Why Christianity IS a Religion
A common cry today: "Christianity isn't a religion; it's a relationship." It comes from the mouths of everyone from distinguished theologians to newbie pastors to excellent parents to emotional teenagers. But it's just not true. I'm not speaking evil of these people or calling them liars; they are merely mistaken.First, let's define religion. Some call it man's attempt to reach God or a system of rules to get to Heaven. While these describe many religions, they do not define the term.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, religion is "the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods." So, then, tell me how Christianity doesn't mean those criteria. You can't, because it does. We, as Christians, believe in and worship a sovereign, personal God. Surely you won't deny that.
Many would agree with me on this point. However, this isn't the only sense in which Christianity is a religion. In general, religions have rules, duties, doctrines, and commands. Some try to say that Christianity doesn't fulfilled all of these, but it does. Commands are littered throughout the Bible. We have rules of "thou shall nots." We have duties to read the Word, pray, witness, and obey. We have core, theological doctrines that must be believed, such as the deity of Christ and salvation through faith. These are all marks of a religion.
What those who do not call Christianity a religion usually mean is that Christianity is not legalism. Legalism is when everything boils down to us following the rules. Legalists have more dos and don'ts than love and compassion. They judge people who don't follow a certain standard, even if the standard isn't required by the Bible. They tend to assume that everyone who does something wrong that they don't personally do isn't saved. They are Pharisees, hypocrites. These people are not Christians, and legalism is not Christianity.
True Christianity is a relationship-religion. It is slavery-love to our Lord-Savior Jesus. In true Christianity, God opens your eyes in faith to His truth and His glory. You taste and see that He is good. You believe all the doctrinal truths you've been taunt about Him. You yield your life to become His slave, and find a life as His love. You are given a duty and perform it to please Him. You hear a doctrine and embrace the sweetness of God's truth. You read a command and want to follow it knowing it leads to the glory of God. You are confronted with a sin and find yourself broken over your offense to the One you love who died for you. That is true Christianity, and it is both a religion and a relationship.
Why I Hate the Idea that Christianity Isn't a Religion
Christianity IS a religion, as I just demonstrated. I have a couple more thoughts on it, though, since I continue to see people posting links to that video, "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus." First, let me remind you what the Bible says on this issue. James tells us in James 1:27 that pure religion is caring for the widow and the orphan. This prompts an obvious question: when people say they hate religion, do they mean they hate caring for the widow and the orphan? I'd hope not! I also do not think that is the case. Like I said in my previous post, most people simply define religion wrong.So, why make a big deal about this? Multiple reasons, the biggest being that James passage. While I know none of the people saying Christianity isn't a religion mean to contradict this verse, I think we must be incredibly wary of using slogans that go against something the Bible says, even if it's not meant that way.
Another reason to admit that Christianity is a religion is that we look like fools to critics. The smartest opponents of Christianity know that the Bible considers Christianity a religion, and they also know that there is no logical reason to say Christianity isn't a religion, so they call us on it and we end up looking like idiots while we're trying to represent Christ.
The most obvious problem with saying Christianity isn't a religion is that it's just absurd and incorrect. Religions have belief in higher power, esp. a personal God, doctrines to believe, worship to participate in, commands to obey, duties to fulfill, and theology to work out. Christianity has all of them. To say that Christianity is not a religion is like saying a book is not a collection of pages. It is, but it is defined by being even more. A book is a collection of pages and a collection of expressed thoughts. In the same way, Christianity is both a religion and, even more, a relationship. There is no aspect of Christianity that is totally independent of religion.
There is one final reason I hate divorcing religion and Christianity. When people proclaim the Gospel as not being part of a religion, this usually strips away, in the eyes of he recipients, all elements of duty or obligation. They often come to trust entirely in an imaginary Jesus who asks not to be their Lord, who exists soley to stimulate them emotionally and save them from death, and who doesn't need to be obeyed. When people hear that Christianity isn't a religion, and then hear words like grace, they often develop a terribly distorted theology in which they can live however they want because of grace. This is obviously false. James said that faith without works is dead and cannot impart grace to save anyone. When the concept of a relationship with Christ is divorced from religion, doctrine becomes opinion, commands become advice, faith becomes mere belief, grace becomes a license to sin, and sanctification becomes optional. This is devastating to the church. Now, the people who say Christianity isn't a religion don't realize this. To them, they're saying that it's not ritual, not legalism, not works salvation. But in attempting to convey these truths, they usually fail to secure the necessity of repentance and obedience. They don't see that the listeners are getting a different idea than they're trying to preach.
To wrap up, Christianity is a religion. It is also a relationship. The two are not mutually exclusive. Trying to divorce the two truths will only end up causing problems. A religion without a relationship is dead and creates legalists. A relationship without a religion is nothing and creates depthless Christians. Both are equally dangerous. Christianity is a religion, and by inclusion of a relationship with Jesus Christ, it is The Religion. Don't deny it.