It's Not a Religion, It's a Relationship

 Anytime a post or article is published by a secular media outlet concerning the Church or Christianity, the comments which follow are loaded with the wisdom of the worldly, unsaved people. What do I mean by that? Well, some people who are not Christians have a habit of sharing their personal wisdom and their own opinion of what Christianity is. And that’s their right. They like to say that God is not real, Jesus never lived here on earth and it’s all a fraud. They insist on calling Christianity a religion. It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship. So, your next question might be, “A relationship with who?” It’s all based on a relationship with Jesus. For those who are not Christians, you might be scratching your heads and wondering what kind of relationship a Christian can have with Jesus? Glad you asked.

Every person ever born or who will ever be born, is born with a sin nature. What that means is the sin nature we were born with drives us to live in sin and commit sin. This is because the first man and woman disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Long story short, Eve was deceived by Satan who was in the form of a snake, and she ate the fruit of the forbidden tree and so did Adam. At that point, sin entered into the world. Adam and Eve were created as man and woman and knew no sin. They could have lived forever and never sinned but they both ate of the forbidden fruit and disobeyed God. Now, I know this all sounds like some kind of crazy fairytale. Or some might think it’s just a made-up story to keep Christians obedient to a fake God and a way to keep them in line. I can understand that but there needs to be a deeper look at Christianity and the sin element.

 Why do people kill other people? Why are there demented people like Hitler who ordered the death of six million Jews? Why do people kill babies before they are born? Why do husbands beat their wives or vice versa? Why do people sexually abuse children? I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Are there really that many demented or mentally ill people in this world and if so, why and what is the cause? Oh, I’m sure a secular psychiatrist can give an answer and reason for this with some psychobabble double talk. But the shrink would be wrong. The correct answer is sin. Sin is at the root of every evil act.  Sin is the root cause of every evil act. And, before you say it, no, God did not create evil. Evil is nothing more than the absence of God in any life or situation. Sin is the cause of people who murder, assault, abuse, pedophilia, abortion and any demented lifestyle.

I was an alcoholic for about fifteen years. Now, right away, all the AA people and shrinks are going to say, “There is no 'was' when it comes to alcoholism. You are an alcoholic for life!” Well, I’m sorry but they are wrong because when I became a Christian, Jesus saved me from that miserable addiction. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior and surrendered my life to Him, I never had a craving or a desire for alcohol again. That was thirty-eight years ago, and I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since, nor have I had a craving for it. Of course, the next words from them are, “Well then you were not an alcoholic.”  Well, I guess all those counselors were wrong when they diagnosed me as an alcoholic. I had tried for years to stop drinking beer. That was my choice of alcohol.

But I would make it a month, three months or even as long as six months but it never failed, I was right back drinking gallons of beer. I didn’t have the power to stop for good. But when Jesus spoke clearly to me when I woke on a Sunday morning with a hangover, I agreed to allow Him to stop it and He did. Jesus never sinned. He was born without a sinful nature. He is the second person in the Godhead, the Son of God. He couldn’t have a sinful nature because He is God and sin cannot stand in the presence of God.

It was a flawed and sinful person who introduced me to alcohol when I was a preteen. So, why would I trust in a sinful flawed person to keep me away from alcohol? That’s what AA is all about. People helping other people to not drink. You see, AA is a religion. It’s a religion where people who are suffering from the damage alcohol has done to their lives, depending on other people, with the same problem, to help them. It’s a system they believe very strongly in. But it’s flawed because it is centered on people helping other people with their addiction and the addiction never goes away. It's always there because it is driven by the sin nature within them. Religion will never save anyone, and AA will never cure alcoholism. The system tells them there is no cure. But the system is wrong because the cure is Jesus.

This is not an attack on AA even though it is a flawed system. It is just a good example of what religion is. When a person is saved from their life of sin by Jesus, they become a new person. God sends His Holy Spirit to us, and He dwells within us. We are made new and even though we still have that sinful nature within us, the Spirit keeps it down and out of control. I never had a desire for another swig of beer and about a week later, I realized I had not spoken one curse or cuss word. I had a foul mouth and at work it was one of the worst. At home, it wasn’t quite as bad but still bad. I wasn’t trying not to cuss; I just wasn’t talking that way anymore. The Holy Spirit was keeping my language clean, and I realized how ignorant it had been and how it sounded.

I realize that people who are not saved and have no desire to hear anything about Jesus would simply just scoff at stuff like this. And they will continue to think they know all about Christianity. But the truth is, they know nothing about God or Christianity. They will continue to call it a religion when in fact it is a relationship which begins when Jesus comes into our lives. A relationship with Jesus is like a relationship between husbands and wives. The Bible describes the Church, Christians, as the bride of Christ. Jesus is the groom and the Church is the bride. It’s a formal relationship just as marriage is. Now, for everyone who still thinks this is all bunk, go home and tell your wife/husband your marriage is simply a religion and nothing more.

 

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son    JN 3:16-18

 

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.   JN 1:1

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.  And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.   JN 1:14

Now, I know there are some who will never believe anything about Christianity. They will never believe what any Bible quote might say. To them it is all fairytale stuff. They will always believe Christianity is a religion and only causes harm. They will cite historical religious wars or damages supposedly caused by religion, and some were, but they will never accept that those were all caused by sinful people conducting evil and wrongly in the name of God. I only have this to say to them. Do your own investigation into Jesus and Christianity. At least satisfy your belief. Many intelligent men have set out to prove Christianity and Jesus to be nothing more than a hoax but eventually discovered the truth and were saved. So, do it and see for yourself. Don’t just take the words of others. You might be surprised.

Our relationship with Jesus is based on our belief in what He has done for us. He died in our place to provide salvation from our sin. We accept His grace and mercy on us which provides for us forgiveness and an eternal life with Him. It’s a relationship not a religion.

-Bill Petite