DAY 25: RELIGION I (INTRODUCTION)

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 25, 2023.

Topic: RELIGION I (INTRODUCTION)

Bible Reading: Colossians 2:6-10, 20-23

Verse for Meditation: James 1:27 NLT

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

According to some estimates, there are over 4,000 religions, faiths groups, and denominations that exist around the world today. Yet there is no universally accepted definition of the term, “religion” as there is no straightforward meaning. Some cultures view religion entirely separately from individuals or society. Others don’t distinguish those concepts enough to consider “religion” a meaningful category.

A general definition of religion can be distilled from these widely varied experiences as “a range of social-cultural system connected to spiritual and/or supernatural components that uniquely impacts the adherent’s worldview, behaviour, belief, culture, morality and approach to certain writings, persons, or places.” Even simplified, that’s quite a mouthful and a mind-full. The lines between religion and culture or philosophy or tradition or myth are not easily drawn.

Religion as a category is hard to define, but specific examples are clearer. For example, researchers and academics generally categorise the world’s religion into five major groups: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Yet these “straightforward religion” deeply disagree with all the expected features.

As with other broader terms, religion takes on narrower meaning in certain contexts. A common instance focuses on behaviour, that is, actions or attitudes; generally rules and rituals.

The Bible addresses the concept of religion, but not as directly as one might expect. For example in James 1:27, the word “religion” takes a narrow focus on behaviour; the acts of worship- that is, the expression of faith. And what James calls as “pure religion” involves helping others in distress and maintaining personal holiness. That is very unconventional with the religious practices of the Pharisees that Jesus criticised as a hypocritical behaviour, not rooted in sincere faith (Matt. 5:27-28; 7:21-23; Mk. 7:9-13; Lk. 11:42-44).

Scripture also explicitly contrasts the idea of religion as a practice with faith-in-and-of-itself. For example in Acts 17:21 and 23, Paul noted altars to manifold deities of certain non-believers in Athens and said that they were “very religious”; that refers to a superstitious belief and practice, which is different from how James used it in James 1:26 and 27, that refers to an act of worship.

Now in respect to all the above view on religion, Christianity can be classified as a religion. However, practically speaking, Christianity has a key difference that separates it from other belief systems that are considered religions. That difference is relationship.

The five major groups of religion can be sub-grouped into theistic or non-theistic. A theistic religion, such as Judaism or Islam, hold to the belief in a supreme God or gods; while non-theistic religion, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, focus on metaphysical thought patterns and spiritual “energies”. In these religions, man is the aggressor and the deity is the beneficiary of man’s efforts, sacrifices, or good deeds.

Karl Marx, a secular humanist, said that the foundation of religious criticism is that man makes religion, religion does not make man.

In all these regards, Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship that God has established with His children. In Christianity, God id the aggressor and man is the beneficiary (Rom. 8:3). The Bible states clearly that there is nothing man can do to make himself right with God (Isa. 53:6; 64:6; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). According to Christianity, God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves (Col. 2:13; 2Cor. 5:21). And all we must do is accept God’s gift of salvation through faith (Eph. 2:8-9; 2Cor. 5:21). Grace is God’s blessing on the undeserving.

The grace-based relationship between God and man is the foundation of Christianity and the antithesis of religion. 

PRAYER:

FATHER I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE CALLED ME INTO A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND NOT INTO A RELIGION. THEREFORE HELP ME TO WALK IN THIS CONSCIOUSNESS.

DECLARATION:

MY DEVOTION WITH GOD JUST GETS BETTER BECAUSE OF THIS REALITTY THAT I AM CALLED INTO A RELATIONSHIP AND NOT A RELIGION.

Bible Reading Plan: Galatians 6; Proverbs 25-26