Christianity is Not a Religion

Haha! I've been a subscriber of TAA for a year or so now. I enjoy his videos, he seems to have a good variety of both topic and mood.

 

I've encountered something like the distinction the Christian dude in the video is trying to make mainly from friends with exposure to twelve step recovery programs. E.g., "Religion is about putting burdens on people; spirituality (equated with Jesus) is about taking them away." Or the bumper sticker: Religion is for folks who want to avoid Hell; Spirituality is for folks who've been there." I think there's some validity to the point, although the guy in the video is obviously not a deep thinker. At my brother's funeral, the pastor's sermon was: "There's too much religion in the world and not enough spirituality." From an analytical standpoint, we could raise questions about an ordained clergyman at a church service preaching about too much religion (my brother would have had fun with that), but I appreciated the thought. I think there's some basis for associating Jesus with spirituality in his opposition to the excesses of institutional religion and the oral Torah; his ministry seems to have been partly directed at the blind formalism and legalism of Second Temple Judaism, as practiced by the Sadducees and Shammai School Pharisees. At a time when the priests were increasingly obsessed with purity rules, Jesus was associating himself with outcasts and lepers, and breaking taboos relating to hand washing and healing on the Sabbath. I think it's clear, though, that Jesus was a devout Jew, who upheld the Torah and called the Temple his "Father's house". I agree that people who have "found Jesus" are sometimes too concerned with their own salvation and not enough with their neighbors' welfare. I think Sufism in Islam represents the same effort to break through the formalism to establish a more personal, ecstatic union with Allah.

I suspect that Jesus might also be surprised at his mother's virginity. The Christology gets better and better as we move from the earliest Christian writings to the ones penned several decades after Jesus' death. I also doubt that the Buddha was conceived when a white elephant penetrated his mother's rib cage. He didn't even seem to believe in God. But the teachings and example of both men are still inspiring.

 

Christianity is most definitely not a religion.
Actually, Christianity is the announcement of the end of religion. Its a celebration of what Jesus accomplished on the cross 2000 yrs ago, something which didnt require any help from you.In fact, your faith doesnt even make it real. It was real all along and you contributed in no way.

The western world has given Christianity a horrible name by distorting the good news into "the potentially good news if you remember to die to self and be good". lol. That's the basis of all religion--discipline, striving. Its about earning your place in heaven (whatever heaven means to you).
The truth is, most church goers in america find this type of transactional Christianity thinking appealing. But in traditional Christianity, the way it was meant to be, there is no room for self-effort. Grace destroys human will power no matter how good intentioned it is.

Religion thrives on beating you down, making you feel real worm-like in the presence of a holy omnipotent God who can hardly tolerate you. Grace and real Christianity operate around building you up and declaring your holiness alongside God. We are one with God after all, partakers of the divine nature, and joint heirs and brothers with Jesus.
We, as jesus, are all the god-man, fully God and fully man. As he is (Jesus), so are we in this world.I John 4:17

That 'i love jesus' video, while containing fundamental truths, is pretty funny seeing as the guy rhyming is a calvinist i think.

 

"Imbued with the desire to secure for the German people the great religious, moral, and cultural values rooted in the two Christian Confessions, we have abolished the political organizations but strengthened the religious institutions."

-Adolf Hitler

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity#Demographics

I guess take it for whats it worth- it is From Wikipedia