Relationship not Religion
By Leah F.
My old Sunday School teacher kept saying that Christianity is a "relationship not religion."
But what does that mean? In most other religions, the followers fear their god, seeing it
as a hateful figure that wants to destroy them. But according to our Bible, even though
our God is just, but he is loving and kind. One of the 10 Commandments is remembering
the Sabbath day, and keep it holy; but what does "keeping it holy" mean? Does it mean
to make sure not to to any work, like the Pharisees thought? No! It means to praise God
that day and BE with him! God wants YOU to spend time with him. I was reading articles
on this subject, and this quote stuck out to me. “The difference between Christianity and
every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man trying to reach up to
God. Christianity is about God reaching down to man.” Do you understand what this is
saying? It's saying that normally, religion is man trying to make their god happy, trying to
make it so their god doesn't strike them down dead. But with our religion, God is trying
But what does that mean? In most other religions, the followers fear their god, seeing it
as a hateful figure that wants to destroy them. But according to our Bible, even though
our God is just, but he is loving and kind. One of the 10 Commandments is remembering
the Sabbath day, and keep it holy; but what does "keeping it holy" mean? Does it mean
to make sure not to to any work, like the Pharisees thought? No! It means to praise God
that day and BE with him! God wants YOU to spend time with him. I was reading articles
on this subject, and this quote stuck out to me. “The difference between Christianity and
every other faith in the world is that all other religions are about man trying to reach up to
God. Christianity is about God reaching down to man.” Do you understand what this is
saying? It's saying that normally, religion is man trying to make their god happy, trying to
make it so their god doesn't strike them down dead. But with our religion, God is trying
to get to us. He wants us to feel his love, and he wants us to love him. Pastor Mark
Driscoll says,
"Religion is about what man has to DO to be right with God. Christianity is about what
God has already DONE to provide us the opportunity to be right with Him. Religion says
you must EARN your salvation by doing good deeds or certain acts and not doing evil.
Christianity says all we need to do is BELIEVE that Christ has already paid the price for
the evil we have done.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son. That whoever believes
in him; shall not perish, but have eternal life."
This quote and this verse show how God loves us so much, that He shows it. He gave
up His beloved son, and He let us kill Him. He took away our sins, and now we can live
with Him for eternity. If He didn't want us with Him, He could just snap His fingers and
everything would just stop existing. But NO! God wants you to be with Him, and it
causes Him grief when we forsake or forget Him. He wants you to love Him, so that you
can be with Him. I hope that after reading this, that you pray to God, and ask Him to help
you with your relationship with him. Ask Him to help you love Him, and to help others
love Him as well.
Websites I used/cited:
Driscoll says,
"Religion is about what man has to DO to be right with God. Christianity is about what
God has already DONE to provide us the opportunity to be right with Him. Religion says
you must EARN your salvation by doing good deeds or certain acts and not doing evil.
Christianity says all we need to do is BELIEVE that Christ has already paid the price for
the evil we have done.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son. That whoever believes
in him; shall not perish, but have eternal life."
This quote and this verse show how God loves us so much, that He shows it. He gave
up His beloved son, and He let us kill Him. He took away our sins, and now we can live
with Him for eternity. If He didn't want us with Him, He could just snap His fingers and
everything would just stop existing. But NO! God wants you to be with Him, and it
causes Him grief when we forsake or forget Him. He wants you to love Him, so that you
can be with Him. I hope that after reading this, that you pray to God, and ask Him to help
you with your relationship with him. Ask Him to help you love Him, and to help others
love Him as well.
Websites I used/cited:
http://philippians1v21.wordpress.com/why-believe-in-jesus/why-christianity-is-not-a-religion/
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity-Religion-or-relationship.aspx
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