What is RELIGION?
According to my dictionary religion is "the belief...in a superhuman...power." While this is true for some people, I find the definition really only covers a subset of religion. Funnily enough Wikipedia provided what I believe to be a much more complete definition:
"A religion is a set of [beliefs, principles] and practices, often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about reality, the cosmos, and human nature... Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and religious experience."What stands out to me in this definition is the bolded section, where the author notes that these beliefs, principles and practices are often based on spirituality. This raises the possibility that religion while often associated with these things, does not have to be.
What is SPIRITUALITY?
Spirituality has many definitions and from one person to the next you'll get many different interpretations of those definitions. One thing seems rather consistent though, that spirituality has something to do with there being more to reality than what we can see, smell and touch. A Christians spirituality is the relationship they have with the one and only God.
What does Religion have to do with Spirituality?
We often relate to religion and spirituality as the same thing even if on an intellectual level believe they are different. We live like RELIGION = SPIRITUALITY. Religion and spirituality actually exist as two entirely different concepts. We relate to them as one and the same, because at some point in our life we collapsed them into being the same thing. The issue with this is that spirituality is now related to as religion and vice versa, and it creates a lot of confusion and misunderstanding around religion and spirituality. It is a large reason many non-Christians have a misinformed idea of Christianity.
What does this mean for Christians?If we accept that every human being has a spiritual life, whether they choose to acknowledge it or be ignorant to it, Christians are beings who are _in touch_ with their spirituality and follow God. This spirituality we explicitly refer to as our relationship with the one and only God, the God who refers to himself as I Am. All Christians have a similar spirituality, but there is a vast number of religions that are centered on Christianity. For many Chrisitians it can be difficult to distinguish our spirituality (i.e. relationship with God) from our religion. Christians should expect that their relationship with God will impact their religion, and that indeed our religion will also have an affect on our relationship with God. However there exists an issue when our religion defines and therefore restrains our relationship with God. In these situations we relate to God as if he exists in a box we own and control, performing the necessary functions consistent with our religion to keep us happy and comfortable. When this happens we no longer have a relationship with God, but have created a god out of our religion. Religions aren't all necessarily, but can be idols and false gods in themselves.
What does this mean for non-Christians?
We said Christians were beings in touch with their spirituality, so to be consistent with that definition non-Christians are those who are ignorant to their spirituality. They are unaware, or have chosen to ignore God's desire to have a relationship with us. Although they may not realise it, non-Christians are very religious. They have their own religion and engage in religious acts and rituals daily. For non-Christians who are aware of God, but choose to ignore or disbelieve of God think they are often opposing spirituality, when in-fact they are merely opposing somebody else's religion while being ignorant to their spirituality. For these people a relationship with God doesn't naturally present itself as they are actively ignoring it. Unfortunately many churches are caught up in religion, and aid this misunderstanding. Making it easy to think God and Christianity are religions rather than a relationship we are privileged to have access to.
Can Spirituality exist without Religion?Try to imagine a life where you are spirituality aware but have no religion. It's rather difficult, because even if you are like me and don't actively associate yourself with a specific religion, you essentially still have a religion. You still have beliefs, principles and practices, and these things are the basis for a religion. Your religion may not have a name, but it's the underlying system by which you profess to live your life.
Can Religion exist without Spirituality?
There are many people proclaiming to be Christians who live a life intending to be good and making every effort to adhere to the ten commandments who aren't really connected with God. Some of these people may not even realise that. It is very easy to live a life surrounded and devoted to religion and still be disconnected from God. You might think of it like a marriage, where we are married to God. If the marriage has no passion or connection between the husband and wife and if they rarely talk, spend time together, interact, or connect on any intimate level, the marriage still exists as a way of living their lives together, as a legal bind, but there is no connection and no experience of being one. Religion can exist without an awareness or connection with God, and for many people this is how they experience their Christianity.
What now?
Depending on where your at and your own situation there may or may not be action for you to take. If you feel that there is, take a look at yourself and honestly answer the question, "Am I actively involved in a relationship with God?" If so that's great. Take a look at your life and your religion and have a think about how your relationship to your religion might be putting God in a box or in which ways you might be glorifying your religion as opposed to God. If you don't have a relationship with God, he's right there waiting to talk to you.
0 comments:
Post a Comment