Religion or Relationship?

**vikkipwnsyrass** · 21-06-2009, 05:07 PM

What are we as christians ?
Is christianity a religion, or simply a relationship with God ?

Personally, i feel that its a common misconception :
Most people think that being a christian means you have to go to church, give money to the needy, give money to church, read the bible everyday etc..
But is that really what its all about ?
Ask yourself : Why did i choose to become a christian ?

I dont know about you, but for me, its because i got touched by the love of God.
Simply to accept God as my saviour and my friend.

And sometimes, i get rather frustrated with overly religious christian friends .
I know that God wants us to live in a certain way, but im sure it doesnt mean we become flaky weirdos with a set of rules to follow.
Hey, God teaches us how to live. LIVE.
It means we have a LIFE and he wants us to LIVE it for His glory.
He wants us to go out there, out of the 4 walls of the church and reach out to the lost.

Reaching out to the lost.
Does it just mean praying for the person and pestering them to go to church until they get saved?
NO! ( well, to me)
I feel that if we want to reach out to someone,
apart from praying for th person, and not giving up on them,
we have to love them, care for them truly.
not just to successfully save someone.
but because you really, truly love and care for people because you know your God loves His people, and you should too.

Just my thoughts, i'd like to hear what you think too (:
Constructive comments very welcome.

**burntheplanes** · 21-06-2009, 10:39 PM

yes yes well said!!! its a relationship u have everyday and u enjoy (; god bless. praise to him!!

**Omnia** · 22-06-2009, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vikkipwnsyrass

What are we as christians ?
Is christianity a religion, or simply a relationship with God ? Personally, i feel that its a common misconception : Most people think that being a christian means you have to go to church, give money to the needy, give money to church, read the bible everyday etc..But is that really what its all about ? Ask yourself : Why did i choose to become a christian ? I dont know about you, but for me, its because i got touched by the love of God. Simply to accept God as my saviour and my friend.....

Loving Jesus (God) and accepting him as our saviour means that we would want to spend time with him, learn more about him and live by his commandments. Amongst other things, this means going to Church and reading the bible (learning more about him and spending time with him) and reaching out to the poor and the marginalised (abiding by his commandments). All these actions which some might deem 'religious', do not contradict nor are they obstacles to our relationship with God when done with the right mindset and motivations. On the contrary, they deepen the relationship and help keep us from evil and sin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vikkipwnsyrass

... Reaching out to the lost.
Does it just mean praying for the person and pestering them to go to church until they get saved? NO! ( well, to me) I feel that if we want to reach out to someone, apart from praying for th person, and not giving up on them, we have to love them, care for them truly. not just to successfully save someone but because you really, truly love and care for people because you know your God loves His people, and you should too.

Agreed. One of the best ways of reaching out to non-Christians is to set a good example and live a life of Christian virtue.

**dEnIsE** · 22-06-2009, 12:17 PM

i personally think it's a relationship with God...if it is a religion, it would be dead, because everyone would just go to church and cell group, just because it's a religion? but if it's a relationship, it is two-way..we're able to communicate with Him, and he to us through the Holy Spirit...that is just my personal view la..haa...

**Ting-er** · 22-06-2009, 12:27 PM

i personally feel tht it's a r/s with God!

**Zhella** · 22-06-2009, 12:35 PM

Ya I feel that some Christians look too much into it that we forget to sit still and listen to God. I am not a staunch Christian but there is this story that I remember from the Bible.. about 2 women, one is busy preparing things for Jesus, and the other woman simply sit beside Jesus and listen to Him.

So, sometimes we think that busy serving God means we are holy, but what Jesus wants is for us to sit beside him and listen to Him... That's what I think. Please don't say nonsense like "that means we don't have to help the poor already lar!" I am sure as a Christian, we know how to divide our time to sit still with God, pray for other people, serve God in Church, and serve our family and loved ones..

DIfferent people has different calling.. some are called to preach, some are called to pray and some are called to do community service maybe.. So, before start serving, ask God what He wants us to do, not what we want to do for Him.

**chowychow** · 22-06-2009, 12:37 PM

I agree with what you post Zhella 1 rep for you

**freedomkira** · 22-06-2009, 01:03 PM

Since as Christian, we believe that our Maker/Creator is God, that makes Him our true father. So this is a relationship, not a mere religion. It's who we really are.

**vikkipwnsyrass** · 22-06-2009, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omnia

Loving Jesus (God) and accepting him as our saviour means that we would want to spend time with him, learn more about him and live by his commandments. Amongst other things, this means going to Church and reading the bible (learning more about him and spending time with him) and reaching out to the poor and the marginalised (abiding by his commandments). All these actions which some might deem 'religious', do not contradict nor are they obstacles to our relationship with God when done with the right mindset and motivations. On the contrary, they deepen the relationship and help keep us from evil and sin.

yeah i get what you mean and i do agree that we do have to read the bible and go to church to grow spiritually (:
however i feel that to many people, christianity revolves around going to church and reading the bible etc.
of course, i dont agree with people who say they are christians and love God but dont go to church.
afterall, the bible says that the church is the body of Christ. (:

**Zhella** · 03-07-2009, 01:54 AM

Ooo thanks chowychow

**Seba_jeroen** · 03-07-2009, 08:46 AM

I go to church, read the Bible and do all good things because He loves me, and not because I want Him to love me , all these are from a secure position of victory, knowing that nothing can pluck me from the palm of His hand, not even myself and my sins...

**ongchinkai** · 03-07-2009, 01:35 PM

Christianity is both a religion and a relationship.

**boyusflare** · 05-07-2009, 01:33 AM

i personally feel its a relationship. it is a relationship with our God that we can improve on, love Him more and know more about God - his thoughts, His likes, when He is happy or satisfied etc. whereas a religion is like a mundane kind of 'ritual', very repetitive, there hardly any relationship then.