jesus, there is no greater thing.
I pray that more will see the truth behind Jesus’ works on the cross, and ask Jesus to come into their hearts and become their Lord and Saviour. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!
This looks just like a Bible bashing site to me. You reference Effects without Causes. God set up the times, the seasons and the festivals the people practiced. He detested them because they were also practicing sin and evil. Isaiah 1 is more than just hatred of the events they were doing, take a look at verses 2-4 and 16-17.. I’ll quote them for you from the NIV translation:
Isaiah 1:2-4, 16-17 (NIV)
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
~
16 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
We can’t be both good and bad, Ezekiel 18 covers that, and Isaiah 58 tells us more about helping the needy, there were quite a few other verses about stuff like that. There was something I didn’t know until this year, was that everything Jesus said, he was told by the same person who gave Moses the Laws of the Covenant. I’m aware that we do not directly follow those laws, as they describe death, or outcast to sinners of certain sins. Jesus asked us to be merciful, repent, and love. As for the works he did, and the apostles did, I believe that was healing the afflicted through prayer. Also Matthew 7:15-23, and James 2:10-11 and Romans 2:12-16 seems to show we still have laws.
James 2:10-11 (NIV)
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Finally I’ll say, Romans 13, Titus 3, and 1 Peter 2 all talk about following the laws of the land, saying there is no authority on earth that is not put there by God Almighty. You are free to think as you like, I just let you know there can be improvements to your way of thinking, if you want to take them.
(It seems I dislike blogs, these pages get to be way too long.)
I disagree with the title. God does not hate religion. He hates false religions. In Jeremiah 7 he speaks to a specific group: worshippers. He hates hippocracy.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Religion is mans subtitute for the things of God and the spirit. Man carved out his own way to please God of which all that does not please him bcos their heart are far from God. God is a spirit! No one can worship him with things made by hands or anything made. What he wants is ur heart!
I would like to applaud your way with words and putting religion in its proper prospective.
I am always being told that I am religious but I am not. I have an extensive relationship with Christ and his Holy Spirit which naturally puts me in a place of speaking of Them and giving them ALL Glory with anything I do. My family does not understand this due to the fact that it has just been reborn in my life. I vow not to allow man to rob me of Him again.
Thank you and God bless you for this article.
Janet
If we’re talking about the purest form of a relationship with God then why is this article quoting scripture and condemning Islam as a cult.? So in essence this entire article is b******* because it’s not about getting to know one God it’s more religious blabber and comparison to Scripture to try to explain a relationship with a higher being in its purest form. It started out somewhat focus but my mouth hung open when it condemned Islam. Perhaps you should go back through history if you’d like to use the word fundamentalism because there are many Christian sexts that are Christian fundamentalist do some research on the history of war and why we have fought certain battles in global history. Anyways basically I’d like to say this entire article is b******* because you’re not talking about the purest form of the relationship with God.
Dave,
First, I think you saw me condemn Islam and immediately you went blind and never saw the rest of the article.
Secondly, I have studied Islam both theologically and historically for 10 years. It fits the classic definition of “Cult” in light of the simple fact that its adherents are not permitted to question either Quran or the Prophet, nor are they permitted to leave the religion w/o serious consequences worthy of an apostate (namely death). This is according to the Shari’a, Islamic Holy Law.
Thirdly, I used the term “fundamentalist” not “fundamentalism”. There is a vast difference. (And I challenge you to find a more religious individual than an Islamic fundamentalist.)
Fourth, I am quite aware of Christian “fundamentalist” sects, and if you’d read the entire article you would have realized that I have condemned nearly all of the traditional Christian “religious” expressions.
And finally, if you were much of an historian, particularly on the subject of war, you would know that the 20th Century was bloodier than all human history combined, and those wars were perpetrated by Atheists – Nazi and Communist Atheists.
If you are referring to those dastardly Christian Crusades against the Muslims, you might benefit by doing some research on those for yourself: You would find that there were about 15 offensive battles by the Crusaders compared to over 500 by the Muslims. You’d also find that Islam had invaded Europe after conquering Northern Africa and was not stopped until the Battle of Tours in France in 732 AD. The First Crusade did not occur until 1095AD over 250 years later, and that in order to reclaim the “Holy Sites” abandoned/conquered several hundred years prior.
But realize, the Crusades were not based on a Biblical directive; only by the Roman Catholic Church, and a few independent Kings. Jihad, that is war to advance the cause of Islam (as defined in the Shari’a), on the other hand, is indeed a Quranic directive.
The deity’s of the Bible and the Quran are NOT the same gods.
Read the Quran and then read the Bible.
Your scripture on matthew 23 is wrong jesus was talking to judaism believers not any other religions to say jesus is speaking to all religions is blastpheny
I am not a Bible expert but as a child of God I know there is a huge difference between religion and relationship with God. Religion is man performing to reach up to God by his good works but true Christianity is God having reached down to us by opening our eyes and ears or we couldn’t hear or see Him or truly know Him at all. God does all the work that reconciles us to Him through Jesus Christ and we simply receive by faith what He has done and is doing in relationship as a child, a friend, a disciple, a seeker, a branch grafted into the Vine. Oh how good it is to have Life and Light through Jesus! Religion to me means legalism which is stressful since everything depends on my performance. The word religion is used at times to describe a Chrstian’s belief system but it certainly doesn’t describe the loving relationship of a Savior to His saved ones.
I have been struggling with these questions as I am trying to strengthen and further my relationship with God and Jesus. Thank you. This answered my questions and reassured I am on the correct path God has chosen for me to walk. I left my church and visited many other churches to try to find a good fit for my wife and I. We saw adultry, pride, blasphemy and hypocrites in all the churches in the Christian religion we visited. Then felt like God put in our hearts the bride of Christ is in us. It was never meant to be a religion or a denomination. We are the bride of Christ.
Thank you, sir. I do hope I haven’t left you without the desire to fellowship with other believers. Please do not give up in your search for a church home, or even a “home fellowship”, which seems to be a growing movement. I would encourage you to continue, but instead of perhaps watching all the people, focus on finding that good solid Bible teaching Pastor. It is essential that we find a group of people with like faith to encourage and exhort us in our walk. We are like coals in a fire; take one out of contact with the rest and we grow cold. Keep the Faith and may God bless you!
“America cannot win the war on terror?” Wars are unwinable. No one wins a war. They are purely to allow Chaos temporary sovereignty so psychopaths can profit from those prepared to pay to escape from terror pain or displeasure, and the war on terror, drugs or anything else are no different, and those that promote them have entirely the opposite motives to what they attest to. The War on drugs promotes drugs, the war on terror,terror. Aries nature is cowardice, deceit and force employed in a vain attempt to have power over his short comings.
Any that say any good or truth can come from such practices is a liar, and most all politicians qualify.
I’m not saying all wars must not be fought, but to think any good will come from them is shear stupidity, and to enter them lightly or with reciprocal expectations is the pinnacle of futility.
What if the holy books such as the bible, is also a product of a religion?
To me its a little wrong that you’d have to believe in some other human’s speech or written books that Jesus exists and that all those stories were true.
Who knows the precision of anyone’s bible’s version? They have been translated, edited, whatever else. Missing pages is a possibility too from such an old book. Not just by accidental disappearance, but who ever edited the book might also have cropped the ‘bad’ verses.
The God knows what youre made of, your body, mind and soul
I dont see how he can expect me to believe his son is real only because some stranger wrote a book about him, and a book about other people aswell. Supernatural things have happened in the bible, yet I never witnessed one with my own eyes.
Is a person to leap into a belief like that? Fear of going to hell is one of the biggest pushes a man gets to take a leap into a belief.
There would be far less believers if there was no mention of a little place called hell.
Alan, I appreciate your comment. I should like to ask you one simple question: Do you believe that God is the creator of the Universe?
James 1: 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
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.
Thanks and that is TRUE we don’t need a religion. We are all connected with God same as Adam but he disobeyed God and lost his position, that is why we need to restore it we are all connected with God,
“…we are all connected with God.” – We can be, Samson. We can be.
you have to remember that it was a bunch of Jews that wrote this book. They definitely messed with the wording over time. Either omitting or changing the words around to fit their own concepts of life, death, and supernatural beings (God, Jesus, Angels, Satan, Fallen Angels). I believe you can tell in the Bible when Jews try to change things around. There are too many contradictions in the Bible to list and many videos online that prove it, and you can even double check in your Bible. Listen closely when you read though, for it is not written who wrote these books, nor a precise date. God loves/hates man, Jesus was NOT God but was the chosen one, and Radical Jews ruined the Bible and the world. THE END
Dan,
I have approved your comment to illustrate the vehement anti-Semitism which distracts many from believing and accepting Jesus Christ. There are plenty of videos online to “prove” any point you want to make. I have studied the Bible for 30 years and discovered some hard things, but never have seen a “contradiction” in spite of endless claims they exist. You betray your own ignorance of Scripture and bigotry.
While Jews did write a good portion of the Bible, much of it was written before there was any such thing as “Jews”, and also by Gentile believers. Your talking points are common arguments for hating both Jews and Christians. They are the same points made by Islamic Fundamentalist Jihadi’s. I have seen them time and time again.
May God have mercy on you and reveal Himself to you before you have to meet Him face to face in the Judgement.
I used to be an athiest but I always revered Jesus as the best of all men. I am sorry you don’t seem to revere Him and seem to hate Jews. I pray that God can help you see that life has no meaning without Jesus, who loves you so much that He died for all your sins in order that you might have a sin-free relationship with Him. Love to you, for the Shepherd of your soul is seeking you, a lost sheep. He longs fo bless you.
I have searched for the answer to “why God hates religion” on many websites. This is the ONLY one I have found that I was able to understand. I Am A Followed of Christ and I Am in Relationship with Him, but as a believer we get caught up in who is right and wrong, politics of the physical church. I believe if we are All focused on His will, His ways then everything else will fall into place. After all we should be allowing the Spirit to lead us, so if we do that we would never go astray and everything will be planned perfectly. I support this statement Completely, and I appreciate your ability to break it down so others can understand. God Bless your Ministry
Glory to God, Danielle. Please share this with your friends that others may understand as well!
Excellent read.
Thanks for taking your time to spread truth and wisdom! May God bless you! This information was truly a blessing to my understanding of being a Believer.
Right on point. Faith in what Christ did on the cross allows the Holly Spirit the latitude to operate in our lives to break and destroy every yoke!
Makes sense.
This was Awesome, I’m going to share this with my youth group Wednesday night…. Thanks so much and God Bless…
Thomas McNulty
Youth leader @ First Missionary Church Clyde Ohio 43410… Any info would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks
Thomas, you can find my email address on the “About the Author” page.
I’m going to throw myself into the idea of relationship, minus religion, and see what happens. After seriously, earnestly practicing Christianity for about 30 years, I have to say, the results have been awful. I stayed in an abusive marriage for 20 years, out of “obedience” – just praying, surviving, and waiting for the yolk to be light. I prayed for a miracle – even the one called “death”. Anything to stop the yelling and hitting. Prayed and prayed and did and did, until one day, i decided God wanted me to stop putting myself in hell, because my religion said divorce was always wrong. Having trouble understanding “how” to have a relationship without a specific set of rules, but that’s obviously a lack of relationship rearing its ugly head.
Jeanie I am sorry for you. God does not call us to be obedient to evil; only to stand against it. When physical safety is a woman’s concern, there is no reason she should ever submit to that behavior. Find a Christian support group, whether a Bible believing, teaching church or Christian friends or group ministry. You need support, someone to confide in, and guidance in “relationship theology”. You know now what a legalistic application means. You will avoid that, but you must take care to not allow that pendullum swing to come back too far. Stay in the Bible, continue to pray, and seek that relationship with Jesus Christ. God Bless you!
This is true! Christianity is not a religion.
Christianity is a personal relationship with God.
Very powerful column of writing and a wonderful array of responses. Unfortunately, Christianity like all of the other religions of the world is tainted because of the desires and thoughts of man. Everything than mankind picks up becomes tainted because of the lust of wealth, power and the need for adoration and praise. I was born Catholic, raised going from one faith to another in search of truth. I became “Born Again” and I walked away from non-denominational christian faith because I could not bring myself to accept that a God of love would turn away billions of people because they never accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior and accept that he is the only way to have a relationship with god. This made their faith appear to be very arrogant and prideful. Along my travels throughout life, I have learned the dangers of blind faith and I now question authority and seek logic and truth in every teaching that I hear and learn about. The one observation that I have managed to solidify over and over again is that religion is a tool that man uses to control his brothers and sisters. If I choose to seek out and have a relationship with my creator, it should not be dependent on what this guy dictates to me or that woman declares as the “right way” to have that relationship. That is nothing more than control in my opinion. The benefits of religion are: Jealousy, Skepticism, division, hatred, pride, arrogance, judgement, manipulation to name just a few. To Hell with religion! Why can’t people just learn to love his brothers and sisters of mankind? Because deep down inside of our souls, there is an ugliness and it is there because of greed which is generated by lust and hatred which is generated by fear. That is why any faith system that teaches us to pursue wealth is a perverted philosophy that is ruled by lust. If they teach intolerance and hatred, they are ruled by fear and can not bring themselves to love unconditionally. There are good people in this world that have pure hearts. They seek to do good and love those around them and always look for the good in everything. I would imagine that they are probably the closest to the creator that man can get because they follow the attributes of a loving god. Once again… TO HELL WITH RELIGION!
Kevin, this is why it is imperative that the Scriptures (Holy Bible) be read, studied and comprehended by the individual. When it was illegal for the common man to be in possession of so much as one page of scripture, this time was known as the “Dark Ages”. The people were kept ignorant of Truth and were easily controlled. “The Truth shall set you free”. “But men love darkness rather than Light.” Therefore, “wide is the path which leads to destruction, and many there be which go by it. But small is the gate and narrow the path which leads to Life, and few there be who find it.” The principal of “the many and the few” codifies the Old Testament statement that “There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof is death.” Man following his own natural proclivities of “lust, greed, and pride” is devoid of discernment which comes first by faith, then by study and knowledge. The exclusivity of Jesus’ teaching, “No man comes to the Father except by Me” is indeed, a hard pill to swallow at the face of it. I believe there will be those in Heaven who never had the opportunity to know the name of Jesus, but they had the testimony of the Creation which points to the Creator, as pointed out in Romans One, which indicates the true seeker will be given revelation through this testimony “so then they are without excuse”. I will allow the Judge to sort them out, according to His Own standard, which has been revealed in the Christ. God Bless you.
Spot On 🔜🔛🔚☑️🔊No NO FEAR MY BROTHER ! He is coming.
I am so glad I came across this article. I have long been a firm believer that you don’t need a church to pray – that God is everywhere and as long as you believe and trust in him, he is always with you. Organized religion has always been a problem for me, especially the Catholics and all their strict practices. They claim to be loving and caring followers of God, yet they have done horrific things and have been so harsh to anyone who has broken their “rules”. I was baptized Protestant but rarely went to church and kind of found my own way in my belief in God, which I have ever since I can remember. I like to occasionally go to church at night when no one else is there and pray. That is very peaceful to me. I don’t enjoy the “congregations” who want you to always have to “get involved”. And if you turn them down you are snubbed. With all the insanity in our world, especially these days; government piling on legal controls of us, our freedoms eroding, our pockets being stripped of our hard earned money, I constantly say “I don’t believe in ‘man’s law’, but only that in God”.
You are so deceived…. Retread your Bible, Christianity is a religion.
Care to elaborate?
“Religion …. ALL religion …. is man’s lack of faith in God”
C.D. Brewer
Great comment!
I was an altar boy and I have been saying this for 55 years . Man was born before the book . Not after . And holy books are simply stories by human authors . No Jesus , no God, god , ever wrote one word in a holy book .
So Woody, Do you believe there are no immutable truths?
Do you?
I believe there are immutable truths, yes.
“In philosophy and logic, an immutable truth is an unchanging universal fact or reality that is not influenced by human opinion.” I ALSO THINK THAT IMMUTABLE TRUTH EXISTS. I don’t know this to be true…I THINK it is true…I may even have FAITH that it is true… but this all takes place within my mind. In TRUTH I don’t know and you don’t know.
My Question to Woody was whether or not HE believes that immutable truth exists.
God is Truth. Either He exists or He doesn’t. If He does not, then it does not matter what you or I believe in our minds, and Woody is correct.
If He does exist, then immutable truth exists, whether or not we believe it in our minds.
I agree.
Christians pray to Mary mother of Lord Jesus as she acts as a intermediary between them and God and Catholics look upon God the father Lord Jesus and Mary as a holy family in heaven. The greatest fear Satan has is blessed Mary as she was chosen by God to bear his son. But Satan loves you as you treat her like dirt I wonder if you treat your mother the same way. So you have changed the bible and taken out Jesus words from the King James Bible to make it more humanism as opposed to God. You are the people who doubt that Enoch and Elisha are still alive in heaven you are thepeople that doubt that Lord Jesus words in Matthew 16:28 from the King James Bible are true you are the people that Lord Jesus referred to in Matthew 10:33 of the King James Bible. Blind without faith leading the blind without faith.
Dennis, The Bible says there is one mediator between man and God, the Man Christ Jesus. Non-Catholic Christians do not disrespect Mary, as she was indeed the most blessed among women, they just do not pray to Mary, b/c there is no Bible passages to direct them to do so. And yes, we do believe that Enoch and Elisa did not die, but were taken up into Heaven. It is also possible that Moses was translated as well b/c no body was found.
Well that’s a shame you also say we do believe that Enoch and Elisha did not die, but were taken up into Heaven. So do you believe Matthew 16:28 of the King James Bible.
I don’t understand your statement “that’s a shame you also say we do believe that Enoch and Elisha did not die…” Along with your previous accusations of disbelief of various scriptures etc., you either don’t understand what non-Catholic Christians do believe or you have some sort of ax to grind with the KJ Authorized Bible which I do believe to be an accurate transliteration of the Holy Bible.
What is your point?
Do you believe that Lord Jesus left some of his disciples here as per Matthew 16:28 of the King James Bible until his return?
I am one of his disciples.
how old are you then
Dennis, make your point already.
richardandmable@gmail.com my question is how can I build my relationship with the Lord and God the Holy One. If churches and religion are the problem how can I get saved and blessed. And also baptized by someone that is worthy of the Lord God. I want to be close to the Lord I have never been close before but I am more than ready now. I would give my life to be with him period and change all the bad things that I have done for I was not perfect in my life. But did not do anything really bad I had two bad marriages one was my fault the other one was hers. I’ve done things I’m not proud of but it’s nothing to send me to hell I asked the Lord for forgiveness and ask him to be my Lord and my savior but I know I need to be baptized again as I was once when I was a baby. Not knowing that I was baptized when I was a baby. But I would know it now and I want to get my son baptized as well he is also ready. Thank you for listening to me and please reply. And let me know how I can get baptized by somebody that is worthy of God my Lord my savior. I love God and Jesus Moore than anything in this world next to my 2 sons and my mother and father which have passed on my two sons are all I have and I want them to follow me. And be one with God. I have asked the Lord to forgive me for all my sins. And I pray to God that he does forgive me. And accept me as one of his children that he would be proud of. Even though I have not been perfect all my life. My body and soul and heart belongs to God. And I have no doubts in my mind anymore. Thank you for listening God bless you.! 🙂 amen by the way I am new to this and I don’t understand the politics or whatever they call it. Why somebody would not want to praise God when they call their self the Church of God. I thought church was my way out. My way to the Lord to show him how much he means to me if anyone can help me please do thanks again
Dear Richard,
If what you have said here is true, you are saved indeed! You see, it is not simply the act of baptism, or attendance of church services, but the the spirit in which you do these things. The problem with religion is not the act itself, but the heart attitude of the individual. Many find a false security in the act of attending church, or baptism, or communion, etc. The act itself is neither good or bad, but the heart attitude of the person. You have demonstrated a repentant heart attitude. That is what the Lord asks for; repentance of one’s sins. You should try to find a church. For the most part I would encourage you to stay away from the big conference churches, but sometimes you will find one of those that does a good job of teaching the Bible. You want to go to a service where the Pastor encourages personal Bible study and teaches it faithfully during the service. He should tell you to turn to the given passage of the day when he starts the service, expecting the congregation to follow in their own Bibles. I like smaller churches of less than a couple hundred, but that is only a personal preference. I do not necessarily condemn the practices of every church; church attendance or “fellowship with the believers” is a necessity in order to meet and encourage one another. It is like a charcoal fire for the barbeque; a lot of coals make the fire really hot and keep one another glowing. If one coal gets rolled away from the fire it cools and will die out. Fellowship with other Christians is necessary to grow and be faithful. Don’t think you will find the perfect church with perfect people, though. Churches are full of sinners; because even true Christians still struggle with sin and sometimes doubt. Everyone needs encouragement and fellowship. Do not take this article to mean there are no good churches out there b/c there are many. God Bless you Richard! I will pray for you that God leads you to a good fellowship!
2000 YEARS LIVING AT CAESAREA PHILLIPI
So you are 2000 years old and living at Caesarea Phillipi?
You must believe the word of God old testament his prophets who wrote his laws second by his son Lord Jesus whose disciples wrote the new testament and his words to by Gods statues. White anglo-saxon has turned his back on God and will pay the price by being taken over by other nations it is happening by stealth cheap labour local people unable to find work. No work no money no life. God have mercy on them.
Your literary talents are stunning.
Its good to have a superior interlect
I don’t agree with the topic (God hate religion) you said man invented religion. i don’t agree with that as well. but the fact is that religion is corrupt
“PRIDE” BLINDS TRUTH IN JESUS CHRIST ..
“PRIDE IS FROM THE ENEMY…..
“JESUS IS OUR COMPASS”
I believe in God, i don’t believes in stories written in a book as i sees them as business, i strongly believes on reality than stories tellers by unknown persons written in what they described as Holy books, i rather believe in a holy man if i found one than books i know nothing about. God don’t live in a church, mosque, temple, holy books etc rather lives in a human heart, God created all things by spoken words and so shall it be, God is spirit and his words are spirit not books of any type, word itself can not be seen but his effect can be seen that is God for all of us. Religions are man made ( devils) trying to turn us off from God . God only exist as the father, the word and the spirit
If not for the written word how would you have a concept of God? God Himself wrote the Commandments that we may know what is required for Holiness. Otherwise we just have the words of Man. You said, “God only exist as the father, the word and the spirit.” I agree. God the Father, Christ the Word (as He is referred to in the Scripture), and the Holy Spirit. But without the Scriptures I have nothing to rest upon except the words of lying men. “Let God be true and every man a liar.”
I wish they didn’t make the church service into a stage production instead of a place of reverence and prayer and worship. I think our catholic mass has become a masonic service. No respect to God the father the son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. clapping, yelling out during a baptism which is wrong during the mass service, putting out your right arm similar to a Nazi salute supposedly for blessing. It is hard to believe our church has gone this way.
Hi,that was a lovely post but I have few doubts such as “church” is referred as Christ’s bride.Since iam not a catholic idk what you mean by that,so,could you be more specific.I believe that Jesus was a prophet and he was a Jew too and Christianity came into existence much after his time .So, according to me church has nothing to do with Christ.
Secondly, you said that the relationship with God can only be better through Jesus Christ.Jesus was the son of God. Aren’t we all?? So,is it possible to build a healthy relationship with our father in heaven(god) by following the righteous path only.
I believe that the greater good is not in worshipping the god but worshipping the people. and by worshipping I mean helping people ,aiding them in the time of chaos,alleviating them.
And christianity is based on jesus Christ.Christianity is a religion and God hates religion.
Dmitri, Thank you for commenting, and I will try to answer each of your points.
First, the Bride of Christ – Ephesians chapter 5:20-33 address the relationship between Christ and the Church is like that of husband and wife. Also, 2nd Corinthians 11:2 says, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may persent you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” Other verses that describe this relationship similarity are Isaiah 62:5, John 14:1-3, also John’s gospel chapter 3.
Concerning who is the sons of God: Jesus is “the only begotten Son”, that is to say He was born of a virgin without a man’s seed. Are all humans sons of God? Jesus called the religious leaders, those Pharisees and Sadducees, sons of the Devil in John 8:44. Why? Not because they were simply born human, but because their religion was Satanic in that they were perverting and adding to the Scriptures, making up their own rules and traditions to be followed by other men. They were driven by power lust, and used their natural heritage as “sons of Abraham” as a weapon to bring others into subjection, much in the way the fundamentalist Muslim uses the Sharia and the Quranic verses of the sword to exert power over others.
You ask “is it possible to build a healthy relationship with our father (God) by following the righteous path only”. I am intrigued by the language which makes me wonder if you are not a Muslim. I want to answer you as a friend would. The Bible teaches that the only starting place for a “healthy relationship” is repentance and believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Blessed Redeemer of all Mankind. Only in this beginning is it possible to have a healthy relationship to God. This beginning is then followed by serving others. Simply serving others without this spiritual foundation is exactly what I am talking about in the article by “works”. This serving for acceptance by God is what all “religion” is based upon, and absent from the knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for my own sin, works is simply an expression of religious activity. It is what Jesus chastized the Pharisee’s for. Helping other people is a wonderful thing, whether or not you are a follower of Jesus. It will make you feel good, and that’s nice. But apart from a spiritual relationship with Jesus and His love for those people, it’s only reward is the “feel good”. There is no eternal reward.
“Christianity” as you refer to the religion: Technically you are correct in that Christianity has been made into a religion, organized and officiated. I do not defend this “religous” component. However, Jesus had followers, several hundred, which within a short 50 days of His resurrection grew into several thousand, which then grew exponentially! For a while those believers were referred to as people of “The Way”. Not long after, in the city of Antioch, those followers of Jesus Christ were called “Christians” for the first time. The name stuck, as it means, “Followers of Christ”. It took a few hundred years for Rome to capture and codify “Christianity” into an organized religion. This is why I do not endorse any proper or official denomination of “Christianity” but prefer to use the Bible as my guide.
God Bless you Dmitri on your seeking journey and may He show you His truth, absent of man’s religions. Be Well!
I’m sad for everyone here and out there I have studied and studied seek and you shall find moto what have I found? That Everyone is so full of pride haughty selfish living lies pointing fingers love for the greater number is cold. If even half of Christians no a quarter of Christians practiced what they preached we wouldn’t have half the struggles we have today. People would have a shoulder to cry on they wouldn’t be sleeping outside going hungry losing everything including children what a joke when I hear people talk about how much they give or help. Its ALL bull I’m thankful God knows the truth sees who really does care right into the heart of people I have nothing why? Because I share all I have with as many people I can not to gain anything back I just can not stand the suffering of those around me. Fact all wealth is gained off the backs of the repressed God never says he blesses with money he does say. Don’t allow women and children to suffer ask yourself is someone suffering on your street. YES they are!!!! May God show you your Shame! May he humble everyone who claims they are believers of him and May he bless the ones who are suffering everyday
Dear Shocked,
I am glad to see that you are so passionate about helping the poor. Are you homeless?
Thank you for this you have been a light in a dark time. I have never really gone to church once in awhile with a friend or family but not a constant. And I know I have no relationship with god or jesus and I have been wanting one but clueless as to how I have tried to find a church to help me but all I have seen and found is they are deceivers and hypocrites.Especially Catholics and therefore will not ask a church on how to find one again, but I am not blind and I do have some knowledge of the bible. And I see whats going on around me and its all there in the bible. And by a dark time I mean I have been struggling about if it was wrong for me to condemn all religions that perhaps that is the only way to get close to god. And now I see that it isn’t so thank you again.
Fellowship is important to remain STRONG; however, we mistake going sit in a building and listening to a man try to explain God for fellowship. Like the old saying goes “Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are.”
I do hope I have not discouraged you from seeking fellowship of other believers in a congregational setting. It can be difficult to find a group that you’re comfortable to share with, but please pray and ask God to show you where you can fit in. We are not expected by God, on the contrary, we are admonished by Him to seek the fellowship of other believers so that we can be of encouragement to others and receive such unto ourselves when needed. Bless you!
Wow I have never read anything that expresses how I feel about religion until now. I’ve had several conversations with my wife about this subject and how I feel about religion and the church. I strongly agree with this article on the subject.
You are on point with your theory. I’m not sure you’re paradigm is completely accurate but, great for generalization. I would have included that the Holy Bible (I’m Christian) also refers to NOT having separate denominations; therefore, you’re statement regarding “my way or the highway” denominations of Christianity would be completely reinforced. I’m still baffled by the ideology of religion. Man has TRIED to put GOD into a concept that can be easily rationalized but…. MAN CANNOT EVEN STAND TO BE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. So, how could we accurately conceptualize GOD?
The pharisees asked JESUS, SON OF GOD, what was the greatest of all the commandments. I believe that his answer was meticulously rendered. Paraphrasing:
1st: LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.
2nd: LOVE ONE ANOTHER
The problem is that humans have utterly destroyed what the meaning of LOVE is. Think about it: How many ways do you use the term LOVE. For example:
“Oh, I LOVE that movie.”
” I made LOVE to my wife.”
“I LOVE it when he does that.”
“I LOVE my pet.”
On and on… We have cheapened the meaning of an EXCRUCIATINGLY VITAL term, LOVE, with LIKE. If you like something, then it has no relative bearing to LOVE. Both like and love are verbs so by adding ly to the verb creates an adjective, right? Well let’s see what the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines those to terms LOVE, LOVELY and LIKE, LIKELY and you tell me how we should live a life pleasing to GOD.
LIKE
verb \ˈlīk\
Popularity: Top 10% of words
Simple Definition of like
: to enjoy (something) : to get pleasure from (something)
: to regard (something) in a favorable way
: to feel affection for (someone) : to enjoy being with (someone)
LIKELY
adjective like·ly \ˈlī-klē\
Popularity: Bottom 50% of words
Simple Definition of likely
—used to indicate the chance that something will happen
: seeming to be true
: seeming to be right or suited for a purpose
LOVE
noun \ˈləv\
Popularity: Top 1% of lookups
Simple Definition of love
: a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person
: attraction that includes sexual desire : the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship
: a person you love in a romantic way
LOVELY
adjective love·ly \ˈləv-lē\
Popularity: Top 40% of words
Simple Definition of lovely
: attractive or beautiful especially in a graceful way
: very good or likable
: very pleasing
Great comment! English is very subjective to context when defining the word “Love”, indeed. Greek is much more specific w/o the need for a lot of context. “Phileo, Storge’, Agape’, and Eros”, may be less subjective, although not entirely free from contextual application, and less confusing . But your point is very well made. Thanks!
Thanks ingrafted. Great to see all Americans haven’t let secular society nor our greatest adversary, lucifer, tempt them to forget why we are really here.
On a different note… what is your take on an evil man being born for his day? Wouldn’t that imply that God created the evil man to serve a purpose for God’s will? Therfore, in doing the evil he/she was programmed, implanted by God to fulfill grants amnesty into Heaven. Or. do the evil deeds observed by God negate acceptance into Heaven.
Hmm, thoughtful question, that.
I think of Judas Iscariot, chosen by Christ, for the specific purpose. But, in his repentance, was he admitted to Heaven, after he hanged himself? Or condemned to Hell for his actions? Was Judas “programmed”, or was it the foreknowledge of Christ, which resulted in, or realized, his treachery? Did Judas himself ever fully realize what he was going to do, up until he saw Christ condemned?
I am afraid I am not so fully Calvinistic as to ascribe to the human being a complete lack of “free will”, including repenting of, or changing one’s own apparent “destiny” of an evil action. That does infer that God would be condemning a man to “perish”, something that Scripture is clear that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentance.”
I would be interested in your thoughts on this matter. 🙂
[…] God Hates Religion | Defining the Narrative – Yes, God hates religion… I will give you Biblical support for that statement in a moment. Someone may be thinking “I thought God invented religion!” […]
Good
Where would we be baptized n by whom if we didn’t attend a church? I mean every church has a religious concept according to the bible. Even u mentioned scriptures from the bible so what do we follow? Because there would not be guidelines if there was no bible. There would be no religion either without the bible. There would be nothing for us to respond to or argue about because there would be no bible. So explain your thoughts on this….
with respect,
Louis H. Vargas III
Louis, do not confuse “religion’ with “church”, or “bible”. As the article points out, organized religion does not necessarily follow the bible. My point is exactly this; follow the Bible. Also, you do not need to be baptized by a church. You can be baptized by any believer who is living according to Christ, and His teachings. Religion says, “if you are not baptized by our church officials, or denomination it does not count.” Religion says, “if you do not belong to our specific denomination you cannot take communion with us.” Jesus says to all His followers, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel, making disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.” The Great Commission is to ALL His children, not just to some organized church hierarchy.
You are right, that every church has some religious practices, but I would point out that not every church believes that Jesus Christ is the Ressurrected Son of God, let alone that the Bible. and the Bible alone, is the revealed Word of God. Therefore, not every “church” is part of the universal Church, that whole body of believers who have chosen to follow the Christ.
Thank God -Elohim ! Very very good ! Have you heard of the Law Of Doctrine , that’s why the word -commands of Elohim , repeats it self to prove ! I have the proof ! sites.google.com/site/thechurchtheway and carreskennedy@google+.com
Use anything ! It’s the main part of Daniels prosphecys . I’m on cell , call me Carres 225-305-0585
[…] Source: God Hates Religion […]
Yes , but the true church is the only church God called out . The law of doctrine proves all true and false doctrine . In a nut shell this is why the word repeats it’s self to prove its self . Opponions are stupid , antichrist . Please read sites.google.com/site/thechurchtheway God proves there is one way , not many ways that’s nimrods religion . Follow my Jesus not the Nimrod Jesus . 2 Corth . 11:4 – 13-15
That’s religion ! Like the two ways of the world , our con-chance bares witness of this . Like Elohim one is more famous other not .
protestant define religion as “Religion is man’s ways of reaching and getting back to God.”..whereas the real definition is having FAITH/BELIEF on something or someone….a system of belief or FAITH…a pursuit of interest…..even the Bible quoted a good religion example in James 1:27…James 1:27 is a good example of RELIGION as define as SYSTEM OF FAITH/BELIEF.
Amen is all I can say and so to the point thats why we have to read what God say and lnow His love for is not man thank you.
I would like more information because I love God and His truth
You cannot base your argument on a Bible that could of possibly been edited by man also
What else is there, Joe?
So if we remember to keep sabbath holy, because it is one of God ‘s commandments, are we being religious? It is nice to keep the Sabbath holy and rest. I realize that a personal relationship with God is important, and we should be humble. We are peculiar and we are set apart. We are living by God’s God grace.
Hi Mary,
Being religious and adhering to religion are not necessarily synonymous. It is the spirit of the thing – am I keeping the Sabbath to follow the rules and please God, or am I keeping the Sabbath b/c I love Him and reap the blessings promised? I know you have the correct spirit. It’s just like the tithe; God loves a cheerful giver, but a grudging tithe payer will reap no blessing. 🙂
The etymology of the word religion is a vow between a man and a deity, like marriage. Not sure how God hates a committed relationship between Himself and some man. Now He might hate false religion, but not true religion.
Muslim people believe the same God
I suggest read more and think more
I agree with your openion of religion
But you are being ignorant just like me and others . I only believe in one God and no Religion
Which god do you believe? The god of the Quran and the God of the Bible are not the same.
I’m not very matured spiritually, so there’s nothing left for me to say but this: Wow. Very clarifying. Powerful. All I wanted was an article, but what I ended up getting was a ton of truth-packed punches to the ribs, eyes, mouth, nose…you name it. Had to get all through the comments just to leave a reply. May God bless His children.
I have been angry and confused, lost because the ones I trusted ruined my life and stumbled me. The one place that should have been a haven. Were the mess shouldn’t have happened. Now I seek for god to guide me to the right path. I have a strong relationship with god. When I sing the butterflies and birds surround me and walk outside the sun brightens. Yes I love Jehovah God and Jesus. HELP ME FIND MY PATH.
Martin, You must submerge yourself in the Bible, the Word of God. Start reading the Gospel of John, then read Matthew, Mark and Luke, followed by the Acts of the Apostles. When you have done that keep reading other books in the New Testament while starting to read through the Psalms, one or two per day. You must also find a local church to get into. One which encourages it’s members to read the Word and who carry their Bibles into the church to follow along during the service. Music is secondary. Some small church with a good godly preacher who has a heart for the Word of God and His people is where you need to be right now. Some larger churches are ok but don’t just assume because there are a lot of people going there its ok. If you have questions you can ask here. Go to the “About the Author” page and at the bottom you’ll find my email address.
AGREED!!!!!
True true so true..
How to have a second birth do I have to go into a religion church for my cleaning fory Baptize?
How can I have this second life? Do I have to be Baptize?
Latica,
Baptism is the public expression of your new life in Jesus Christ. It is not necessary for salvation, but is a testimony of what has happened spiritually. Your salvation, or “rebirth” is what happens when you give your full trust and faith in Jesus and the work He did on the cross in your place. He took the hell that you and I deserve so that we do not have to go there. His sacrifice for your sins. His resurrection from the dead assures us that we will be raised as well for eternity with Him.
Excellent article. I too do not believe in organized religions. I do believe very strongly that God exists. I do have a problem in assigning a name to God other than My Father. I do not know or automatically believe that Jesus or Allah or any God assigned a name is God. I fall into the group commonly referred to today as the “Nones”. A term I personnaly despise. Your further thoughts on this subject especially those applying to my specific comments would be warmly welcomed. Thanks in advance for your response to me. Anthony Mastrandrea
God’s blessing on you Anthony. I think it human nature to need to name, or identify, things, beings, places, etc. God Himself said His Name is “I AM”, when Moses inquried as to His identity. There are many gods who are not The God, and it is imperitive that we do not pray or bow to a deity who is not worthy of our worship. While a simple “Name” does not necessarily identify the true person, or God, it is nonetheless important that we understand and clarify who is it that we are addressing or following. You are correct about being very careful for whom we address, such as the name of “Jesus”. Language sometimes conflicts or confuses. “Jesus” being Greek rendering for the “Yeshua” of Hebrew origin. Not everyone named Jesus is worthy of our worship, that is truth. Yet, according to Scripture, there is power in the name of “Jesus”, particularly when praying to the Father (I AM) and when coming against the Evil one, Satan. When I pray in the Name of the Son of the “I AM”, the “I AM” recognizes me. If I pray in the name of the Hispanic guy down the road, Jesus (prounounced “Yaysoos”), it is of no account. God, Jehovah, Yawheh, the I AM, is The God and therefore able to discern to whom my spirit is directing the prayer and in whose name I offer it.
I believe part of this “name” thing is one reason why the Jews revere the name of the I AM, or as written in the English transliteration of Torah and Tanach (The Old Testament) His Name is revered as to ommitting the vowels from it so that the spelling is rendered “YHWH” (pronounced Yahway), and when that name is come to they do not even speak it, and simply say “Hashem” which means “The Name”.
Personally, I do not have a problem naming the I AM, as long as the spoken or written name is in accordance to Scripture. Also, the name has to be applied to the correct deity, or specifically, the Creator God of whom the Holy Bible tells. An example of a mis-appropriation would be the name “Allah”. If this name, defined “The Deity” is addressing the God of the Bible and not the god of the Quran, then it may be appropriate. Many Christians, or followers of Jesus the Son of God, address the Father with Allah. This is obviously not the same deity as is spoken of in Quran, because the two are totally different deity’s. The Quran abhors the very idea that Allah would have a Son, in human form, and that Jesus (Issi in Quran) died on the cross and was ressurrected to Life and ascended. One must understand fully the differences to whom he is offering worship.
Glory to God in the Highest. Bless you Anthony.
Why are you not plublishing my comments which you said were previously sent and not responding to the questions I asked.
Sorry for the delay. I only periodically check. Please see response to previous comment. Hope it helps.
Exellent observation
Explains why they set laws for all to follow without setting the example,blocking any chance of followers ever opening their minds to clear knowledge about freedom from the bondage..followers get so taken up to the extent that they hate their brothers with whim they spend day to day life because of set laws yet God is interested in our self governance.
“Self Governance”. Excellent observation, and one that the Founders of America held the absolute highest priority of. This ability to self govern is what the Constitution of the United States was/is dependant upon. This is why the Constitution seems so weak today, b/c, as John Adams wrote, it is made for a moral and religious people; it is wholly inadequate to the governance of any other. Feel free to download my study on the Founders here: https://ingrafted.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/revealed-faith-of-the-founders.pdf
Goes does not hate religion, but sin. God commanded the Israelites to celebrate Sabbaths, New Moons and make sacrifice when they sin. Would God command Israel to do what He detests? Would God contradict Himself? No. What God hates about these practises is that the Israelites are SINNING and then thinking they can make it all right by doing these practises. You could say He hates covering up sin with righteous looking activity but again He hates sin. Even Jesus, right after telling the people that the scribes and Pharisees are hyppcrites, tells the people to listen to them “because they sit on the seat of Moses” (Mt23:2-3). If it’s only about some sort of relationship which the scribes and pharisees are devoid of, why would Jesus say to listen to them? No, the problem is not religion but our disobedience, religious looking or not. To draw the line in the sand anywhere else can easily avoid the challenge to repent, and just set up a new form of the Pharisees where we say ‘not like all those religious people’ (Lk 18:11).
“Religious” activity is no substitute for relationship with God. As referenced in the essay, God Himself says He “hates” the new moons and sabbaths that Israel was being so “religious” about keeping. You are right, God hates sin, and the purpose of man’s religious activity is to assuage judgement for sin. We know that God is interested in the heart. That He is not interested in what we say and do, “Your lips honor me but your heart is far from me”.
I do not believe that we are in much disagreement here; perhaps a semantical difference.
Sorry if I wasn’t very clear. I do agree with your accessment that it’s about a relationship but I disagree that it’s not about religion.
For one the term ‘religion’ means nothing to someone before the seperation of church and state. Activities for relating to a supernatural diety and those of trade, governance and culture were indivisible before this. This is more than a word choice disagreement, religion as we use the term didn’t exist in Jesus’ day. How could He, much less His Father before Him, call people to repent of something they had never known?
Today the term ‘religious’ is a broad category. In secular America it often gets used to mean anything more than strict materialism, or of the people who are connected to established groups of Christians, neither of which I suppose you mean to say God hates categorically.
Pastorally, using the term to catalogue the sins which God hates is misleading, though seemingly very attractive today. I hear whole sections of Christians trying to distance themselves from other Christians using the term to degrade their brothers and sisters. Admittedly, there are grievous sins committed against our brothers and sisters in the name of religion, but if we then call it anything but sin, we run the risk of judging huge swathes of fellow Christians as fools at best and devils at worst, committing a no less troubling sin in the name of ‘relationship’. If it is Sin God hates, then He hates my sin too. I cannot excuse myself. Someone can truthfully claim to stop religious activity. It says in the scripture they are a liar if they say they have no sin.
Yes, God does hate sin. Your sin, my sin, all sin God hates. To say there was no such thing as religion in Jesus’ day, is like saying there was no such thing as communication. While the very word form may not have existed (but actually the root of our word “religion” is the latin “religio” did exist, meaning “to bind” or “chain”) the activity most certainly did and Jesus called them out for it. I refer you back to the article and Matthew 23. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees, those “religious leaders” who failed to live up to their own requirements for “holiness” illustrate Jesus’ point. It’s the same as in the Old Testament (Isaiah 29″13) which Jesus quotes in Matthew 15, saying their religious tradition transgressed the commandment of God, and “you honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”.
Besides this, there was all kinds of “religious activity” carrying on all around the world, whether bowing to a king, a creature, or an idol, offering sacrifices of blood, children, animals, virgins, or less gruesome acts of worship, it was/is religion, if only called by another name. The point of this article, Russ, is that God is not looking for religious people. He is looking for people who want a relationship with Him.
You must hate being wrong all the time, the commandments of God was chiseled in stone by GOD and given to Moses, Jesus referred to these commandments more then once, You prattel on without knowing what you are talking about.
Dennis,
I don’t see your point. Nothing in this article has negated the Commandments of God. Furthermore, no one I know has fulfilled those Commandments. That was the purpose of the coming of Jesus, no?
I loved this message, exactly what I have always felt. I thought I was wrong for not believing in any religion because of men creation. I believe many preachers are for their personal gain. I have also always believe that we should help/ lend a hand to someone in need, that’s how god would want us to help each other.
Thank you so much. That has helped me understand religion and my relationship with God in a the right way. I really appreciate.
If this was meant to be “believed”, it would have been brought in to the new testament. Everyone who knows their bible knows that what is in the new testament is what is to be believed, practiced, after the old testament and with the beginning of Christ. If it was not repeated in the new testament it was not the teachings that God had his son bring us and teach us. Jesus would have been told to stop preaching amoung the people.
Jesus was a Teacher, not a “Preacher”. In the New Testament who did He admonish and call a brood of vipers. When He talked of the leaven who was He talking about. It IS in the New Testament my friend…
I agree
I think “church” and “religion” have both been manipulated by man but I don’t agree that religion is the problem nor that Jesus spoke against it. I believe that the dogma and doctrine of certain Christian sectors defenately falls into the category that you mention as religion. Mentioning a certain passage Matthew 23 1-4 explains to follow the religious teachings, laws and so forth but not the hypocrites giving it. That even the greatest teacher among us is our equal and here to serve. In your thoughts above you are still promoting a religion. Which is the one of a personal relationship with Christ. Different from the “works” type but deff. still a religion in practice. Yes there are too many denominations and not enough CHRIST committed hearts but this is what Jesus prophesied. We can’t chase denominations and churches and Catholism and works cause it will drive us crazy and away from God not closer to him. We have to chase the teachings of Jesus and apply them with the help of the Apostle Pauls writings in order to be on the right road to our father in heaven. Thank you for letting me comment.
Everyone argues about who’s religion is right, and why others are wrong. One of the most common mistakes we make is due to lack of knowledge. And then continually repeated due to lack of understanding and acceptance.
If I had a “Rock” in my hand and asked you what it was? What would your response be? Your answer would depend on what language you spoke. There would be a different sounding answer for every language we have. Although the languages change and the sound of the answers are not the same, that does not charge what was in my hand. Cultures change how things are done. Food is a good example of this. Chicken for example is cooked in many different ways, grilled, baked, fried, boiled, yet the end result is the same. consumption. If someone cooks their chicken different than we do are they wrong? My point is this…the bible teaches us that there is no GOD other than thine GOD. That there is ONLY ONE GOD. Now the hard part. Acceptance. We call him by different names because of our different languages. ( Yashua, Jehovah, Allah, Budda…etc) we worship him in different ways because of our different cultures. Yet the end result is the same. Salvation. Throug faith and prayer and works. We strive to follow GODS law, with hope that when our time here is finished we able to prove ourselves worthy of his loving kindness and return to live with our maker, our father once again. So I say…we must be capable of uniting with each other in order to be reunited with him.
“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.” James 1:27 KJV
This clearly ends the arguement to whether God hates religion. This is the only time the word “religion” is said in the New Testament, and it’s nothing but positive. He talks of “Pure” religion. Yes, sometimes people can get caught up in tradition of denominations and tradition of their churches, and this is not good, but if it is biblical, it is good. It is God’s word. But religion is whatever you make of your own ministry, your personal ministry.
God does not Hate religion, in fact, and biblically, he believes we should pursue it.
Andrew, I appreciate your comment. Did you read past the headline?
I believe I did.
TRADITION. This is the real root problem. People get so caught up the traditional things of church, and they focus less on seeking God’s face themselves. Religion is obviously not the problem, because there is a scripture I put in the comments that is totally for it. If something is biblical, then it’s completely true. It’s God’s word. And God does not lie, neither does he deceive his people.
Andrew, I am sorry I missed your last comment about Tradition and Religion.
The “religion” spoken of in James has very little to do with what society looks at as “religion”. In fact, that is James’ point and Jesus’ point as well: “You are so hung up on your tradition that you are forgetting what you are supposed to be doing.” That “true religion” that he speaks of is still “works”, doing the work of caring for those in need. It is an outgrowth of the relationship with God, not the avenue to him.
Our English word “religion” is derived from the Latin “religio” (reverence for the gods) or further, “Ligare” or to bind.
Cicero further defined ligare as “diligence”, which I would concede is appropriate, but the general understanding of religion infers “bondage” which is what Jesus and the rest of Scripture eschews.
People of God, let me ask you something. Is following Jesus with your whole heart and following his commandments not religion? Religion is defined as a set of beliefs, and do we not believe that Jesus’ commandments are actually a set of something we believe and we should follow in our daily lives? Yes, we should believe this, because the word of God says so. I am religious, because I believe in something. Peter says in Acts 2:38 answering to the question of “what shall we do?”, after multitudes of people receiving the Holy Ghost in the upper room, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” And he also states, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” This is a set of beliefs from God’s word, this is salvation. Grace, mercy, love, peace, hope and salvation are beliefs through Christ. This is religion, this is beautiful religion, the only true religion, Jesus Christ.
Alexander, I do not entirely disagree with your comment because I believe what you are describing is a “relationship” with Jesus. But there are many religions, although they be vain, false religions, which are not of God, and lead millions of people away from Him. Even within “Christendom” there are several religions which place practice, liturgy, and ceremony above a relationship with Him through His Word. Beliefs are not necessarily a relationship. You can believe something and not act upon it, or have a practical effect in your life.
I see that many people can be too focused on the specifics and the ceremony of religion and that can not be good. But to say that religion is hated by God is not necessarily true. “Religion” doesn’t have to be defined as the ceremony or liturgy either. Religion was never the problem, it’s the people that make it the way it is.
Respectfully, I still think you are missing the point. The only way to Heaven is through a relationship with His manifested Son, Jesus Christ. The principal of the many and the few found in Matthew 7 spells it out. The wide path leads to destruction for the many; narrow is the gate to Him and few find it.
Most of the world is religious.
In God’s word, the only time Religion has been bashed is when it’s false religion. Never has religion, in general, been said as a bad thing. James talks of Pure religion in James 1:27, “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.” The only religion leading to destruction is false religion. The religion in James 1:27 is pure and holy and will lead to eternity on streets of gold.
And this pure religion can ONLY emanate from a relationship with the Christ, which is the point of this article. All other religion is false, and this includes every other religion on the face of the Earth, because it seeks to usurp the relationship with Christ.
Religion is more than just that word “religion”. As referenced in the article, it is “works” which are exercised in order to win God’s favor; it can be in the form of feasts, festivals, ceremony, holidays, program prayers, chants, sacrifice, song, or even service. As James says, “Faith without works is dead”, but he writing to believers; it is not an evangelistic book. The salvation plan is absent. In contrast, as Jesus points out, works without faith is religious tradition.
I totally agree with everything you just said, this is great. I just find the article misleading. People will think that it’s saying that God hates religion, which is not fully true. It’s the religious traditions, as you just said, faith without works.
Religion tradition is works without faith, sorry I typed it wrong.
Alexander, the title is intended to “hook” the reader. It has been very successful and has brought atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians of all stripes, agnostics and gnostics alike. It makes people curious, and gives them something they did not expect! It’s had over 100k hits from believers and non-believers and as you can see, initiated some great discussion! Thank you for participating, and God Bless you in your studies.
Thank you for answering my question for so many years. As for me I grew up catholic but as I grew up, I grew wiser what GOD is and what life is really like. I always knew that their was no such thing as the word religion. But wasn’t sure.
Just wanted to say thank you this is very helpful and lets me know I’m on the right track and seeking God’s face his wisdom knowledge and understanding
Thank you for putting this up on the web. I have always felt that way about religion. I never understood why you had to be in a church to pray to God and be accepted into heaven. As for the donations… When they say “Give to the Lord, and you will be saved” or when they say “The Lord came to me and said you need to give him a percentage of your income… Blah… Blah… Blah… made no sense to me… God doesn’t need money… The religion does. Just a bunch of selfish power hungry people stealing from people who really believe in what they say to them. Sad…
Don’t they realize that those church leaders are just as human as we are? That they are robbing from them and brainwashing them?
So thanks again.
Hi Lesly,
I appreciate your comment, and understand how some have been totally put off by some church “leaders”. However, the Bible does teach giving, first to your local church, and second to those whomsoever you meet in need or other such charities which provide for them. It is most certainly our individual choice, and not required for salvation at all. But there are many blessings which come with giving, and I know that you don’t entirely condemn that. You are absolutely right; God doesn’t need money. But He does encourage us “to bring the tithe into the storehouse” (a tenth to the church), so that the work of the local church may continue to minister to people. Please don’t take my article as total condemnation of the Church, those who meet in a place together to glorify God, and encourage one another while teaching the Gospel of Christ to those who are lost in the world, and providing for those in need.
There are many churches out there which do the work that the Bible has laid out for us to do. Without the giving of those members, there would be many hungry, lost, cold and needy people. The Bible says “God loves a cheerful giver.” Giving does need to be done willfully and not compulsory, but there is much benefit to the discipline of regular giving, at least of a tenth of ones income. Now if you are struggling to feed yourself and your family, God definitely wants you to take care of them first, as He instituted the family before the Church. Cheerful, willful giving. That’s where the blessing comes.
God Bless you Lesly!
God dont hated religion hate is a human emotion. Our free will no our choices that’s what the creator dislikes. 10 commandments but one is most important without it ur sins will never be forgiven. The first commandment worship God and only God. Most Christians get it wrong cos they’re faith is twisted into believe Jesus is God. Jesus was sent to educate humans not for us to worship. God cannot and will not forgive ur sins as u dont believe in him. There is no Trinity father son and holy ghost. U are only demoting God to the likes of an angel (who he commanded to impregnate mary) and a human being ( send with a message) in conclusion almost every religion on earth believes in the god of Adam but makes a u turn when praying to other entities (idol worshoping)
Regan, Everything you wrote here is antithetical to the Holy Bible.
God don’t hate? Hmmm. Here are just a few -“grasshopper”. There are 45 listed in the Bible altogether.—Proverbs 6:16-19English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers. Not sure what books you have read or preachers you listen to, but God Hates. “A false witness who breathes out lies” is rather notable. Have a nice day.
I think u are disrespectful to speak on Islam as a cult, Allah means God in Arabic. The God Muslims or one who study Islam is referring to is the Creator of the universe, the Creator of man and all living things. Islam simply means submission to God. I didn’t know there were more than 1 Creator!? There is only 1 God and no other God is to be associated with him. You sound like a polytheists!
Allah of the Quran is a totally different deity than the God of the Bible. Technically you are correct. Many Arabs who are Christian call the God of the Bible “Allah”. But I know a Hispanic man named Jesus, and he is not the same person as Jesus the Son of God. A name is only as good as the person (or deity) which bears it. Allah of the Quran does not share the same character traits as God, Jehovah, Hashem, YHWH, Jesus Christ, Father, or whatever other name you want to use.
You are very perceptive. I do not respect Islam. It is indeed the largest cult in the world founded by a man who used the sword and terror to establish his version of religion. I do not respect Muhammad either. I do respect Muslims, who through no choice of their own were born into a death cult. I can even respect you who may have made an uneducated choice to follow Muhammad. But please understand, The Muslim is the first victim of Islam. Islam is a Great Black Beast! Please read this: https://definingthenarrative.com/2010/11/14/the-great-black-beast/
Awesome material to read… It was very knowledgable
If you still think you need Jesus to have a relationship with God, you missed the whole point of this article, as did the author. There is a distinct difference between Jesus and God. You don’t need Jesus, or the Bible, to understand that there is a higher power. Religion and Jesus in some senses, is a roadblock to a true relationship with God. Jesus is still part of a man made religion, so is the Bible.
Jason, you are correct that you don’t need Jesus or the Bible to understand there is a higher power. However, you couldn’t be more wrong about Jesus.
Aren’t you deceiving the reader by stating that the Muslim GOD and the Christian GOD aren’t the same?? God is One and everything
And yes religion is man mad. God warned us many many times stating that we always follow people who are leading us away from God and towards Man’s Laws.
Religion was created to guide people to god, but every religion starts to add man mad laws and people might not know which is which. Looking at the scriptures alone, you can see how much Organized religion is not what God wants. He doesn’t judge us as a group but based on how we treated each other and the poor and care about every life even if that life is of supposedly “different faith, race,color,country”.
We all follow people who misguid us and lead us to the wrong path.
Listen to God and follow what makes sense where you dont hurt a soul and read all the different scriptures yourselves. Do not just take someone’s word for it learn for yourself.
Hi Samy,
I have been reading Quran for over 15 years, studying Islamic Law, and the Islamic scholars. The Bible for 30 years. By the Quran alone one can come to the conclusion that the god of Islam is not the same God of the Bible. The character attributes of each deity are antithetical. God of the Bible teaches grace-god of Quran teaches law. God of the Bible teaches “go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them in my Name.” God of Quran teaches “subdue the unbelievers and fight them until they submit to my religion”. Bible teaches “there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female” but all are equal before Him. Quran teaches that a woman is half the value of a man, and that Arabs are supreme.
The Bible is consistent and linear in it’s teaching. The Quran is a jumbled up book which confuses those who do not know the key of abrogation and how it works. Islam is neither a peaceful or benevolent “religion”. It does not care for non-Muslims in need. Case in point, how many refugees do you think Saudi Arabia, the guardian of the “holy city” of Mecca received from Syria? If you guessed more than zero, you would be mistaken.
I have studied this issue for many years. Islam is weak and without the Sharia would not have enough power to compete in the market place of ideas or philosophies. It is about one thing; conquest.
The God of the Bible is love, yet He is just. The god of Quran is not about love, he is about obedience, whether voluntary or by constraint.
So, “no”, I am not deceiving the reader by saying that Christianity and Islam don’t worship the same God. And yes, God is one, but God is not everything. God is not evil.
Thank you for your response,
I do agree with some of what you are saying, but i am not talking about what man has created: “Sharia law”. Don’t confuse that the organized religion of “islam” has be altered and has be ruled by leaders that still carry tribal traditions.
As for the crimes that has been committed by terrorist in the name of islam, they are committed by evil people that wrongfully use a few of gods words to gain political support from people who has been brainwashed to believe that “only if you follow our interpretation will you be a “Real Muslim.”
In the Arabic language, the word “muslim” means a believer in the One powerful all seeing all hearing merciful God “Allah” and do right by you and others.
God called on muslims to think and analyze instead of following blindly. But unfortunately many teachings of the religion “Islam” go against that basic principle.
However, many muslims around the world are not practicing the alternative interpretation of gods words. But rethinking what god keeps telling mankind over and over again through all Messengers; Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Noah etc…
We keep fighting each other because everyone says that their religion is the way to god, but we are forgetting that the way to god is to be thankful, kind, loving, respectfull, and to do good in this short life. Organized religions have lost their purpose and are just not what god really teaches all of us.
The problem of all of us is that we confuse culture, tradition ,religion with the personal believes of the individual or the populationand it will not go well when people don’t know which is which. Man create religion to join people by faith, but we forget that scholars and so called Professionals are just people and make mistakes. If we only listen to god and only god will we ever see each others as one.
Samy,
A great reply, and I certainly appreciate the respectful tone of your argument. Perhaps we can follow through on this a bit further and show that civil dialog can be had between people who don’t agree, without resorting to name calling, and we can be friends anyway. Or maybe by the time we’re finished you will have seen the error of your ways and agree with me ;-). (I hope you have a sense of humor.)
We do agree on many points, and I am assuming you are a Muslim? Yes, all people do make mistakes, and we must not misappropriate our faith in other people, at least when it comes to eternity and the salvation of souls. We can only trust God for that.
So then, that does predetermine that God must speak to us, or has spoken, and that in a manner which is unmistakable and inerrant. A “revealed holy word”, no less, which we can trust with such important matters. This obviates that there is indeed a book that can be called “God’s Word”. If there is no such book, then this would lead one to think that God speaks directly to each individual, separately and independently, and sometimes contradictory, because if this direct revelation is true (as in Shiaism, or some sects of charismatic Christianity, such as Pentecostal) then no such book would be needed, and each of us would hear or think directly from God. This is not to say that God doesn’t lead, or “speak” to each of us individually, but there must be a guide, a book, a Holy Revelation, by which we can know it is the “voice of God rather than the Deceiver (Satan which masquerades as an “angel of light”).
That leads us to the major point of division here; the point that God has indeed spoken through a revealed word, and this necessitates that either the Quran or the Bible is indeed that revelation. One or the other, for as I pointed out in my previous comment, they cannot both be right, because they are contradictory, and show that the “revealing One” of the Bible, and that of the Quran, show separate and distinct characteristics of the authors, making one of them true and the other false. Both can contain some truth, but only one can contain ALL truth, and nothing but truth.
I agree with you also on the point that some of Islamic Law, the “Shari’a”, (literally meaning “The right path”) is man-made and not from God. But, much of it does come directly from the Quran. I have already pointed out several differences between the two books themselves, notwithstanding the “extrabiblia”, those writings which we can agree would be “added to” the books by men (Hadith for Islam, Mishna (Jewish) and Apocrapha (Catholic))
Your premise is that we both understand a common “truth”. I would not disagree completely, as we seem to agree how God would have us to treat one another. However, our respective scriptures, not the extra writings, but the Scriptures themselves create an irreconcilable divergence that leads to the kind of polarity we see today, and has existed for 1500 years, since the revelation of Jibril to Muhammad, in which Allah says that this revelation abrogates all which came before.
I am looking forward to your reply, Samir.
I hope that you regard this comment as a logical argument and not a slandering one. You attributed a statement to God, which necessitates that you have proof about it from Him. However, God stated this in the Quran:
This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. [5: 3; part of the verse].
And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers. [3: 85]
So, even if you disbelieve in Islam, your article collapses because that is not what all religions indicate. There isn’t a verse in the Quran backing up your allegations, in fact it states contrary to it, so you should be more thorough in your research and careful when making such a claim about God. And please don’t say that our God is different from your God, it is the same God who sent Judaism and Christianity, each religion successive to its predecessor after it was subjected to distortion.
Moreover, the “works theology” you undermined is the same you apply daily in your life matters. How do you get your salary at work? By work obviously, the harder you work, the better you will be eligible for a higher position and better salary. If you become lazy, which employer would want to promote or even hire you? Similarly, the more you work to please your fiancee, the more likely she will love you, etc.
Finally, the pyramid you illustrated that is founded on guilt, it may exist in Christianity but not in Islam. God informs us that we are born sinless, since no soul should bear the the sins of another, and that is God’s justice system. Being born guilty with the original sin is like sentencing the newborn son of a murderer to the remainder of a life sentence since his father could not fulfill it (died of old age or escaped)!
In Islam, we work greatly out of gratitude for the blessings of God, thankful to Him, trying to reach His contentment after He blessed us so amply; it is simply love. Frankly though, this love is mixed with other emotions, namely fear from his retribution and desire to enter Heaven. Mixed feelings is not an estranged concept to humans; a human can bear love and anger simultaneously towards another person (a relative for example).
Don’t misunderstand though, God doesn’t need our prayers, our prayers to Him benefit us not Him, we are too feeble to Him for Him to be benefited from our prayers. What can be achieved is His satisfaction from us.
You need to read the Quran personally, and assess whether you are right or you gained a new point of view, but do so objectively with an open heart. If you would like a summarized logical perspective of the Quran, read my book:
https://www.xinxii.com/en/the-religion-that-captivated-minds-with-its-logic-p-373076.html
Or contact me for a free copy no problem.
On a side note: I don’t know if you read the Quran or not, but I’ll assume you didn’t. I assume so since you quoted in your avatar this verse: “seize them and slay them wherever you find them”, in belief that Islam is a violent religion. But you wouldn’t have believed this if you had read this verse “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing” [8: 61].
So if you didn’t read the Quran, please do so to avoid being influenced by other individuals’ directions. If however you did read it, then you didn’t read it objectively.
Hatem,
Thank you for reading this article. And thank you for your scholarly comment. I do not regard it as “slandering”, and appreciate your tone of debate.
Before we pursue any further, however, I would ask you one question. Have you read the Bible?
Straightforwardly: No. I asked myself this question, that if i were to be fair I should’ve read the Bible. However, I realized that I need to read it for informational purpose but not to assess Christianity. This is because there is a core concept in Christianity that makes me unable to accept it whatever the Bible says, which is the belief in the triple nature of God.
Almost all Christians believe the trinity (or that Jesus, peace be upon him, is God). If they denied that the Bible says this, it would have been ground for me to assess Christianity as a religion. I don’t deny this concept because Islam tells me to, but rather on grounds of illogicality. God is way exalted than to need to manifest Himself in multiple forms/parts, He can do what He wills in just one form. I find it undermining to His greatness to say He can change forms to achieve different purposes.
Moreover, I cannot find it befitting of God to be bound by human needs, namely food,water and sleep (as Jesus, peace be upon him). Nor is it appropriate for God to endeavor in demeaning human urges, namely going to the toilet. It is all a matter of logic, and it is such matters that actually make some Christians leave Christianity.
Strictly speaking though, I know I should read the Bible if I were to credibly request from people to read the Quran. This is where you are right.
Hatem. I appreciate your honesty in admitting you have not read the Bible. I hesitate to pursue this debate, specifically on the grounds that this will obviate your disadvantage, since you do have a preconceived idea of it.
On the other hand, with respect, I have read the Quran, multiple times, and other Islamic books as well, including the great Islamic scholar Ibn Naqib al-Misri, among others.
I can agree on a few points that you made in your initial comment: Our prayers do nothing to help God but are a benefit to us. Also, as my illustration shows, a follower of Jesus works out of gratitude for what He has done on our behalf and His love for us. Albeit, that is as far as our views agree, based upon what you have written thus far.
Quran is presented differently, as the chronology is not present in a linear fashion, as most books are, so it does confuse the Western reader. However, once the chronology is understood it does come more into focus and makes more sense. Would you agree?
True. However, I needed to clarify that God doesn’t hate religion according to Islam, nor is it a violent religion (from the verse I quoted). That’s all. Thanks for the calm, civilized, rational debate.
Hatem,
I think you honestly believe that Islam is a peaceful religion, and that you live and idealize a peaceful life. We could probably be friends. However, you cannot deny the principal of “Abrogation”, in which the Prophet taught that some earlier Sura’s are abrogated by latter ones, because “Allah knows what is good for you” and when you are ready for the next step. You are correct that most of the Meccan sura’s are peaceful and teach proper dealing with your fellow man. Sura 2, (the first Medinan Sura) is by far the most Jew friendly sura in the entire Quran. However, by the time you get to the last few sura’s the Jew and the Christian, People of the Book, are infidel and worthy to be slain or enslaved should they not submit to Islam. Experience and history has shown that non-Muslims living in Muslim governed regions are more at the mercy of the local Islamic magistrates. If the leader of the community is a benevolent ruler then the non-Muslims are pretty much left alone. Should the rulers, governors or imam’s decide, they can be subjected to harsh treatment all under the authority of Quran and Hadith.
Let me ask you this. Would you consider it beneficial to remove sura’s 4, 5 and 9 from Quran? No, I think not, because you will say that this Quran is a miracle from Allah and must be followed for the good of all mankind!
Do you see that this is the crux of the problem for Islam? You cannot have the Islam that you obviously teach and practice, and apply the entirety of the Quran at the same time. The license for jihad, as jihad is defined as “holy war”, a military operation to advance the cause of Islam (this according to the great Islamic scholar Al Misri in Umdat al Salik,) is fully authorized along with violent punishments to non-Muslims, or apostate Muslims.
The real problem with the Islam is it’s authoritative documents. You as an individual can make it what you want, but the authority lies within those documents, and this is the legal authority that Islamists and Jihadists act upon, fully within their rights as Muslims.
Ingrafted,
Let’s reflect what you are stating upon the current world reality. How many Muslim countries are invading non-Muslim ones, and how many non-Muslim countries are invading Muslim ones? No evidence is stronger than results.
Hatem, You are avoiding the question “Do you see the crux of the problem for Islam is the authoritative documents?”
However, I will follow your decoy long enough to point out that Islam has been in invasion mode ever since the prophet conquered Mecca. When the sword of Islam has been weak, the taqiyya has been effective, particularly in Western nations where Christianity has become politically incorrect, and the populations are ignorant to things of the revealed “religions”. There is more to “invasion” than military assault, my friend.
Furthermore, non-Muslim countries exercising military movements inside Muslim countries are a direct result of those countries harboring, promoting, or subsidizing jihad against the former.
So, have you given thought to my conclusion that Islam’s inherent failure is it’s own authoritative documents? Or would you rather play the game of bait and switch?
I already answered that question indirectly. Nonetheless, I’ll elaborate: the Quran is taken as a whole, not just bits and pieces, otherwise the reader would go astray. I mentioned a verse (if they incline to peace, then incline to it) that completes the picture of the verse you quote (seize them and slay them). When you comprehend the picture encompassing both, then you will know its authoritative documents aren’t flawed.
As for invasion mode, you need to get your History facts straightened. The year before the alleged ‘invasion’, Muhammad (peace be upon him) went to Mecca for pilgrimage accompanied by a large group of his followers, but the pagans in Mecca refused to let the Muslims enter at a time when no one was denied pilgrimage whatsoever. Even naked people were allowed to perform pilgrimage, but not the Muslim faction; plain bigotry.
Nevertheless, the Prophet didn’t want to fight the (pagan) guardians of Mecca because he honored Mecca, and they offered a deal upon him: that he was to leave now but allowed next year, and that there would be no battle between them until then. Thus he returned without performing pilgrimage, but then the pagan arabs made a small crusade on a small group of Muslims, killing them in the process in spite of the peace treaty. This act of aggression was what incited him to take over Mecca by force. You can check these facts yourself.
Now the last part, the taqiyya. I personally, as a long time inquisitive Muslim, didn’t hear this term before until recently from someone who informed me about Shiaa tactics. What I understood is that it means something like: appear to be peaceful to make people convert or until they are weak and vulnerable; something along that line.
Never have I been taught this tactic from scholars, true Muslims are a straightforward and honest group. It may be used by certain factions that claim to attribute themselves to Islam, who probably use it against true Muslims too, that is my personal speculation. The indication, to you, that I am telling the truth is that when you asked me have I read the Bible, I admittedly said no, which you counted as a weakness on my part (and I knew it would be counted as one, but with honesty comes victory from God).
Yes there is more to invasion than military, there is economic and psychological warfare. Offering Islam to people in non-Muslim countries is not considered as a psychological ‘invasion’, otherwise you should also label other factions that propose their point of view upon people with names such as “atheistic invasion” or “dietary invasion”. Isn’t part of freedom of choice to be given choices to pick from?
Finally, commenting on non-Muslim invasions currently under the allegation of harboring Jihad: under what right do you have to enter another country unless it did an act of aggression. If a country sent troops to invade the USA under allegations that they are spreading Marxism, or to eradicate KKK members, would you welcome it? Yet, the USA did it to spread ‘democracy’.
Every country has its right of choice. USA invaded Iraq under suspected ‘chemical weapons’ that turned out to be a hoax, Bush himself admitted it was mis-intelligence. Now look at Iraq, destroyed and having groups such as ISIS, which didn’t exist before the American invasion. That group was a result of the invasion (as a reaction) and not the excuse for the invasion, you got the facts the other way around.
All in all, this debate can go on and on. You are convinced with your point of view, and I with mine, so I’ll leave it at that. I’ll be reading your next reply though, but I doubt I’ll be arguing anymore.
Hatem,
Forgive me for the late response. I have been very busy with life lately.
Thank you for your continued dialogue. We both know that neither of us will change the other’s mind, but I enjoy it, and hopefully it will serve our readers.
I would, however, like to ask you a couple more questions.
Understanding the Islamic rule of Abrogation, do you believe that Islam can coexist with other religions, and if so, how is that possible since Quran and Hadith both teach that all other religions, their prophets, and scriptures have been abrogated by Islam?
So much about the debate on relationship with God and religion! All of what you talk are all part of the TRUTH _ THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH which comes alone from the Spirit of Truth and Revelation, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and from the Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord, among others.
While most of the issues mentioned are quite true the incorrect and faulty understanding of religion is devilish! You should know the scriptures full well that it mentioned of true religion!
James 1:27 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.
How can you dare discount religion and put relationship with God as a stand alone? All of the things written in the scriptures must be understood or man will fall into the saying, ye do err not knowing the scriptures no the power of God.
Fear of the Lord and guilt is the natural effect of the judgment of God which is by the way also a Spirit (the Spirit of Judgment and Burning). The Fear to commit sin or disobey God God is the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord and guilt is the element that should lead man to repent and turn back to God for him to be reconciled consequently building back the relationship with God.
You must know know how the Holy spirit of God works in a man before you talk of religion or whatever relationship with God. For the Spirit is against the flesh and the flesh is against the spirit (flesh being the lust, the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, sensitivity and being appetitive). The doctrine in the Spirit which is Godliness teaches no profit in the flesh (material things) so that any teaching which deals on the peace and joy and love which is not actually the fruit of the Spirit of God but of man’s own spirit this is not even the true thing. You are just like the Hindus and the Buddhist who themselves have peace and joy but not by the Spirit of God.
Know that Man has his own spirit and own freewill and God has His Will and His Spirit which dwells only in a clean vessel which is a vessel for honor and not for dishonor.
If freedom from fear and guilt is a work of God then it must be rooted in cleanness of heart, perfection and holiness and not for any other else. Man has to have the Spirit of God which is manifested by the fruits of it and the gifts of it. If you can weigh the path, the spirit and the actions then you are not very far away from the truth. I mean if have the discerning spirit to be able to try every spirit whether they are of God.
The problem with the above, shall I say discourse, is that its object is still on man and not on (serving) God which is the very reason why man needs to be holy and perfect as commanded be ye holy and be ye perfect. Where is now the gospel on the cross? The suffering in well-doing? How can a man be perfected without the Fear of the Lord? Remember, Jesus was made perfect in sufferings and in another place of the scriptures it says holiness is made perfect in the fear of the Lord.
Anyone in relationship with Jesus who will find perfection and holiness to be impossible is making God weak and powerless so that He cannot make a man perfect and holy. Are you yet holy? are you yet perfect? Before you talk of little things talk of the big ticket items of God which is the Spirit for anyone in the flesh can never please God.
If your concerns are still in the flesh or in your ownselves like comfort and feeling of being comforted check whether you are in TRUE RELATIONSHIP with God. Fear and guilt is never evil when it leads to repentance and holiness. Inversely, freedom or liberty in Christ when used as a cloak of maliciousness is evil! Pray and seek the Spirit of Counsel and Might of God. Amen
Jonas,
I appreciate your comment, but as I read through it I wondered if you read the article I wrote.
The whole point of the advent, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, the Gospel, is that perfection and holiness cannot be achieved by man through his religion. If possible, then Christ died in vain.
Holiness is achieved through Christ. Yes, we are to “strive for holiness” through our relationship with Him and serve other people. But the purification of one’s soul comes not through the work that we do, but by acknowledging the work that He has already done to that end.
Perhaps we are splitting semantics here. One must absolutely have “fear of the Lord” in order to bring him/her to the point of repentance and salvation. But salvation cannot be had simply by working. This is the crux of the article.
I have just awaken to the man taught us how to believe I found this and I do not believe in religion my religion is god..I am still struggle because what I was taught by nan to believe I try to reach out to others who believe the same as me I ask for prayer on my journey with god as one
Candra, There are good people who can help you, teach you in the right way. Don’t be confused. Read the Bible and discuss what you learn with others who believe in Jesus. Become His Disciple, but do not forsake the fellowship of believers. God Bless you.
Wonderful
IF you reject the doctrine of perfection then you are throwing away, SAYING, that the bible is not true for there were men made perfect like NOAH and JOB and ABRAHAM and the SAINTS. HOW WILL YOU REJECT THIS KNOWLEDGE?
IF YOU REJECT THAT THERE IS A RIGHT WAY OF DIVIDING THE WORD OF GOD WHICH IS ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT, MANNER OF GOD, WORKS OF GOD, AND WAYS OF GOD BETTER SEEK WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING FROM GOD ALONE AND NOT FROM MEN.
YOU FAILED TO UNDERSTAND MY COMMENT! WHAT I WAS TELLING IS RELIGION AND RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST ARE THE WAYS. I WAS NOT REJECTING IT. THEY ARE ALL PART OF THE TRUTH.
NOW, ON WORK FOR SALVATION YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE ME. SALVATION IS BY THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND GRACE. GRACE IS A SPIRIT OF GOD (ZECHARIAH 12:10). GRACE MAKES YOU LABOR ABUNDANTLY AND SURPASS ALL CHALLENGES IN THE LIFE OF WALKING IN THE SPIRIT.
MAN NEEDS TO WORK OUT FOR HIS SALVATION WHICH IS TO BE PERFECT AND HOLY IN ONE WAY AND IN ANOTHER WAY THE THING WITHOUT WORK WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH DANGEROUS FOR GOD WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL HAVE MERCY. IN ANOTHER PLACE, THE WORD OF GOD, SAY, HE THAT OBSERVE LYING VANITIES FORSAKE HIS OWN MERCY. HOW WILL GOD HAVE MERCY ON HIM THAT IS FILLED WITH THE FRUITS OF THE FLESH? REVELATIONS 21:8 WARNS EVERYONE FOR GOD WILL TAKE VENGEANCE ON THEM THAT KNOW NOT GO AND THOSE WHO DISOBEY THE GOSPEL.
MAN WILL NEED TO DISPLAY AND MANIFEST THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT FOR IT IS WRITTEN, BY THEIR FRUITS YOU SHALL KNOW THEM.
ON WORK, FAITH, AND GRACE: SALVATION
It is written Faith without works is dead. It is written Grace is a Spirit which makes a man to work more abundantly and surpass the challenges in walking in the Spirit which is part of our suffering while growing in Christ towards full age and serving Him. To be born again, to be born of Water and Spirit and eventually to be born of God! This growth and process is suffering itself and serving God is another stage of suffering as if to relate it to the two great commandments which are to love God and to Love your neighbor. Again, you cannot dichotomize work and spirit.
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Man will need to workout his own salvation with fear and trembling. The fear which is the Spirit of Fear of the Lord. Man will need to workout to be perfect and holy for him to: be able to serve God for only the perfect shall serve God. Are you yet serving God? The command for man to be holy and to be perfect will be of naught if you will reject perfection and holiness!
Psalms 101:6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
Rejecting perfection and holiness will make you devilish in wisdom. Know that God is taking vengeance on two (2) groups of people:
2 Thessalonians 1:8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
The work which God is purporting to in Ephesians 2:8-9 is the work of Man which is his own effort and understanding for him to be saved. When a man works for his salvation by his own knowledge this is not going to save him.
The perfect knowledge why man has to workout his salvation and yet he is not saved by works is because the work that a man must do is by the Spirit of the Grace of God which is in him which gives him the ability to overcome this world even by the Spirit of Faith with works! Man can never be saved by own works but by the works of Faith. How can you not workout your own salvation apart from the Faith?
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
God never changed and will never change in his manner and attitude towards sin and evil and wickedness. He drowned the whole earth for the evil of their imagination (note: only in the mind which is imagination). Jesus said, if you look at a woman with lust you are an adulterer; and if you hate your brother you are a murderer. Your mind alone can kill you!
God made man into a beast like Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament and Herod in the New Testament! God killed Ananias and Sapphira and blinded Elymas the sorcerer because of sin. How will not man workout his salvation?
If there is no perfection and holiness how will you have a spiritual warfare which is to pull down the stronghold of your imagination? Where is your suffering then founded which is the gospel of the cross? Behold, if you are not perfect you are not yet serving! How can you now claim that your suffering is serving God? How can you suffer if there is no war inside you where suffering abounds in war? How can be a war inside you if you do not have the Spirit but are carnal filled with the flesh lust and filth?
Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Do not miss the gospel _ the Everlasting Gospel for it is about Judgment, Fear of the Lord, giving Glory to God, and worshiping Him.
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Know that because of sin man is separated from God! How can you live in sin and hope for your salvation? Know that in the last days there will be churches that will emerge as prophesied by John in his Book of Revelation, to wit:
1) The church that is greedy of gain having the doctrine of Balaam;
2) The church which leave their first love to God;
3) The church which teach lies and seduce the servants of God to fornication;
4) The church whose work is not perfect;
5) The church that is a compromiser of the Word of God (this could be them who cannot teach perfection and holiness): the Lukewarm church;
6) The church populated by worshippers of Satan; and
7) The perfect church.
How can you reject the knowledge on perfection and holiness? How can one say, there is no work that can save a man? How about doing the work of God in obedience making you suffer in the flesh for in the Spirit of Truth the flesh will have no gain on it?
How will God judge the world by only believing on him? Did not Judas believe in Jesus and betrayed him? Did not Lucifer please God where God made him a name until pride came on him and he rebelled against God? How will you reconcile the anger of God on the workers of Iniquity? In fact, God is an enemy to them who walk contrary to him. Be in the Fear of the Lord that you may perfect holiness! Know that the Fear of the Lord perfects Holiness.
Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
I have yet so many things to say but you cannot bear them now.
Man must understand the scriptures for all that I see is that all of the knowledge that abound today are but part of the truth but not the Whole Truth for the absence of the Spirit of love, and power and of the sound mind!
Pray and keep yourself unspotted by this world for God the Spirit will never dwell in a defiled and profane place.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
The Death of Jesus Christ was a plan of God to Jesus to set an example which is for our learning that we should obey even unto death! His teachings were against all pride and sin. His teachings were of Godliness. His death is not in vain when man hearkens unto him in a 20-20 vision, so to speak.
Luke 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
Luke 9:29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
Luke 9:30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Luke 9:31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
The teaching which rejects holiness and perfection is of the devil see what church are you now as prophesied by John. Seek the perfect church with the perfect doctrine on Godliness.
When you throw away Religion and have the relationship with God when God has a sect and has a different set of laws to his chosen people: the peculiar people and a royal priesthood _ call that religion or whatchamacallit but my point is what is important is the Way, the Work and the Manner of God and the truth not the semantics on religion or relation.
Know that the Levites had their own laws separate from the laws of the Nazarites. In fact, the sect of the Nazarene was the most evil spoken of as assimilated by Paul. And in fact, being a Nazarene Paul had a shorn head which is suppose to be against the law of being a Nazarite. Ask me now where is perfection? Well, it is in the revelation of God _ the Voice of God. Confer not with flesh and blood for I myself did not get this knowledge from men but by revelation from the Spirit of Christ and not from reason which is also a form of own work that cannot save me. He that hath an ear let him hear!
The Gospel of God includes his name of God which is to be declared in the latter times, nevertheless, we shall know him by his works, his ways and the truth which he will reveal and declare.
Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Deuteronomy 32:2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
Deuteronomy 32:3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
The hope of men is for God to come down meaning for God to dwell in man. The man that is sanctified and made perfect, and holy. How can you reject Holiness and Perfection? How will you not work a work that is pleasing to God by the Faith?
1) Anyone who cannot bear all things, accept all things, believe all things, hope all things. and endure all things can never be perfected;
2) Anyone who cannot receive the spirit of God can never be created;
3) Anyone who is filthy and corrupted in the flesh and in the spirit can never become a vessel for honor or be a dwelling of the Spirit of God but is doomed to destruction;
4) Anyone who works the work of the Spirit is not working his own work, hence, no one can boast;
John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
5) Grace is a Spirit and not what men use to understand as an empty gift;
6) This is a revelation, hence, this is not a splitting of the word but original from the spirit;
7) Know and understand if this is against the command of God for a man to be holy and perfect then this is not of God;
8) The things revealed or given by God to a man becomes the very own of man just as when a friend would give you a car consequently the car becomes solely yours for disposition;
9) Be very careful to use your own for there is a Purpose of God, Will Of God; Intent of God; Time of God; Judgment of God; counsel of God and the Pleasure of God which vets all of what a man reveals and declares!
10) The revelation in me is for man’s learning that he may become holy and perfect;
11) If this revelation is against the very command of God to become holy and perfect and to be filled with the Spirit then this is not of God, indeed.
Reference verses on the scriptures as compared to the power of God written in the Holy Bible:
Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
This is not doing your own work already: hence, no one can boast! This is what Grace is all about for Grace is a spirit!
John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Regarding the pronouncement of the Pope as shown above in the clip of his video about relationship with God and the Church. My take is and I speak as a man and not in the Spirit: He is right! However, he is wrong in that he is not God himself! Only God can say that to his people even to the whole world! The words he spoke do not sit well in his mouth and heart!
My advice is you must learn from all things and not reject for how will you increase, at least, in learning?
Know that even the Devil has his depths of knowledge and secrets man has yet to know. Be in the Fear of the Lord God of Host the creaotr of Heaven and Earth.
Everything is by revelation and the power of God for things to be perfect and beautiful in His time. To test your knowledge on God (which is very much remote that man will know God’s knowledge, hence, the revelation) let me try you in the very least of the situation:
Can you interpret this line as I conceive of it in my own spirit?
Pekter porbo gondra kanordo!
Know if you cannot interpret this line which is of my own mind and spirit how can you interpret the Word of God except that it be revealed unto you or have the Spirit of God in you?
1 Corinthians 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Do not be hypocrites World! For verily, you have denied the Spirit by your knowledge and you have become the very Antichrists yourselves! The Words you have received is yours and not God’s anymore.
I tell you I am not God! I am a man!
Thanks for that clarification. I was beginning to wonder. 😉
I am not entirely sure of your point, but I think perhaps you are straining at a gnat to swallow a camel.
Works recognized by Christ are those which begin at salvation. Without that relationship, “Christ in me”, the works are done in vain. There is no working to gain heaven; only the reception of the work Christ has already done. The works are a result, a showing of my gratitude for, His grace and mercy to me a sinner. If Paul the Apostle struggled (Romans 7) within the flesh, calling himself the “chief of sinners” and that “wretched man”, there is no working that is going to “perfect” you in the flesh. Under the blood of Christ, that sin cleansing blood, the individual is made perfect.
Got you on my hook! What I was telling “I am a man” is purposed to avoid robbing the glory of God! Truly, by the passage of time, this world have changed the meaning of the word of God such as the word Religion! You have become unbiblical! The definition this world is coming up on religion is of man and not spiritual which is of God for lack of understanding. The Work of God is the sum-total of the patchworks of all men in this world.
Truly, God does not hate religion but sinners who refuse to change and those who have changed and then turn again to the beggarly elements. See for yourselves from Genesis to Revelation! This world is blinded by the fact as what the bible is saying;
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2 Peter 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2 Peter 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2 Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
You cannot fool yourself from what God is telling to men (the Truth) by saying you are saved though you are like the generation of vipers of old_ hypocrites!
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Hebrews 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
If this were not yet enough see for yourself how blind this world is. The gratitude of man out of the Love of God to him should be reciprocated and I find this is also lawful as you posited. But how can you assure your flocks of salvation when the Word of God has something to grind against you? Surely, this world cannot take the truth because of the Vail which is brought about by the reading and wrong understanding on the Holy Bible!
Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Hebrews 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Hebrews 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
The teaching of this present world is perverted and skewed from the Truth. Rethink and reconsider for man might be straining on a camel to swallow a gnat (sic).
Believing alone is never enough as you can glean it on the above Truth! Based on your account can the devilish and the unclean and the murderers and the liars and the abominable enter into the Kingdom of God?
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Philippians 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Do not take me wrong, the people of God suffer in well-doing just as Jesus Christ made himself an example to us! Where will the Gospel of the Cross Stand? Never say this is splitting of the Word for the one who is splitting the Word can never accept all things, believe all things, and bear all things and yet by trying the spirit whether they are of God.
The one splitting the word or splitting the word in the wrong way is evidenced by comparison on the spiritual things which are written in the scriptures! Compare it with the Power of God; compare it with the Works of God; compare it with the Ways of God; and compare it with the manner of God.
If you can weigh the ways, the actions and the spirits it would be better yet but I doubt there is anyone who can do that! Impossible? Well, because you are a man not sent by God!
Faith as defined in the scriptures is this:
Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Romans 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith comes not by Reading! Faith comes by hearing! There has to be the Man of God sent to us! Are you the one sent? He that hath an ear let him hear!
In fairness to your comment it is definitely right but it needs a vetting. As you agree that “Christ in Me” thing know that Christ will never dwell in them who are not worthy of him. So without him in you the work you will work is nothing, too. Yea, even your faith is even dead without the work which is in the righteousness of FAITH.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Read More and Ask God alone and not from any flesh and blood. Afterall, know that there are churches prophesied which God is also talking to. Remember God is talking to Satan, too. So cleanse yourself from the filthiness of flesh and spirit before you talk to the Holy God and Jealous God!
Jonas,
You have gotten lost in the forest and cannot see the trees.
This article is written in modern vernacular so that the casual reader may comprehend the Biblical truth that the modern understanding of “religion”, that which is perceived by the general, unchurched, and Biblically illiterate as a controlling, tyrannical organized system, may realize that it is not through some organized religion that one finds salvation, and peace with God, but through a real and meaningful relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, Who repeatedly chastised those “religious rulers” who held their own “scholarship” over the heads of the lay people, and “would not lift a finger to bear the burdens they place upon” them.
I do not disagree with much of your statements, but you seem to be hung up on your own “scholarship” to the point of failing to understand the article. I learned a long time ago that the simpler you keep the message, the more receptive people are to it. It is the method that Jesus Himself used.
I am sorry you feel compelled to try and “refute” the piece with your many words, but perhaps you should read it again, and gain a better understanding thereof.
It is clear the world is not teaching the FEAR OF THE LORD. Know that the Love of God is equal to the Fear of God when a man reaches a stage of loving to please God and Fearing to displease God! Why teach the world in want of the Spirit of Knowledge and the Spirit of Understanding?
Clearly.
Do not fool yourselves or be deceived by your emotion or feeling, saying, that you are saved! On salvation, God can save anyone whom he will please to save as it is written, I have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Do not just believe by what a man is telling you but make your election sure!
On serving God, man has got to be perfect and holy for only the perfect can serve Him.
Psalms 101:6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.
What is appalling today is that many are going out teaching using the Word when they are not sent by God!
Aptly, was the prophecy declared that in the last days many will be deceived by the name of Jesus! Therefore, man has to have a discerning Spirit to know if the Jesus being evangelized or teached is not the Devil himself! Remember, the last days war is on deception. Be not deceived!
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
Matthew 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Apparently, the Gospel the world is proliferating right now is never the Everlasting Gospel which teaches on the Fear of the Lord, the Judgment of the Lord, Glorifying God, and worshipping God:
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
May the Good Lord enlighten your eyes and harden not your heart. God does not Hate Religion but: Sinners who do not hear his voice; sinners who refuse to change; sinners who refuse to return to God; sinners who after receiving the grace are fallen back to the world leaving their first habitation!
Yes! God is kind to the sinners but think and rethink about the truth above.
Luke 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Be circumspect in the Word of God and be not canalized by any doctrine of men! Fear God and keep his commandments (commandments that are present declared by the Man of God) for this is the whole duty of man!
Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
Deuteronomy 10:13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Know that Fear and Love are the same thing in the Mind of God! Hence, the words above!
MEN ARE INNOCENT WHEN THEY OBEY THE COMMAND OF GOD; MEN ARE IGNORANT WHEN THEY DO NOT HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD OR REJECT THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! IT IS THE SPIRIT WHO DOES THE WORK NOT MAN! CLEARLY THE WORLD DOING WORKS BY THEIR OWN AND NOT BY THE SPIRIT AS WHAT YOU JUST COMMENTED ON MY LONG REPLY! YOU SHOULD SEE IT AS A WORK HOW THE SPIRIT IS TALKING TO MEN BUT YOU WOULD NOT HEAR HAVING YOUR OWN SCHOLARSHIP. MINE IS NOT OF MEN THAT IS WHY YOU ARE NOT RECEIVING IT. I AM CLEAR OF YOUR BLOOD. AMEN.
I’ll see you in Heaven Jonas 🙂 Peace!
THE SPIRIT AT WORK
Revelation is given by God to the Holy People (Apostles and Prophets) by the Spirit. The eligible recipients or stewards of the revelation and the mysteries of God for the generation of the righteous are only the holy ones, hence, the command for people to be holy.
The revelation we know from Ephesians 3:1-7 is that salvation is no longer exclusive to Israel in the flesh but to Israel who are circumcised in the heart or Israel in the Spirit. Simply put, Israel is in the Spirit and not in the Flesh! To be an Israelite is not to be a Greek or a Jew. This idea is not a new one in the times of the apostles, then.
Matter of fact, God has been talking to all men and peoples and nations! God talked with Adam and his generations (all of them were drowned for the evil of their imagination_ a chosen people who went corrupt, violent and evil). God talked with Noah and his generations.
Genesis 10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Again, God talked to Melchisedech who was not of the seed. God talked to Abimelech of Gerar who was not of the seed. God talked with Abraham giving a promise that the seed will come from his own bowels named Isaac and then went on to talk to Rebekah who was a Syrian, not of the seed and mother to Jacob and Esau, that Jacob is the seed and not Esau. God talked to Israel who sojourned in Egypt for 430 years and the same seed multiplied in Egypt as prophesied. God talked to Pharaoh of Egypt in the time of Joseph by a dream who was not of the seed. God talked (prophesied) against the sons of Noah the Canaanites of the sons of Ham that they will be replenished by Israel.
Yea, by biblical history the idea of gentiles being subjected to the judgment of God is not new. In fact, these gentiles were turned into believers before if to cite one of the many facts!
2 Chronicles 17:11 Also some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and tribute silver; and the Arabians brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he goats.
You can only imagine how Paul struggled to witness on this revelation which has actually happened already, and as written, where Israel turned dogmatic of their belief that they are the only people on earth loved by God. They failed to recognize that God loved the world even as Abraham failed to discern that Gerar under king Abimelech is a nation with the Fear of the Lord.
Now, know that the love of God is manifested by his judgment to all:
Deuteronomy 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
It is now clear that, really before Jesus was crucified, the love of God is unto all men! What then is new?
In matters of ways of saving people, God sent Noah to preach righteousness but was ignored, hence, the unbelievers were drowned to include the infants which you may now protest, had the flood happen today, as an ungodly act for Noah. Know that Noah did not act by his own will but by the command of God.
2 Peter 2:5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
God also sent (divine providence or a blessing in disguise we may now call) Lot the nephew of Abraham to Sodom and Gomorrah to preach righteousness there but was not able to convince anyone, not even the husbands of his daughters. Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities were burned on the day appointed.
Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
2 Peter 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
God called and sent Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt and the very people whom he saved were eventually wasted in the desolate wilderness after 38 years of hard heartedness and rebellion against Moses and against God.
God chose and sent Joshua to continue the task to fulfil the promise of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in order to annihilate seven abominable nations but the people who were with Joshua were also tempted in the way as they were ensnared by the foolish prophet Balaam in the plains of Moab (Zimri and Cozbi being the cause of the plague).
Up until the times of the Judges God raised up servants to save Israel from their enemies everytime they repent from their sins which they committed. In sinfulness they are minished and brought low.
Psalms 107:39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
Judges 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
Judges 2:14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
Judges 2:15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Judges 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
Judges 2:17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.
Judges 2:18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
Judges 2:19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
Judges 2:20 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
God sent prophets in the times of the Kings of Israel and Judah but the same were imprisoned and persecuted and killed. The people of God are the most controversial and misunderstood people in the world of old and expectedly today for their teaching is never of men.
Know that the prophets sent were not only exclusive to Israel but to the other nations as well! The Gentile thing is not a new thing. The people who profess to be wise were actually the fools for not knowing the ways of God and having not the Spirit of wisdom and understanding.
Now, is the idea of Jesus dying for the world a new one? Fools for lack of knowledge perish. Now, is the idea of God being angry at sin a new one? Was there a paradigm shift to the ways of God in that believing in him is salvation?
In a way, believing is a vital point in salvation but it is not salvation itself. One has to endure and continue to obey the command which commands are changing from time to time and from one nation to another people.
God is alive and God is sending his holy people to bring the good tidings to a thousand generations and in every generation there is a definite peculiar people who will be sanctified and justified and then sent to preach unto the world.
So holiness and perfection is the key to serving God which is in ministering the word and the spirit. How can the scholars nowadays say holiness and perfection is passe?
How can people say, straining gnats and swallowing camels on the requirement in serving God which is holiness and perfection? How can an unholy people receive the Spirit of God like the Spirit of Truth and Revelation which alone can perfect a man?
Behold, perfection and holiness is possible only when God is come in the flesh or when he raises up a man to deliver people from this evil and wicked world. Perfection is possible because the man he will send is going to declare the command for man to obey to become holy and perfect. Perfection and holiness becomes impossible only when man is yet filled with his flesh lust, emotion, evil imagination and uncleanness in the flesh and the spirit.
Therefore, man has to fight against his own self which is the natural enemy of God, saying, the flesh is against the spirit and the spirit is against the flesh. This two are at enmity against each other. This doctrine is not being taught to the people which is the doctrine of Godliness, that is, man must be holy and perfect before they are to be sent for the service.
This world should know that salvation is but a very light thing with God for, firstly, this is only a result of serving God and, secondly, salvation is granted to men according to God’s mercy and compassion for we are all sinners and, thirdly, because salvation is the concern of God and not man’s. The real concern of man is really on how to make himself available for use by God. Therefore, the very much weightier matter is perfection and holiness for this is the crux of man’s service to God. Cunningly, the deceivers of this world romanticize salvation as the ultimate and primary goal of man in this world!
How can man teach people of salvation when man is not perfect? How can man be an author of his salvation being not perfect? Remember, the Man of God or the ones raised by God to be his servant(s) will come in a volume of Book and it is written of them for a testimony! The reason why you can compare spiritual with spiritual because the life they will manifest is a prophecy in the Holy Bible.
Hebrews 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
To magnify the error of the present day interpretation on the scriptures is to compare side by side the teaching on salvation with the teaching on perfection and holiness, among others:
Table 1 – 1 Quick look Table ( my table would not load here)
The One Teaching of Salvation vs The One Teaching of Godliness (Perfection & Holiness)
Prosperity vs Fear of the Lord
Great Commission vs Sanctification and justification as a requirement to the Great Commission
Purpose Driven Life vs The Plan of God to Replenish the World with his holy people
Rapture vs Creation of Man: Change / New Man / Rapture
Suffering in Well-doing
Love of God without the Fear of the Lord vs Judgment of God unto his People & Righteousness of God unto the world
Babes vs Growth of a Christian / Process: Born Again, Born of Water and Spirit and Born of God
Salvation not of Works vs Ways and Works and Acts of God & Manner of God
Love thy Neighbor vs Loving the Neighbor is subject to the Purpose, Will, Intent, Time, Counsel, & Pleasure of God
Eternal Life upon belief in Christ vs Eternal Life a Process which starts in belief in Christ
Holy Spirit vs Spirits (of God, of Man, Holy & Profane, Good and Evil)
Word of God using reason vs Word of God by Revelation and Mystery of God
Grace through Faith Not of works vs Not of Works because the Work is of the Spirit of Grace through the Spirit of Faith
No Prophets in the church vs The Complete Church: Prophet is needed
Jesus as Written (Law) _ as antichrist vs Jesus the Risen and is Come Again (Present Truth)
Relationship with God vs Relationship with God leading to Perfection and Holiness
New Testament Heavy vs The Old and the New Testament (Full Gospel)
Faith (Written Based / Reason Based) vs Faith (Heard from the Man of God / Revelation Based)
Self vs Denial of Self
Abundance out of Covetousness vs Flesh Profits Nothing: Abundance is out of Bounty
The Name of Jesus (This Name is not accepted by the Old Testament Jews) vs The New Name of God (His Name is always Changing from time to places and to peoples: His Name is declared or Ascribed by Men)
The Coming of Jesus (He is yet to Come): No God in this World vs Jesus is Come (Without Him man can never be perfect and holy): the Living God
To temporarily close my “arguments” (actually a revelation from the Spirit of God and I claim not to be alone in this work today_ God is talking to many of us who has a relationship with him) and to cut the story short, The teaching of man is based on the goodness of God on Man which is in the flesh, meaning, they anchor on blessings (material and spiritual unto themselves) but the teaching of the Man of God is obedience unto death not for a prize, a reward, or for a promise. Amen.
You are exactly what you judge on me: thou fool!
Unless you repent you shall likewise perish!
You have gotten lost in the forest and cannot see the trees.
This article is written in modern vernacular so that the casual reader may comprehend the Biblical truth that the modern understanding of “religion”, that which is perceived by the general, unchurched, and Biblically illiterate as a controlling, tyrannical organized system, may realize that it is not through some organized religion that one finds salvation, and peace with God, but through a real and meaningful relationship with Him through Jesus Christ,
I AM FOLLOWING ON THE SEQUELS AND BRANCHES THAT GROW OUT OF YOUR ARTICLE. YOU ARE LOST IN YOUR OWN WORK BY NOT FOLLOWING THE REACTIONS TO IT!
NOW, JUST AS YOU INSIST OF YOUR IDEA IN YOUR OWN ARTICLE YOU CANNOT BLAME AND PUT YOURSELF ON TOP OF THE MINDS OF THE OTHER PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND DIFFERENTLY (WHATEVER SUASION THEY COME FROM). YOU HAVE NOT THE IDEA OF WHAT IS IN THEIR MINDS.
IF YOU SEE ME LOST! MOST PROBABLY YOU ARE IN THE SAME GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION, TOO!
So…interesting post. I’d just like to add two cents here.
Kind of a fan of Marcion….not completely…but have an affinity with his concept of The Father of The Lord Jesus not being the God of the Jews. I reject the Torah…Sinai…and all their concomitants. I wa raised in evangelical Christianity…..and totally understand why the “tutored Jew” rejects The Lord Jesus. He was and is of a completely different Spirit than Sinai. And…FYI….it took a long time for me to get to this place…and I’m finally at peace. This new concept answers many questions that have gone unanswered….
Best..!
Good understanding and very biblical love it
Excelente
Absolutely you have written right statement about religion. Religion is not from God, but from man. God hates religion but love the sinners. I am strongly focus on the Bible rather than human doctrines which is contradict to biblical teachings.
Louie
Dear friends, I humble myself in your love and knowledge in Christ.
As a babe in Christ can I beseech you to consider the following, though if I may err, shall seek and pray for further guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus often used parables in his teachings, they contained literal and spiritual representation of words of wisdom, often lost in carnal thought.
If we read Matthew 25:14-30., Jesus speaks about the giving of ‘talents’, to some, talents translates as money, to others, talent translates as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Interpretation of scripture is not a given to any one person, as one may understand it in one way, and yet others gifted to share and understand it in another way. Therefore the Holy Spirit must be our guide in all things in scripture, less we err.
For example, to honour your mother and father, is a commandment of God, and is true and right. Therefore when I follow this commandment, does it not remind us also, that my mother, is the Spiritual church in Christ, and my Holy Father is in heaven, who we should honour and obey.
On the same theme, can we not see a connection with the word ‘religion’, used in James, regarding orphans and widows? If many are in denial of God’s love, are they not orphans and widows of God’s church? Should we not take care of them as Christians, and share God’s word? Is this not our religion?
As Christians we should love and exhort others as Jesus taught. It is our duty to set an example and sow, that our Lord may reap. We should endeavor to encourage others in the faith and share our gifts, humbly and in good heart.
Let us also bring to mind wise words, “Be not righteous over much: neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” (Ecclesiastes 7:16)
In conclusion, the article is an excellent and intelligent argument regarding religion, written by a gifted and articulate Christian, sincere in sowing seeds for Jesus, and deserves praise and encouragement,
May the grace of our Lord be with you all.
Luigi,
I am humbled by your eloquent comment, and your generous compliment! All glory and honor to the Creator God and our Saviour Jesus Christ!
God did give us the commandments however and I do believe that some religions follow the bible wisdoms closely.
Jesus came to die for us and to let us know that through the holy spirit we all have a chance of salvation through a relationship with him.
There are some churches that encourage a personal relationship with Jesus.
All humans are flawed so even in a religion you need to listen to your own heart, which is how God communicates with you.
Good article but don’t discount the many good things some religions accomplish for our souls.
Great article. I can’t believe how long this post has been active. Clearly you’ve hit upon a common struggle – faith vs religion. I spent a long time trying to find the ‘right’ religion. Having realized there’s no point to that, I’m now trying to find the right church as I do enjoy worshipping and learning with other people. How do you recommend finding a Church that is more about Christian faith than about religion? I have been searching for a while now and it seems that once I attend a service more than once or twice, there’s an expectation that I join the church and join the religion, whichever it may be – baptism and all.
Oh my! Seeker, I do not have a pat answer for that! I recommend lots of prayer that God would lead you to the right place. My experience is with smaller churches, and there you may find what you are looking for. Perhaps you can connect with some other believers in a home Bible study group, which may lead to a church home. I have had the benefit of “growing up” together with my good pastor friend, and we have kind of molded our church into what we believe a church should be like. We don’t take an offering – The plate is by the door and you can drop something in if you are led to. We don’t have a band – we are lucky to have a pianist, and in this area we sure could use a little more music ministry. We rent a building in order to keep our overhead down and stay out of debt, so our $ can be directed into missions and ministries. We do have a membership roster, but membership is not required to participate in any of our ministries, or services, except marriage ceremony by the pastor. In fact, someone may come for several months and finally ask about joining. We don’t pressure anybody, but the pastor preaches the Word faithfully and passionately, usually for a full hour each service. If they can take that, they’re serious about the Lord and the Bible. We have Sunday School for the many children of our attendants. We help physically or financially to members or non-members where needed, we provide consistent help to widows or single mothers in our group if needed. We believe this is what a local church is supposed to be according to the Acts of the Apostles.
I will pray that you will find what you Seek! God’s Blessings upon you!
Thank you for your suggestions and prayers, and for describing your church. It sounds wonderful. I shall continue my search. Hopefully I can soon find one that feels true to the Bible. God’s blessings upon you as well.
The bible teaches us that Christ was baptized in water. He said, an example I have given you John 13:15. We see into later books of the new testament that others were baptized in water also. The church belongs to Christ our Lord, the church is His body (those that accept Christ as their savior and are baptized in water as stated in the new testament). So with the following stated, no religions, no denominations,, only the Church of Christ! Matthew 16:18. (And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.) I would like to clarify one thing, Peter is not the rock, Christ is! Be careful with this verse, people believe that Peter is the rock. Don’t make that mistake. Don’t fall into condemnation. Christ carried the cross, not Peter! God bless.
Allah (Elaha or Alaha) is the Aramaic word for God in the language of Assyrian Christians. Arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, Christians and Jews, use the word Allah to mean God. Christian Arabs of today have no nother word for Gal than Allah.
Sherry,
Technically you are correct. However, Allah (the deity=al il illaha) of Quran and Eloha(Elohim-Genesis 1:1) or YHWH of the Bible (or Torah/Tanach) is not the same deity simply by comparison of the character traits of the two persons. Two people may share the same name, but are not the same person. The two are incongruous according to the respective scriptural sources based upon the personality, purpose and directives given to the respective adherents. This is not to say that when the Arabic speaking Christian prays in His Name, his prayers count for naught or go unheard by the Creator God. He does know His own.
Where do i start when leaving the system.do i need to be babtised and how do i get the holy spirit in my life
Kenneth,
The first step is, as the Bible teaches, to “repent”, which means to turn around, or acknowledge that you/I/we are a sinner. Sin is anything that we place a higher value on than God, it does not glorify God in our personal lives, the way we live. One may have led a life of drunkenness, adulterous living, cheating for profit, disrespecting others, placing a higher priority on our own lusts, wants,or needs than those of our family, friends, or even a stranger. There are any number of ways of unholy living. That comes from our sin nature, the flesh, which left unchecked will lead us into selfish lives, and ultimately Hell itself. You see, God cannot abide sin in His presence, and sin cannot abide God’s presence. That’s why sometimes a Christian will “backslide” and take up with sin, and the longer he/she allows it to pull him in, the less he wants to be in the company of God.
So to “repent” means to turn away from that sin, those sins that we all have, and even like. That’s the negative, but that is not the end of it. You must have a positive, which is to turn to God through Jesus Christ, His Son, who was manifested in the flesh as a man, yet did not sin. The sin He died the death of the cross for was yours, and mine, not His. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death”. He died and walked in Hell so you and I don’t have to.
So, repent of sin, turn to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. That is salvation. That and that alone gets you a ticket to Heaven, and you are now “Justified” before the eyes of God. A new man, regenerated, and made “just as if I’d never sinned”. Just-if-ied. Now you begin a new life, one that is changed, by the Holy Spirit, which comes in upon salvation. The Holy Spirit is not given by some preacher or the laying on of hands by others, it is given by God, because it is God, and His Son Jesus, now living in you. It does not come by speaking in “tongues”. According to Paul the Apostle, tongues was a sign given to early church members to reach people of other languages, real languages, not gibberish that no one understands. In fact, in I Corinthians 14:28 says “if there be no one to interpret (for everyone else to know what is being said) then let him remain silent”. I do not see this being practiced in the modern sense of “tongues” and the “baptism of the holy spirit”. Paul says if nobody is there to interpret, keep your mouth shut.
So then as a result of being “justified” (saved to a better life that glorifies God, and ultimately to Heaven), you are now being “sanctified”. That is to seperate from your old ways, to be “set apart” for God’s service and to be His light to people around you. They should see a marked difference in your life, your attitude, and how you behave, leading a joy filled life of sobriety, honesty, integrity, and service to others. The word “sanctified” or “sanctify” is where we get the term “saint”, which while we may not think we are, once youv’e been justified, you are “saintified”, serving God in whatever corner of the world you are.
Then our future place in Heaven is where we shall be “glorified”. Made like Jesus Christ Himself in His resurrected body, glorified, pure and holy. We shall be changed, taken up and in His presence then forever. A place where sin does not exist and the effects of it are banished. This is the great hope, the hope that is Jesus Christ.
You can do this without “leaving the system” (which I am assuming is church?), if that church is a bible teaching church and not a ceremonial one. Ceremony can distract, disappoint, and mislead. The Holy Spirit teaching you in your own Bible study does not. So you must begin to read and study your Bible as much as you can. If the church does not encourage this, find one that does.
God Bless you Kenneth. I hope this helps.
Amen to the Author, you were able to break it down in layman’s terms unlike these Pastors who don’t seem to explain or better yet say the O.T. is not revelant “we’re under grace” foolishness……
Thanks Delaine,
Simple terms from a simple man. I appreciate your comment.
You are a very misinformed dude Lord Jesus said at the last supper do this in memory of me. Whoever eats my flesh (bread) and drinks my blood (wine) consecrated by the priest will have eternal life. To follow Jesus is to follow religion. Get baptised in Jesus name and save your soul.
Wow Dude. Who had Jesus killed? The Religious leaders. Who did He always butt heads with and call “Brood of Vipers” and other not so nice names? Organized Religion was mis-portraying who He and His Father were and He made it known to everyone. The same thing is happening today my friend. You can Religiously brush your teeth, go to work, go to church and pray with your kids at night…but NONE of that saves you. Organized Religion killed Jesus Christ. Not “the Jews”, Not the “Romans”, Religious leaders. Did the thief on the cross next to him get baptized? Then why would you tell someone “you must” when Jesus promised that thief He would be with him in Paradise that day? Did Jesus lie?.. because without baptism the thief couldn’t be saved? Understand who Jesus was and is before you start adding requirements on salvation. God Bless you Dennis.
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Steven.
Sorry Dennis. You seem to be the misinformed one. Jesus never said anything about a priest “consecrating” the elements of the Last Supper. Neither did He say “eat this and have eternal life.” He did say, “Whosoever believes in me shall have eternal life.”
Your priest has misled you, my friend.
And oh, by the way, why does the priest get to drink all the wine? The people only get the cookie 🙂
YOU NEED TO READ THE BIBLE
Dennis, the Bible doesn’t say this. What Bible do you read? The Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. (Acts 16:31) and “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Nowhere does Jesus say that a priest has to consecrate the elements of communion. And it’s not for salvation according to the Bible, but Jesus says “This do in remembrance of me.” Not to gain eternal life.
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Amen
No religion is not the problem! People have hi- jacked the word “Religious” so as to be accepted by the outside world…The dictionary explains that the word religion or religious is defined as the belief in and worship of God or gods, usually in a personal way! Period!!! And because the dictionary can change its meaning as according to how Society is using the word at the time. … so therefore to be safe we must always use the scripture to determine what the words used should be! James 1:26 says if anyone considers himself to be religious but does not Bridle his tongue then his religion is worthless. A pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and keep oneself unstained from the world.. so the Bible is not telling us to not be religious, It is telling us to keep our religion undefiled! We must always use the Bible First for our interpretation of any word and meaning!
Daniel,
I appreciate your comment and I’m glad that you have visited. I think we do not disagree on the fundamental premise on which the article is based. One must have a relationship with the God of the Bible in order for any ‘religious’ activity to matter in the eyes of God. Salvation is not for sale, nor may it be earned by works-even in the form of ‘religion’. As you read the Scriptural references used in the article, and look them up in context to the Biblical reference, I’m sure you understand my point that sacrifice of blood and treasure, observance of holidays, liturgy, and vocalized prayers, dietary law, etc, etc. mean nothing outside the relationship which comes by humility and repentance before God.
There are some English words used in Christian doctrines that do not appear in Scripture, although the principle of that doctrine does. “Trinity” and “Rapture” being two of those. The reference in James is the only time in the English translation the word “religion” is used, and in context, James is written ‘man to man’ and not particularly ‘God to man’. Where Hebrews relates the Jews to their Savior and His legitimate capacity and connection to them, James admonishes them that ones faith is untenable until it is worked outwardly in relationship to his/her fellows. I also agree that we must define Biblical language by proper context within itself. The article is written in context of modernity and it’s understanding, with an intent to bring the Biblically illiterate or confused to a greater understanding of what true salvation really is: A Relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.
Blessings to you!
Thanks for writing this!
There is not three gods Deuteronomy 6:4 one God Trinity is added word according to the trinitarian doctrine Jesus never claimed to be God he never told his disciples he was god? Do not add or take away from the gospel for the book of this Testament or your name will be removed from the Lamb’s Book of Life.. some people need to quit adding to the gospel words that don’t belong there.
How do people forget these wise words especially when they’re in the Bible? The way you exposed the human shortcomings and man’s need for religion that can end up hurting our relationship with God it’s inspiring and raw. Ykur words should stir us up to seek God with all our heart and soul and mind and to bring him into all of our relationships with those we love and even those we are at odds with. Thank you for sharing. My relationship with God is being tested right now so please pray for me. My son walked away from God at 16 and I always knew he would come back. A couple months ago he shot himself and now I’m so sad and don’t understand why God didn’t answer my prayers to bring him back into relationship with him.
Oh, Teresa, I am so sorry for you. I would never presume to tell you that I know what you are feeling. I did lose my son also, at an early age, but it was I who did not know God. You cannot know what was going through your son’s mind, and you cannot know why God did not give you the answer that you asked for. But as someone who has known the pain of losing a son, I will remind you that God also knows what it’s like to see His innocent Son slain for a guilt that was not His, although He willingly did that so that you and I may find consolation in the fact that His grace is sufficient, and His mercy is sweet, and His salvation is forever. We will probably never meet on this earth, but I look forward to meeting you in Heaven where we will embrace in the glory of God and find the reason and purpose for the loss of our sons.
I understand to an extent where this reasoning “God hates religion.” came from. God is not impressed with men who claim fellowship by routine only, having their hearts far from Him. Not only must the outward expression be cleaned up, but the inward parts must be cleaned as well (Matt 23:26). God spoke of this very thing concerning His people Israel. It’s recorded in the book of Amos 5:21-23, among other places in scripture.
Make no mistake about it God hates religious pretension. Nevertheless, language should never be adopted that is contrary to the language of the scriptures.
I took a look at the word “religion” as defined of old:
“1. religion in its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections of God, in the revelation of his will to man, in man’s obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man’s accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties. It therefore comprehends theology, as a system of doctrines or principles, as well as practical piety (piety is the quality of revering God, like from the heart)…,” (WEBSTERS 1828)
In other words, if a person thinks that In order to live right before God you are only obligated to have a “heart-felt relationship” with Him, while at the same time ignoring their own accountability for how they live their life, and teaching others that God does not really expect pious service—, then that is actually their religion. You could call it the “American religion” or the “New age religion”. But it is religion nonetheless.
The word religion goes deeper than just theology. It’s not just academia, it’s the external expression of the doctrine, what the doctrine causes a person to do.
Webster defined it as::
“…2. religion as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to God and his law. James 1:26.”
(WEBSTERS 1828)
The word “religion” is used 6 times in the King James Bible. Never once is it used on it’s own, and I have yet to find it used on its own in any known version of scripture. The word always has an object or adjective attached to it. It talks about “our religion” (Acts 26:5), the “Jews religion” (Gal 1:13,14), “vain religion” (Jas 1:26) and “pure and undefiled religion” (Jas 1:27).
While there are religions that are rejected by God, James talks about a pure and undefiled religion that is not (Jas 1:27). Therefore, it is improper to divorce the word religion from the faith, seeing as it is profitable and acceptable before God. Pure and undefiled religion is acceptable before God, because it is the outpouring of man’s desire towards God. It is the evidence of God saving men, and one reason why men are being saved! It is the result of God working in us. It’s the evidence of a changed heart and a changed nature! I say people should be concerned with having an acceptable religion before the eyes of God, and not be scheming to destroy the word.
Those who promote religion in general as a bad thing, are inadvertently promoting all things that are attached to it as bad, when that is not the case. The scriptures do say that bodily exercise (religious routine) is profits little (1 Tim 4:8).
If religion is ,” man’s obligation to obey his commands, in a state of reward and punishment, and in man’s accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties”, then no one should ever speak in a manner that would lead a person to believe that they can live void of this experience and somehow still be acceptable before God. I wonder how many new believers in Christ have shied away from the leading of the Spirit because of those who bad-talk outward expressions of faith.
No wonder Webster inserted an almost prophetic warning in His dictionary: “Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.”
Let us be ever mindful of how we represent the Lord and His word. Let our statements be precisely calculated and true. Instead of saying ,”God hates religion.”, let’s say ,”God hates vain religion.” I assure you, it will make all the difference of How the Lord is represented and what message is imparted to the hearer.
Justin, you have made the most scholarly coherent case in this entire thread for the argument against my headline. I do not disagree on one point that you made in your discussion. Your historical context is superb and as a fellow student of history I appreciate your references. Our language has, most certainly, been diluted to a point where many different parties can use the same language but be speaking from an entirely different point of meaning.
I would not presume to indicate here that personal holiness is not a desired goal in one’s life, and if I give that impression perhaps I should revisit this piece.
The headline, on the other hand, is designed to grab the attention of both those in the faith community, and those who are anti-God, and it has been quite successful in that purpose as you might see by the long list of comments. My intent is to use the modern perception of “religion” and appeal to the more “unchurched” folks who have had little or no influence by the Biblical Scripture, or the disillusioned, which may have at one time been in a “dead” (Sardis) church setting that meant little or nothing to the congregants in their personal lives, just a social, liturgical experience.
Thank you for your great comment. It really made me re-evaluate my purpose with this article. Does my explanation make sense?
Just the fact that you went to Webster for your definition of Religion concerns me. The whole point is Jesus’ view on Religion. “Pure Religion” is not being argued at all. but God judges the “heart” and man judges the outward appearance. i.e. Religion. It is the way it is and you are perfectly aware of it as am I . Jesus Christ did not die for Religion. He was a complete rebel against it which is why He always confronted the Pharisees, not so much the Sadducees because they didn’t believe in an afterlife. In context, no one can argue Jesus died for Religion, and therefore it is irrelevant except for the Jews who do not believe Jesus was and is the Messiah. I have a lot to say, and a lot of nothing to say, but don’t mistake that for ignorance. Jesus loves you and so do I. Read deeper….Love longer….and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you if you really are saved. That’s all I have to say about that.
I realize I am responding YEARS later, but do you realize you all sound judgmental and Pius? As for slamming all denominations, I find that appalling. Each denomination has 1 thing in common. We all follow Christ and we all love him. Using the word religion is semantics. Unless we define the word to suit our purposes, there is simply no biblical grounds for saying Jesus hated religion. What might be gained by using such language will, without a careful explanation and warning, be outweighed by what is lost when we give the impression that religion is the enemy.
I read this argument in a book:
Jesus was a Jew. He went to services at the synagogue. He observed Jewish holy days. He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). He founded the church (Matt. 16:18). He established church discipline (Matt. 18:15-20). He instituted a ritual meal (Matt. 26:26-28). He told his disciples to baptize people and to teach others to obey everything he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). He insisted that people believe in him and believe certain things about him (John 3:16-18; 8:24). If religion is characterized by doctrine, commands, rituals, and structure, then Jesus is not your go-to guy for hating religion.
What about St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church…. I fallowed my husband… Not too sure about this!
this was good very powerful and
to the point I will pass that on and I will look forward for more
Another points needs to be mentioned the holy spirit is also available to us as Jesus mentiond many times in the new testament. Even Jesus looked to the Holy Spirit as a guide from our Father God.
Where is it written that Allah and God are not the same?
Good question, Donna.
You’ll not find it specifically written in scripture that YHWH (Jehovah, God, Adonni, etc) of the Bible is a different deity than Allah of the Quran. It is further confusing to some Western Christians that Christians living in the Middle East, specifically Arab speaking Christians, refer to the Father God of the Bible as “Allah”, which simply translates “The Deity”.
However, as one studies the Bible and the Quran, and compare the two, you realize the same God cannot have revealed both sets of Scriptures. Although there are a few similar stories and familiar names in both sources, the details belie the obvious differences.
The Quran is basically a manual of Law (Shari’a: that is literally “the right path”) that is given for all mankind to follow, whether one is a Muslim, Christian, or Jew, or Zoroastrian. These are the religions which had revealed Scriptures at the time Muhammad “received” the Quran. It has been claimed that Islam wants the entire world to be Muslim. Not so. It wants the entire world to “submit” (the literal translation of ‘Islam’) to the rule of Islam. The Shari’a details how everyone living under Islamic rule is obligated to abide by it, regardless of one’s religion. Except Atheists: atheists and those who convert out of Islam are considered apostate and should be killed, unless they are permitted to testify submission to Allah. So much depends on the local magistrate, some may be more benevolent than others. This explains the inconsistencies in the application of Shari’a from one region to another in Islamic countries, and what group may be in charge at a given time.
But more to your question, the differences between Allah of Quran and God of the Bible are found within the respective scriptural sources. The character of the two deities are antithetical and contradictory.
I know two men by the same name. One is a convicted felon, the other a preacher of the Gospel. I know a man named Jesus who lives in a house down the road; I also know the Son of God named Jesus.
The Law of the Old Testament, the Torah, or Law of Moses, was given to the new nation of Israel; a Constitution, if you will, for governing a people who had been enslaved for 400 years, and definitely needed government in order to survive. The Law was also given, according to the New Testament, as a “schoolmaster”, a teacher, to show what God requires and also that mankind is helpless to achieve that expectation. Paul writes, aside from the Law I would not know what sin is. Thus the Law serves to instruct and convict. The grace and mercy that is found through Jesus the Christ intercedes, or “pardons “ that conviction, that we may then come into God’s presence in the next world.
There is no such grace in Islam, and there is no Savior to take your sin punishment on your behalf, therefore all must pay for their own sin in hell until Allah is satisfied. The only bypass to hell is to die in jihad advancing the cause of Islam for Allah, or for a woman who has served her husband impeccably well in the eyes of Allah. One other caviot I read of is if a Muslim dies during Ramadan and has been an exceptional Muslim.
Under Islamic governance non-Muslims are second class citizens, and may be subject to different standards.
The Bible makes it plain that believers are to treat all with respect, and God does not give preference to any.
God is a filthy scumbag anyway since it doesn’t matter.
Thank the I Am , truly you are elect! You Remember me? The Law of Doctrines and Prophecy , according to the Law of Two are more witnesses, every word, [doctrine] be Established, to become Law or fact . Text me trough messenger SND facebook cells of. We people are The Church not Religion is the beast system which is religion
On Oct 16, 2018 6:34 PM, “Defining the Narrative” wrote:
Truth commented: “God is a filthy scumbag anyway since it doesn’t matter.”
Agree 110 percent with everything written in this article, religion is the one work of darkness that is hid from man’s eyes. It is a barrier between God and man having the relationship God intended.
Oh how true how true……thanks for that input…..hits the nail on the head….trying to educate some of my children to the perfect relationship they can experience as I found 5 years ago…..some are listening, some refuse thinking dad has gone wayward….so with trying continually and asking the Lord for his intervention to awaken them to the truth…I can do no more. Thanks so much for your input and sharing the truth.
Trying to explain to religious people like talking to a wall, an what religion bring us, Donald freaking rump
So tell me Benny about your relationship with Jesus.
So….I read your article and I have a question or 2. First I’m a spiritual person I believe in a SUPREME BEING I hate all religions including christianity. That being said I wonder as your article so eloquently states how any man made religion specifically christianity as you state is not a cult but islam is. They all force fear on you first. Then prey on human needs be it money or forgiveness.What I’m truly curios about as you seem to be a christian what about black people here in America, are they suppose to be christians and love your God.As you know blacks were brought here as slaves. Your bible teaches them to obey their masters. It also goes so far as to allow the slave master to beat his slave as long as he doesn’t kill him. I don’t know about you but that doest seem to God like to me. I’m sure you know that prior to the slave trade christianity was not even practiced any where in Africa. Prior to the spaniards catholicism was not practiced by native hispanics on this continent. Finally I’m sure you know that the oldest form of religion IS NOT christianity. So just curios as to how you can justify other than just your own beliefs and of course lets not forget FAITH anyone other that of a direct descendant of a slave owner or someone based on their ethnic origin could be a slave owner want to be a christian here in America? ALL PRAISE DUE TO THE SUPREME BEING!!
Dear B,
I am glad that you believe in a Supreme Being. That is a good place to start your spiritual quest. I will go through your questions/comments and try to give an answer to each point.
First of all, on the point of Islam being a cult, yes, I agree it is a cult. Why? The answer to that is quite simple really: The Quran was “written” by one man, (recited actually-that is the translation of “Al Quran”-“The Recitation”. You see, Muhammad was illiterate-he could not read or write. His Recitations were eventually written down and standardized years after his death.) The Quran was revealed to one man, by one angel, over a period of 23 years. No one else ever saw or heard the angel. He takes stories/accounts similar to those already in in the Bible and turns them into his own preferential narrative, making the point that Arabic is the preferred language of scripture, prayer, and that the Arab people are superior. His objective was to united the warring Arab tribes under a monotheistic religion, in place of the 360 gods, (one for each tribe) housed in the already existing Kaaba. He may have been illiterate but he wasn’t stupid. Muhammad clearly set himself up as the prophet of Allah, and that he abrogated all the preceding prophets (Moses, Abraham, Jesus, etc.), that Quran abrogates all previously revealed Scriptures (the New Testament had been finished almost 500 years prior), and Islam abrogates all other religions. I will move on to other points so as not to get bogged down on this first point.
“What about black people here in America”? America is a free country and people of all colors are free to worship whomever they choose. I would not, and no one is advocating that Christianity be compulsory: God does not even do that.
“Blacks were brought here as slaves”. Not all blacks in this country were brought here as slaves. I personally know people who have immigrated here from Uganda and Ghana who came by choice. And they have been coming for a long time. True, there were thousands brought here by slave traders. But their descendants are now free, as you know, and over a million white American people died to make that possible in the mid-1800’s.
“Prior to the slave trade Christianity was not even practiced any where in Africa.” Which slave trade? If you are referring the European slave trade which actually brought slaves to the America’s, you are mistaken. North Africa was a bastion of Christianity prior to the invasion of the Islamic Armies, from Egypt to Tunisia and Morocco. Alexandria Egypt had a library which housed some of the oldest Christian and Jewish scriptural manuscripts in the world until the Romans burned it to the ground in the 200’s AD, in an effort to stop the spread of Christianity. Simon the Cyrene was from modern day Lybia, in Jerusalem to worship on the Passover when he was conscripted by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus. The Ethiopians have a long history of both Judaism (their queen came to King Solomon in Jerusalem in the 900’s) and Christianity. By 117 AD there were Christian Africans from Ethiopia to Cairo to Tunis, to Mauritania (Morocco). So yes, Christianity preceded the European slave trade, even preceded the Islamic slave trade (which incidentally still exists!), but since Christ was not even born during the Greek and early Roman conquests, you are correct that Christianity did not exist prior to those empires, or the other massive slave trades of the ancient world. But to address those scriptures you referenced (I would assume Exodus 21), I say only this: Israel was a nation of slaves for 400 years under the Pharoah’s. Slavery was common. Slavery built the ancient world’s greatest landmarks such as the Pyramids. Some people, destitute even sold themselves into slavery (this happened as late as the late 1800’s with Irish immigrants who sold years of service to an employer in exchange for a living. In ancient times this was known as “bond servant”, but we may know it better as “indentured servitude”. Sale of ones self into slavery has not been an uncommon occurrence through history; many times to pay back a debt, avoidance of starvation, and in Russia to avoid being conscripted into the army at one point. Usually there is a contract under which this type of slavery is conducted. Israel was given the Torah, the Law of Moses, as a national law, like a “constitution”, around which to build their society. There are some hard things to understand without extensive study, but if you read further, if a slave died from beating, the one who did it was to be killed. It may be of little consolation today, but that spoke volumes in the context of the time it was written as to the value of the slave as a human being. Yes, I know, that many used these passages to justify slavery in America. But evil people everywhere use scripture twisted out of context for their own evil gain, just like they twist and use man-made laws to their own gain. Just because someone quotes a scripture supporting a terrible act, doesn’t mean that scripture actually does support it. That said, try focusing on the plethora of things that are more easily understood, instead of the one thing that you do not which keeps you from that peace that surpasses all understanding; the knowledge of the Peace of Christ in your soul.
“Prior to the Spaniards Catholicism was not practiced by native hispanics on this continent.” Actually there were no Hispanics on this continent prior to the Spaniards, as “Hispanics” are descended from the Spanish.
I’m not quite sure of you closing comment except to maybe question why a descendant of slaves would want to be Christian? Some of the finest Christians I ever met were black folks who were descended from those slaves of old. I do not know how to answer you. Perhaps more accurately, the question may be “why would anyone want to be a Christian?” I suppose that depends upon what you think a Christian is. I cannot answer for anyone but myself, but I can tell you that I have security and peace knowing that Jesus Christ is my ultimate Keeper, and that He thought I was worth redemption, even by His death on a cross. He is my Guide. He keeps me from doing the evil that I have, that all of us have within our hearts. He alone is worthy of worship, whether by meditation, reading of His Word, singing songs and doing actions of love and service that reflect His life in mine. That is what makes sense in a world which seems to be losing it’s ever-loving mind, and degrading into a cesspool of immorality and violence. He is the Supreme Being.
The Bible doesn’t say anything about black people in America. Not a SINGLE black person living in America was ever a slave. NO black person in America has a “master” they need to worry about listening to or getting beat by.
Where the Bible does mention slaves it does NOT list a skin color or a nationality. It says you have to purchase slaves from foreign nations.
What exactly were you hoping to accomplish with that ignorant ass racially motivated question?
This article says zero about slavery. I have no idea what you are talking about, but your comment exudes racism.
Way to go I’m describing religion it’s my same belief and I finally found someone that put it in word the way I wanted to read it so thank you my brother and God bless you and may God love stay in you as God is love and love stays in God!!!
That’s quite misleading to title your piece “God hates religion. You have essentially given your reasoning for “God ONLY likes Christianity”. Perhaps you meant to say God doesn’t care what denomination of Christianity you choose? Unfortunately you did nothing to support the idea that a diety hates religion.
This is actually an idiotic meme created by atheists, and weak-willed so-called Christians have bought into it to try and impress those same atheists, who will never like them. James 1:27 is the end of this idiotic argument. Congrats on the clicks, though.
I assure you, I am neither atheist, or trying to impress them.
Love reading your passages. It was wonderful seeing your views on this subject.