My nephew sent me a link today and asked my opinion about this video. Watch it and reply in comments please.
I would have to agree - Jesus came to establish Church - not religion. Religion as defined by Wikipedia existed long before Jesus did. To quote Wikipedia:
"Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature. The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect"
To be "religious" means to do anything scrupulously and to be conscientiously faithful. The best example I can give is an ardent Cub baseball fan. Following their statistics and win - lose record - they have no reason for the following that they have. Even when they are at their worst - they attract a fan base that other professional ball teams could only hope for. Why when they are so bad - do they do so well with attendance at their games - even the away games? The only reason is because Cub fans are "religious" in their commitment to their team.
When we say "religion" we commonly think "Church" - but there is a difference between religion or the practice of a given belief and Church or the people who gather to worship in a common way. As I stated in the beginning of this post Jesus came to establish Church - to gather people into His Father's house. We - the people - established Religion - in an attempt to accomplish Jesus' goals. We may not have always done it right - but at least we have made an attempt. There is always room for improvement - in ourselves - in our church. With God's blessing both can and will be accomplished - in His time. Praise God!
Deacon Dale
