Christianity Is Not A Religion
I have become religious, a slave to the law. My attempts to live a holy life have failed. My attempts to do more to please God more have failed. As a result, I’ve become miserable. writerdd, you called it. Thank you.
We become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ - and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law.
Galatians 2:16
For if you are trying to make yourself right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
Galatians 5:4
God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Ephesians: 2:8-10
So Christ has really set us free. No make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Galatians 5:1
Christians, say this with me: “I am not good enough.” That’s tough to say, isn’t it? It goes against everything we’re taught as kids! Nothing we EVER do will earn us favor with God. We’ll never be good enough! Only Jesus is good enough. So let’s drop the holy act (yes, it’s an act) and get on to what God has called us to do (Matthew 28:19 & Mark 12:30-31). This is GOOD news!!
As for me? The madness stops here! I’m done living as a slave to the law. I know that I cannot earn favor with God. I know that I cannot make him love me any more than he already does. I’m sick of feeling like I’ve blown it every night. If I’m gonna claim to be set free, I’m gonna live like I’m set free. Religion is for the birds.
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21 Responses for "Christianity Is Not A Religion"
Bill, you’ve been a Christian for a while, right?
If you don’t mind me asking, what are you going to do differently this time so you don’t fall back into this again? What are you going to change? It seems like what you’ve done so far didn’t work, else you wouldn’t be here writing this post today.
I’m asking because, as you’ve probably heard, someone has said doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
I’m also asking because when I started at “I’m not good enough” then I could never move beyond that. Actually I’m not even sure that’s what the Bible says. Because you’re ‘in Christ’ now and ‘in Christ’ aren’t you good enough? Aren’t you perfect? Isn’t that the whole point? Eph 1 you are “[fully, completely, 100%] accepted in the beloved”? Isn’t “I’m not good enough” the past reality and not the present (based on what you believe)?
Anyway…I read a psychology book a few years ago, which was an updated version of an earlier one. It was not Christian as you’ll gather from the original advising people to say affirmations to themselves like “I am good”. In the update notes the author says “I’ve moved away from this - I don’t think it’s helpful. Instead I suggest people focus on “what am I doing/did I do well?” and “what would I like to do better?” and go from there. That’s more constructive and useful”.
I’m paraphrasing but that’s the essence of what he said. Anyway it makes a lot of sense to me.
Wow, I guess this pushed my buttons, huh?
Not good enough for….what? In what ways are you deficient? That is what you’re talking about isn’t it? A deficiency of some kind? Why should you feel like this? What have you done or failed to do to make you feel like this? Could you have acted differently? How should you have acted differently?
I’ve got my own quote for you. It’s not from the bible but from a source of much wisdom nonetheless.
because it relates to your idea of freedom. However I prefer the quote from slightly earlier in the scene:
Now that you are free, what will your first act be? I suggest an egg butty.
Bill, I hope you start to feel better soon. Christianity most certainly is a religion, by any definition you look up.
But that’s besides the point, I think. In my opinion (which has 46 years of life experience, partly as a Christian and as an atheist, for whatever that is worth)…. you need to start accepting yourself. You need to love yourself. You need to stop putting yourself down. You need to stop trying to be someone else.
You will never be perfect. There is no such thing as perfection. We are all just human. You seem to have a good heart and a desire to do good things and help people, and you should be happy about that. You also have a desire to improve yourself. Great. Work on it, but don’t kick yourself in the head when you fail. Some things you will be able to change and some things you will ultimately have to accept about yourself if you wish to remain sane. You cannot get rid of your human nature, but you can rise above instinct because of intellect. You are obviously smart enough to think about these things, so you have a good start.
Going around saying “I am not good enough” is a terrible thing to do. You are reinforcing bad feelings and will only make yourself more depressed. You damn well are good enough and I hope you realize it before you waste more of your life in a self-depreciating fog.
I know my advice is probably useless to you because you only want to hear what the Bible says and I have nothing to say in that area. I found the Bible to be useless to help me overcome the same problem that you are having now. So I walked away. (That doesn’t mean you will end up taking the same path. But who knows. I’m here to tell you that it won’t be the end of the world if that happens.)
writerdd, this article begins by explaining the way Bill is using the word ‘religion’, which is typical of American Evangelicals.
Helen, I understand how Bill is using the word religion. I used to be an evangelical and have myself, many times, said something like “I’m not religious, I just love the Lord.”
It is a misuse of language and I wanted to point that out. It’s a perfect example of the Christian jargon that no-one but club members understands that I was talking about in the other thread earlier this week.
It seems that, for you, saying “I am good enough” is even tougher. You’re very good at saying you’re not good enough, so that’s hardly a challenge to overcome.
No one is perfect, so if perfection is your goal you will always fail. By setting that standard, you’re setting yourself up for failure. That is no way to live a motivating life.
What you can do, is improve. Everyone can always improve.
Bill, say this with me: “I am a good person, but I can be better, and will actively try to be better within the best of my abilities.”
That is an attainable and honorable goal. Now go for it. We’ve got your back. ::high five::
Bill, I like this post. Focusing on Jesus is always a good thing. When you get caught up in trying to be perfect, that’s when you start feeling guilty - not a fun way to live your life.
HoverFrog
Since their is a new post up I wanted to make sure you’d see my reply to you on the topic we were discussing.
HoverFrog
I just read what I posted and wanted to be more clear. On the comments section of the post that you wrote, I replied to you and am interested in hearing your opinion.
writerdd, yes, I was thinking it was a good example of Christians using a word differently from other people - which I think is confusing.
I couldn’t remember if you used to be an evangelical or not - I wasn’t sure if you’d come across this use of the word before. I couldn’t tell from your post if you knew about it and were disagreeing or didn’t know.
Anyway maybe someone else will find the article interesting
Helen, I didn’t know that religion had a different definition. You’d think language would be a little consistent wouldn’t you?
Goldeneye, I’ll take a look now.
hoverfrog, yes, consistency is a wonderful thing
. I’m sure it catches people off guard when they think they know a word and suddenly it’s being used with a different meaning.
Helen & hoverFrog,
If you don’t terribly mind, I’ll respond to your awesome comment in a blog this week. If you DO mind, I’ll write a long comment sometime soon.
writerdd,
I really appreciate your comment. I agree with you, believe it or not.
Nah, I believe that there is good in just about everyone/everything.
I’m noticing a pattern. This seems to be an extremely common theme amongst atheists. Have you noticed this too?
Sara,
Oops, I put a “h” at the end of your name. Horray for the backspace key! I bet that drives you nuts. Anyhow…
“I am a good person, but I can be better, and will actively try to be better within the best of my abilities.”
That’s awesome - you rock!!
writerdd,
I just have to say one more time how much I appreciate your comment.
Only in those who remained in religion until their late 30s or older. Most atheist seem to never have been able to believe religion at all, and walk away in high school or college. Those who stick it out in religion leave for a variety of reasons. For me it was very personal and emotional. For many people it is a much more intellectual journey. I did read a lot as I was struggling but I was not de-converted because of inconsistencies in the Bible or because of anti-apologetics or because anyone argued with me and convinced me that God did not exist. I just found that the more I learned about what people outside the church thought, the more sense it made and the less my worldview made sense. Basically, once I stopped going to church and brainwashing myself several times a week, I was able to think outside that box. It wasn’t a conscious decision it just happened. Fortunately, none of the warnings about how I would backslide and become a prostitute or a drug addict or an alcoholic or find myself homeless and destitute on the streets came to pass.
Bill I’m fine with you responding in a post.
Did you mean mine and hoverfrog’s comments (plural), since although we might think alike sometimes, we didn’t collaborate on any of the comments on here
.
Dangit! haha - yeah, comments
Yeah, what Helen said. We’re certainly not collaborating in some kind of huge atheist plot. Uh uh, no way, no sirree, nope, no us.![:-\](http://www.friendlychristian.com/smilies/yahoo_question.gif ":-\")
“
hoverfrog, shhhhhh…no talking about that, remember? Not in front of non-Atheists.
The non-non-theists, you mean, the aatheists. It’s too confusing.
Yeah, those guys. Whatever they’re called. As you say it’s very confusing!
“hoverfrog, shhhhhh…no talking about that, remember? Not in front of non-Atheists.” - Helen
Ha, thanks for letting the Christians know you’ll be in disarray while the unstoppable Christian plot for world domination goes full steem ahead.
Just imagine living in a really really large version of the Vatican. Most frightening of all the pope mobile won’t have to obey the speed limit - Benedict is infallible, the speed limit is not.
For those of you not getting this, I was just continuing Hover Frog and Helen’s joke. And I’m also not at all Catholic (for those wondering).
Goldeneye, I’m not scared…I think you’re bluffing!
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