CLARIFY TO SAY: "Christianity Is Not JUST a Religion, It's a Relationship With God Through Jesus Christ"

 

One of the things many Christians are now fond of saying, when trying to share their faith with the unsaved, is "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship." This well-intentioned statement is meant to emphasize that Heaven is not obtained by keeping a bunch of rules and regulations, we get to Heaven by BEING RIGHTLY RELATED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. And, I agree with the idea that it is HE ALONE Who can forgive us and make us fit to dwell with Him forever and ever if we are connected to him by faith. HE ALONE is the way to God, we can and we MUST have a saving relationship with Jesus!! 

But here's the problem with "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship." You're not being specific enough, if that's all you say.  It's an oversimplification, in my opinion. The title I've given to this particular blog is MUCH more accurate, as I will try to demonstrate.

You see, *I* understand what's meant by "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship" and most of the people who use the saying as a witnessing tool understand it, also (hopefully) !! But remember, you are most often speaking to people who do not yet know the Lord in a saving way.

And is "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship" really TRUE, without some clarification and qualification?? Is it TOO simple of a statement to pass on to the unsaved, who can't "fill in the blanks" in their heads like Bible-believing Christians can?? 

Does "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship" give the impression that the Lord Jesus Christ is only a fellow human being we can have a relationship with WITHOUT having to worship Him?? If so, well, that's not Christianity. He is God AND man, but "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship" only emphasizes His humanity and minimizes His Deity.

          * IN SCRIPTURE: James 1:27 gives a description of "pure and undefiled religion before God" (emphasis mine) and in the context of James 1, James is clearly talking to Christians and defining Christianity. In James 1:26, he even speaks of a type of Christianity ("religion") which is useless!! So the word "religion IS in Scripture but  Strong's Concordance NOWHERE mentions the word "relationship" in the Bible, (though the concept IS implied, just like "religion" is implied repeatedly).

          * IN THE DICTIONARY, one of the definitions of "religion" is "a particular system of faith and worship" and this describes Christianity perfectly if you add "practices" to that. Christianity is a system of TRUE religion and frankly, every other system is a system of FALSE religion. We shouldn't be ashamed of the word "religion" because again, it IS specifically in the Scriptures. And Christianity is not only A religion, Christianity is THE religion!! Jesus said HE is "THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life" (emphasis mine) and before you say "Chet you just proved the point you're trying to refute, He didn't say CHRISTIANITY is the only way to God, Jesus said HE is"....hold on for a sec!!

          * IN ORDINARY CONVERSATION, WHEN YOU SAY CHRISTIANITY IS A RELATIONSHIP without clarifying and qualifying it, but leaving the listener with the impression that "religion"....that system of beliefs and practices...plays no part in the "relationship," they can easily wind up with the idea that AS LONG AS I HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE WHO IS A RELIGIOUS FIGURE, IT'S OKAY. And that's not true!! Please bear with me and et me give you a huge "for instance."

ROMAN CATHOLICS WHO ADHERE TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH have more of a "relationship" with MARY than they do with JESUS. But it's based on the FALSE teachings of the Catholic...religion!! Even though the VERY highly-favored Mary confessed (in Scripture) to being a sinner just like all of us, Mary is seen by most Roman Catholics as a co-Redeemer, co-Mediator BORN WITHOUT SIN Being that the Church has exalted to being "The Queen of Heaven"!! Such Catholics pray to Mary BEFORE they pray to Jesus ("If you want the Son to grant your requests, ask His Mother and she will convince her Son") and they pray to Mary MORE than they pray to God or Jesus Christ. Mary shouldn't be prayed to at ALL, she's just a human being and a dead one at that. Yet the RELIGION of Catholicism encourages Roman Catholics to have a RELATIONSHIP with Mary, through prayer. I wrote a whole book about this and I don't have time to unpack all of the proofs, but research the official teachings of Catholicism about Mary and see for yourself!! Some have joked that Catholicism has made Mary the Fourth Member of the Trinity, but if one of "the four" had to be jettisoned to get the total down to three again (Lol), MANY Roman Catholics would keep MARY and get rid of someone else, believe it or not. This is NOT true Christianity, but when you tell Catholics that "Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship" without clarifying that the "relationship" which can save your soul is to be with JESUS and no other human being, you are, without meaning to, opening the door for a FALSE religion such as Catholicism to think that they are Christians....because they have a "relationship" based on a false "religion." 

The result? Those Catholics who think they're ALREADY Christians may not see the need to BECOME Christians, defeating the whole purpose of witnessing to them in the first place.

My solution is to simply CLARIFY your statement to say "Christianity Is Not JUST a Religion, It's a Relationship With God Through Jesus Christ." Yeah, it is not as concise a statement, it weakens the alliteration and therefore may not be as easy for someone to remember. But it's BIBLICAL, and in the end that is all that matters.

It's much more accurate than the other way!! After all, the "Religion" (when based on SCRIPTURE) defines who we are to have the "Relationship" WITH.