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Many people think that Christianity is a religion. I have to say
that many Christians believe that it is a religion as well. Through my
experiences growing up in the church, I now understand what the
difference is between the two.
Religion is basically when you go to a church, mosque, etc. and you worship God via the man-made theological traditions.
In the church that I grew up in, you had to stand for the hymns, you
had to stand for any traditional sayings like the Nicene Creed or the
Apostle's Creed, you had to sing or say a provocation, and on and on.
Everything was in its own order. If anyone disrupted the service in any
way, there would be ushers waiting to take you out of the building. The
minister was not allowed to speak more than the alloted time given
which in my case was only about 20 minutes or so. If they went over,
then people would start walking out. They had their meals to eat and
football games to watch.
The only reason the people would come was to think that they were
Christians solely because they came to church, but lo and behold if
something got in the way of their lives. People jokingly threatened to
not come to church on Super Bowl Sunday because they had parties to
plan for.
I mean…what kind of god were they worshiping anyway? In my opinion,
themselves! They only wanted to come to church if it suited them. If
someone brought any resemblance of truth or something that they did not
want to hear, they would kick them out of the church. This actually
happened at one of my former churches. I started to realize that at the
end of my stay at that church that many people were just playing the
part. They put on their masks for church and then the minute they went
home, they were completely different people.
I wanted nothing to do with that. I wanted to learn who God was and
unfortunately, there was no one that I knew who could show me. Yes…I
meant to say the words "show me". You can tell me anything in the Bible
and about God but if your life does not reflect what you say, then you
are not showing me who God is. You are pretty much a hypocrite.
I was a hypocrite for a very long time. I put on my mask when I went
to church acting like everything was fine…but inside my blood was
boiling. I hated seeing people being hypocritical and I realized that I
was doing the same thing. I started to hate myself.
I cannot say that I know everything now and that I am a saint
because I came to know the Lord in a real way. Far from it…I am still
learning…but my goal is to be what Jesus wants me to be. That is what I
am striving for.
I know that this sounds bad, but it wasn't until I came to Canada
and got out of the "Bible Belt" of the South did I start to understand
who God really was. It had nothing to do with the country Canada, but
it had everything to do with my (current) husband and where his heart
was and still is today. He is a born-again Christian who is passionate
about God. Some days he struggles as we all do, but he had what I was
looking for.
Christianity is following Jesus Christ and His teachings. Hence, the
words Christian and Christianity. It is believing wholeheartedly that
Jesus is the Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy of holies, and
the King of kings.
I want to learn more and more about God and His ways. I want to
really understand His teachings in His Word, the Holy Bible. It wasn't
until I came face to face with my failures as a "so-called Christian"
and my heart was confronted with the Truth did I start to understand
what He wanted from me. God wants our hearts. 100% of our hearts. Only
the Holy Spirit can help you understand God's ways through His word and
only after you come to surrender your heart to Him.
Until that moment, I was prideful, arrogant, and corrupt, but
afterwards, peace and joy entered into my heart. Not to say that some
moments still come back up to the surface, but I immediately take them
to God and I let Him handle it.
You can follow a religion and be completely dead spiritually, or you
can live a life of freedom, joy, peace, and comfort in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Which would you choose? |
