To
those who believe, no answer is needed. For those who do not, no
answer is good enough.
I am not sure who
said those words but it sums up the rift between believers and
non-believers very well. And not just Christianity, but any belief
system out there really. But more so for Christianity because
it will have people doing things that “rational” people would
not. Not saying that Christians are crazy (though there are a few
loose nuts out there), they are just living a radical life following
a God that says to do things differently than “normal”.
Non-believers roll their eyes when Christians say they don't have religion, they
have faith. This means they do not live under rules and regulations
on how to “act” right, they have a relationship with a living
being that directs, nudges and pushes them to right paths.
Christians are not sheeple, just mindlessly following. People of
faith don't mindlessly follow – trust me, there are many out there
that question the situations they are in just as much as
non-believers. They just have faith, that is trust, that God has the
game plan.
Now I am not saying
that there isn't religion in churches or religion type activities in
churches, there are. But that is really no different than any other
place where people gather and follow some sort of routine or
schedule. Your job, for instance, has routines and schedules to them
so, in essence, they have religious activities to it. Wrap your head
around that one. And church, God's church, isn't a building its
people. Living, breathing people. If the church building burned to
the ground, the church would still be there. Does that mean you
don't need to go to the building to worship God?
Yes and No.
No because it is
just a building and you can worship God anywhere. Yes because while
you don't need the building, you do need the people. It is the
people who will encourage you and build you up. Don't get me wrong,
it is also the people who will sometimes disappoint and hurt you but
they are human and that happens sometimes. Remember God does show
his love to us through other people but humans do the disappointment
and hurting on their own without any added help.
So what is the
difference between religion and faith?
There is a simple
way to see it in action.
When a person says
they are a Christian but are really following religion, when bad
times happen they will be looking at themselves and wondering what
they did wrong. They scramble trying to “fix” themselves and
their behaviors to “win” favor.
When a person says
they are a Christian and following in relationship, when bad times
happen they will be looking up and asking God to help them through it
and believing that everything is going according to the game plan.
It's not that they have more information, they just trust the Coach.
