On religion...

[pinhead22886]

I think the total and outright shunning of "religion" by the contemporary church in favour of a "relationship" view of Christianity is one of the most tragic theological holes the church has ever fallen into. As soon as you say that Christianity is nothing more than a relationship, it becomes all about you and how close you think you can get to God

Comments

[indubitableduff]

I think it comes from people being terrified of falling into the salvation-through-works category. It's the relationship that saves us, yes, but what good is faith without action to back it up? When John the Baptist started everything off and people asked him what they should be doing, he didn't say, "You need to develop a close, personal relationship with the Lord." All he said was, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." The very first step in the change from Judaism to Christianity was to place an emphasis on servitude rooted in love.

[anonymous]

I agree Pinhead22886.
There seems to be a fear of the negative connotations associated with the term "religion" and rather than explaining James' powerful yet layerd point that there are 2 types of religion and that religion can be a positive thing when Christ is at the centre of it, the church has tried to dissicoate itself from that phrase. Despite secular dictionaries and the bible agreeing that christianity is a particular religion. The church is right that there is so much religion out there that is bad and some terrible things have been done under the banner of religion. But terrible things have been done under the banner of christianity and there are so many people who have professed to follow christ that are damaging the advancement of the kingdom. However, we don't see the same attempt to dissicoiate these lables from a "relationship with jesus".

The point you raise about the collective connotation of religion and the indivisual focus of more current terminology is one i havn't thought of before but is well thought out.