Religion vs. Spirituality
On a recent post, Shawna from The Homeschooling Experiment left a comment about the term religion that gave me pause for reflection.
As for science and religion (the word altogether bothers me, I prefer faith or spirituality, myself) can co-exist and does.I have similar feelings about the word "religion" but seeing it pitted so directly against the term "spirituality" made me ask why for the first time. I believe that we are all spiritual. It is how we were created.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
Spirit, even in Hebrew, means breath. And in this verse, the word used also means soul. We cannot escape being spiritual, and even some noted atheists will talk about a certain spiritual aspect of the human existence. Clearly, however, we are not all religious. And even many within Christianity strive against the term. "Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship," I am told. And until I read Shawna's comment, I would have said the same. The Sawmill Baptist Church puts it clearly on their website.Religion is man's attempt to reach God. Christianity is God reaching down to man to restore a relationship that we severed through our sin. In religion, people attempt to "balance that scales" of their "rights and wrongs" in order to please an unknowable god. In Christianity, God has revealed Himself to us through Jesus and provided a way for us to re-enter a relationship with Him (John 3:16.)But is religion man-made? Or has the church once again adopted the culture's view of our religion? According to Cicero, the word religion is derived from the Latin relegare, "go through again, read again." In this sense, I am very religious. "Spiritual" hardly describes my view of my faith. For me, faith is not about a feeling or a general sense that there is a higher power. It is about a walk and about a search. It is about study to "put on the mind of Christ."
Looking up the word in Webster's 1828 gives an entirely different view of religion than that contained in the sentiment as well. The entire definition is quite interesting to read, but the second definition summarizes it well.
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. Webster's 1828Religion, therefore, is not man's attempt to reach God. It is the physical outworking of our faith. And if there is no physical outworking, there is no faith (James 2:18).
22 comments:
I think it is one of those words (like "tolerance" and "gay") that has changed meaning through usage.
It is popular in many church circles to say things like, "we're not religious." I think that it is to defend against those that say the religious (of any faith) cause all the world's problems. bviously, that is a generalization.
The word religion is used 4 times in the KJV of the Bible, 4 in a negative context and once saying, "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.
I personally don't like the word "spirituality" as it brings to my mind flaky new-aginess. But that's me and my opinion.
I am never ashamed to be known as a Christian. And I believe science and faith in the One True God are not mutually exclusive. God created science and science proves the existence of the Creator.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it :)
Someone could be spiritual without belonging to an organized religion. There are also unfortunately plenty of people who attend houses of worship who are not spiritual. They may show up to church/temple every week, but when it comes to actual faith in God, their beliefs don't match their actions.
Of course, as Christians, we are called to have *both* spirituality AND participation in a congregation of fellow believers.
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it..." I like that Isaish5513. I think I'd have to agree there!
Crimson Wife, the issue with beliefs not matching actions is a big one for the church. We have poll after poll saying that Christians do not really behave any differently than any other segment of society. What does that mean? Has the spirit left? Or are we a little too accepting of the world, too nervous about creating a clear line between what it means to be Christian and what the world believes?
This all starts because the people within the church are all so quick to adopt the philosophies of the world. Old Truth has a great entry on this very topic, and it is very apropos.
Agreed! There is much teaching against "religion" and "being religious" in American churches.
I don't hear so much about it in the world. The world, when they see our outward evidence of our faith, will say we "got religion". As you noted, many Christians are quick to retort, "I don't have religion. I have a relationship with Christ." Yet, with the true gaining of Christ comes outwardly visible "religion" - beliefs in practice.
So much of what claims to be "Christian", doesn't want to appear to the world as being any different than them, except in some "inner" way. Not in anything anyone would notice about them.
Yet in the "Church", from the pulpits, we hear over and over how "bad" religion is. How it is death and bondage. We need to be freed from it. They forget that God Himself is the author of "true religion" and that it is a mark of a true Christian. And that religion is only bondage to those who are not true Christians.
And that Jesus, while on earth, taught that "by their fruits you will know them", and just after that how He tells us He will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you," to those who had a form of Christianity but not true religion.
Just some thoughts.
Lisa @ Me and My House
Funny, I was confronted with the word "religious" just yesterday, because of a question on YahooAnswers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjAWurrZQTOcnaj9MWZsggTsy6IX?qid=20070904133138AAaEZzY&show=7#profile-info-NYhx3kvlaa)
which set me thinking about this very topic...
I suspect that "religion" in most people's minds refers specifically to "organized religion". American evangelicals are often adamant about separating Christian faith ("relationship") from membership or participation in a church organization ("religion"). We try to distance ourselves from religion because we perceive it as man-made and Pharisaical, something adjunct to (and not quite as necessary as) "real" Christianity. So we try to find another word (like "spirituality"). Interestingly enough, this has spawned a whole new vein of Jesus-and-me "spirituality" in which the church is considered not only unnecessary but a bit suspect. (Christianity Today had an article about this a few months ago titled "Flea Market Christianity".)
Back in my evangelical protestant days, the word religion produced a similar qualm in me. I remember an Orthodox classmate proclaiming, "Christianity is the greatest religion in the world!" and it totally set my teeth on edge. He may as well have run his fingernails across the chalkboard. But really, think of how we use the word religion in relation to those other than our own: the Buddhist religion, the Muslim religion. In so speaking, we refer not only to practice, as in Dana's (and Webster's) definition, but also to a body of belief (theology). Why should this make us uncomfortable then,with regard to our own religion? Theology and practice are necessarily and inextricably intertwined; attempts to disentangle them results in hypocrisy and the very pharisaism which we are trying to avoid.
The Latin origins of the word are telling: "to read again"...our contact with the word of God (which is often through the preaching and teaching of the church)produces and nourishes faith, which brings forth works -- feeding widows and orphans.
Just stopping in to say hello. :) I like your blog so I added it to my blog roll.
Great post Dana...I was hoping you might tackle Shawna's comment, as I was scratching my head a bit on that the other day, too.
I'm with Isaiah on this one:
I personally don't like the word "spirituality" as it brings to my mind flaky new-aginess.
The first two things that pop into my head when I hear "spirituallity" are Oprah and Osteen.
Anyway, great discussion here!
Thanks, White Daisy! That always pops to mind for me, too, headmistress. But that could be the same sort of issue as "religion" for a lot of people. The word has been taken by a movement that sends up flags for many of us, but that doesn't man there is anything wrong with being spiritual in and of itself.
Rebecca, your conversation partner's id means "stolen soul." Interesting. And there are a lot of issues in the denial of Christianity as a religion. Do a google search on "Christianity is not a religion but a relationship" and you get a lot of interesting results. One I may be coming back to this weekend.
A few more thoughts...
Lisa wrote:
Yet in the "Church", from the pulpits, we hear over and over how "bad" religion is. How it is death and bondage. We need to be freed from it. They forget that God Himself is the author of "true religion" and that it is a mark of a true Christian. And that religion is only bondage to those who are not true Christians.
An excellent point. Lutheran theology makes a strong distinction between Law and Gospel. So when I read the above quote, I found I could almost (except for one place)insert "Law" for "religion" and have a coherent paragraph. Reformed theology lacks the law/gospel distinction (or at least lacks terminology for it)-- I wonder if the religion vs. spirituality (or relationship)debate is really a case of trying to find language for the concepts of law and gospel?
A good article on the subject:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mysticalrose/religion.html
Isaiah5513 mentioned it without actually drawing the conclusion, so I will. Although many like to think that religion is "man made", James is abundantly clear that there is such a thing as pure, undefiled religion, religion that God likes. It isn't a "bad thing". It isn't a human creation. Nothing wrong with religion in the right form.
Interesting article, Rebecca. I actually skimmed over that last night! There is another one that is interesting and talks about the origins of this general philosophy. They claim it is rooted in Romanticism, which I can definitely see. I have to read a bit more, though.
Definitely true, Stan. I think some of this comes from the striving of many Protestants to separate themselves from Catholocism. At least that is the context I have most often heard it used.
Whenever I hear the "it's a relationship, not a religion" line, I hold up the Bible and ask, "Then why did God give us all these words to read?"
You mean I was supposed to read that? (Sorry, just being silly.)
My issue with the term "religion" is that there are so many...and honestly, truly who is to say whose is the correct one. We all believe ours is; we all believe that we have written proof and that our higher source/God has "told" us so. But so many years since Jesus walked this Earth and man's inclination to exaggerate and fabricate and flat out lie leaves many uncomfortable.
Spirituality to me is a more of a personal relationship between a higher source and me: for me that higher source is God. As for Oprah, she is an interesting human being from what I know of her and that isn't alot, and as for Osteen--have no idea who that is. Maybe a long distance Native American blood lineage contributes to my feeling of spirit **shrug**
Faith, is my belief in my God and his Word despite the time lapse of Jesus being here in the flesh, despite man's inclination to exaggerate, fabricate, and simply lie. Do I question? Most definitely! Do I seek? All of the time! But my God is aware of that and walks with me...he does not look down on me as a new-age anything. If I recall, there is scripture that instructs us to question and seek?
Religion to me wreaks of the controversies within the Christian church itself: Catholic and Protestant; of the Crusades in the name of Christ; of the hatred today that takes place and the Word is used as its source. Yes, sin is the root...but religion is its weapon.
I found the romanticism article too. The more I got to thinking about it last night, the more I thought about the problem as an outgrowth of pietism (which makes sense light of the romanticism theory, because the pietist movement developed during the romantic age.)
Pietism as a movement began largely a reaction to the rationalism that infected the state churches during the Enlightenment. But the pietistic spirit is always a danger any and everywhere, because it seeks to sort out the "true believers" from the congregation of the visible church.
Shawna,
I identify with what you say because those were precisely my gripes with "religion" in past years. But spirituality isn't much better. Buddhists have spirituality. So do Muslims and Native Americans and many other religions. Also, the point you make about calling Christianity a religion just makes it one among many, any of which might be true...that was what bothered me about my Orthodox friend's comment.
But what makes Christianity true is the content of our faith -- the "mystery of our religion: he was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory. (1 Tim. 3:16)" This is one of the earliest Christian creeds, defining the content of the one true religion. What makes Christianity unique is not that it is not a religion, but that it is TRUE.
As for distancing ourselves from all the ugliness perpetrated in the name of Christ over the centuries, I think that is neither wise nor really possible. It makes our claims of "one body" ring hollow. As moderns and as Americans, we aren't very comfortable with accepting responsibility for corporate sin, but we would have far more credibility with the world if our attitude were one of unity and repentance, rather than schism with self-righteousness (oh, that wasn't US... WE'RE not like that...) After all,the sins of the present day church aren't a whole lot prettier than those of the church in the past, and unbelievers aren't blind to that. Besides, if we distance ourselves from the sins of the historic church, we also distance ourselves from the great saints and great good of the historic church. Christ's bride is one body, with all her sins and schisms, and we would do well to look to the past with fear and trembling, recognizing that "they is us".
Very interesting article. Recently I read that the term Religion means to search. Those of us who are born-again believers in Christ no longer have to search for the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within us. The search is over therefore we can abide in him as he lives in us!
I believe true Christianity is more about relationship than religion. In fact I say that quite often. The Bible itself is a book about relationships. First of all a relationship with the Father then a relationship to our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? I did a blog on this a few days ago for those of you who care to check it out. But basically our neighbor is all mankind. We were created for relationships.
It bothers me however when I hear someone say "I'm spitual but not religious." There is an entire spiritual world out there and one needs to be very careful about which spirit he or she is open to. If you are in fact a born again believer and filled with the Holy Spirit, then by all means, walk in that Spirit! But if you are just open to all spiritual beings and encounters I would beware!
People are fed up with religion and I don't blame them. So was Jesus. Look how often he came against what the religious leaders and teachers of biblical times were practicing. Right now I am posting in a series the Parables of Christ. It becomes quite clear in Jesus' teachings that the Kingdom of God is a relationship. You are welcome to view my page and make comments if so desired.
This is a great topic though and I want to commend you on your post. I will be back to see what others are saying. Thanks.
Michael
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.
1 Timothy 5:3-5
Micheal, thank you so much for stopping by and adding your thoughts. I agree with your sentiments, but I do think that there is danger in just letting go of the word religion. It is being redefined as something that it isn't.
As with everything, there is a sentiment behind the statement about Christianity being a relationship more than a religion that I agree with. And I have said that myself. But there is something else to it that I am beginning to question. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that Christianity is a religion about relationships or based in a relationship? The anonymous commenter that posted after you summarizes well why I am leery of just dropping the word religion. I think the description is worth fighting for.
Shawna, again you have left me with enough thoughts for another entry. Renae captured the heart of what I wanted to say, but I will add to it later, when it isn't after midnight! (Here, not in its own entry again.)
LOL I sometime have that affect on people :-)
Well said, Dana. It all depends on how the word is used. I bet you'd get some blank stares if someone asked you what religion you adhere to and you said "I don't have a religion, I'm a Christian."
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