I really get tired of the self-righteousness of many Christians who claim they don't believe in religion but in Jesus as though the two were entirely unconnected. The fact that you believe in ANYTHING, and ESPECIALLY in a Supernatural Being, makes you, ipso facto, religious.

The meaning of words we use in the language we speak is defined by the consensus of society at any one moment in time. That's why we consult dictionaries, grammar books and concordances. We have to have consensus as to the meaning of words in order to communicate. Otherwise...no communication...and anarchy. This is precisely what has happened with postmodernism and the 'woke' phenomenon which rejects objective reality.

This is why I have a big problem with Calvinists because they use the same vocabulary as other Christians but mean something entirely different by them.

But Calvinists aren't the only ones guilty of this abuse of language. Those who claim they don't believe in religion because they follow, or have a personal relationship with, Jesus Christ (Yah'shua the Messiah) are doing the same thing. These people are simply playing with words and mutilating the English language to avoid something very important.

Grab a dictionary. I'll use the Cambridge Dictionary as that's what's convenient at this moment but any will do. The Cambridge Dictionary gives this definition for religion: "the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship."

Worship is defined in a similar way as follows: "to have or show a strong feeling of respect and admiration for God or a god."

So using the common parlance of English speakers, when someone says he or she has a personal relationship with Elohim/God, guess what? This person has a religion. That is his or her religion. This person believes in Elohim/God and worships (respects, admires, trusts in, serves, worships, etc.) Him. And so the requirements of the definition are properly met by English-speakers.

Now, of course, what most of these Christians mean (they're usually evangelicals) is that their faith doesn't require they DO anything, just TRUST...even though they actually DO do lots of things...they just deny it's religious activity. What THEY mean is that since salvation is by faith and not by works, salvation therefore - somehow - isn't a religious activity. It's something else they call 'relationship'. Funny thing - I have a relationship with the members of my family living at home, but they all behave in a certain way because of house rules that I have established. If they started breaking those rules, we'd still have a relationship but it would be strained; and if it got REALLY bad, the relationship might break for a season. It happens all the time.

So, 'yes' and 'no' to what these evangelicals are trying to get across. I get what they are saying but they're being misleading when they claim they're not religious. In actual fact, evangelicals who trust in Christ alone for their salvation DO have outer forms of worship (nearly all of them) - they practice water baptism, take the Lord's Supper (Communion, Eucharist, etc.), assemble on Sundays (some on Saturdays) which they call 'the Lord's Day' (we'll not get into the sabbath controversy of the fact the the 'Lord's Day' means something entirely different) , they usually assemble for Bible studies on Wednesday evenings, and 'do' all sorts of external things like stand up when the Scriptures are read out loud, have the piano on one side of the room and not the other, have altars, sanctuaries, etc.. Churches 'do' all sorts of different things and their ministers dress differently, sometimes with fancy robes. They display crosses, doves and other religious items in their churches. They're actually VERY religious.

And the Bible says there is nothing wrong with being religious. Indeed it explicitly says there's a RIGHT kind of religion and a WRONG kind of religion. Does not the brother of Yah'shua/Jesus, James the apostle, tell us that TRUE RELIGION is a devotion to Elohim/God, demonstrated by love and compassion for fellowmen, coupled with unworldliness (James 1:27)? Are these evangelicals saying that they reject love and compassion for their fellow human beings? Of course not. The whole idea is silly.

So what's going on? Why do they insist they're not 'religious'? What led to this rather ambiguous saying which they parade around so forcefully?

A reason might be embarrassment and shame over legalistic Christians who claim they are saved by their works..like Catholics and Mormons who claim they alone have authority to administer the sacraments. And they're right to say that we aren't initially saved by the things we do but solely on the basis of our trusting in Yah'shua/Jesus.

But unfortunately they go further. Much further. The Reformers taught that Christ did away with the 'law' by nailing it to the cross (though it was actually the PUNISHMENT or PENALTY from breaking the Torah that was nailed there) so that we no longer have to observe it as a way of life for the saved. For them, obeying ANY sort of rules or commandments as an obligation is somehow 'religious'. Unfortunately, this is not what the Bible teaches. Christ specifically taught that if His talmidim/disciples (the saved) truly loved Him, they would be obeying the commandments as EVIDENCE of their savedness (Jn.14:15).

And that's the controversy I have with these so-called 'non-religious' people.

In a way, they're right - they're non-religious inasmuch as they pick and choose which mitzvot/commandments to obey or disregard. But in claiming to represent the religion of the New Testament they are greatly deceived. Like someone starting to walk by advancing their right foot (salvation by trusting) but refusing the move their left foot (living the Gospel way of life of holiness - obeying the mitzvot/commandments) afterwards, they're only living half the Gospel, hopping their way through their religious life and right over many of the things Father requires of them (obedience to all the mitzvot/commandments).

That's why they say they aren't following a religion even if they're not really sure why they're saying that.

Time to revise their vocabulary and online memes, don't you think?

This page was created on 14 March 2025 Last updated on 14 March 2025

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