what is the difference between being spiritual and being religious?

Answer 1

Spiritual is a mans belief on someone or something that could not be seen by the eye, like the spirit of God, evil spirit, wine spirit for the drunkards, spirit of the cigar for the smokers and so for and son.

Religious is a person who is diligently or curiously or sincerely, faithfully attaining on something which he consider it as a very important thing to his life
jtm

Answer 2

I am not sure what exactly do you mean when you say “being religious”? Does it mean being devouted to the bylaws & ritual rules of a particular denomination? Anyway, the Bible has this –

(Jesus defining the difference between the two)…

8 "These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Matthew 15:8-9 NIV)

23 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NIV)

And if you still remember – Jesus bashed the Pharisees for being religious but not spiritual. I hope this is clear enough? These two are completely different, no matter what view you look at it.

God bless…….

Answer 3

For me, religion is a set of rituals and practices that operate under a specific belief system. I think spirituality is a broader concept than religion....its a state where you constantly work at understanding yourself - your strengths, weaknesses and then work on improving your strengths & overcoming your weaknesses. And you do this not for personal benefit, but more so to help others in any way you can.

Everybody's different with their own abilities and failings.....everybody has a purpose, but they may not be consciously aware of it. Being spiritual helps you get in touch with who you are and why you're here.....for me, it has brought a realization of what my purpose is. Spirituality is attainable to everyone....you just need to be honest with yourself to know what you can do and humble enough to accept what you can't.

So, you may be religious on Sunday or any other day for a limited amount of time, but spirituality is something you live and practice 24x7.

Answer 4

Spiritual means you want to cross the ocean by your own, without the help of a ship, guide map or a guide.
Where being a religious means, taking advantages of others ships of experiences and to avoid risks of getting lost or misguided, so better take the help of a guide and a guide map as a faith.

Answer 5

Being spiritual (walking according to God's Word in a nutshell) is what God desires of all His children. Being religious is more about show than anything else. In the bible, being religious described the Pharisees, Sadduccees, and Scribes. Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, that unless our righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees and Scribes, we would not make it into heaven.

Answer 6

For me, "spiritual" is feeling, believing in a connection with not only mankind, but the universe. It is being a part of a continuous cyle of birth, growth, maturation, death and rebirth. It is feeling "grounded" to creation when I'm working in my garden, participating in that cycle of life and death.

"Religious" is more a pejorative term for me, suggesting group participation in things like singing hymns, showy form of worship and prayer, incessant Bible study, being judgemental of other's spiritual sincerity and fervency, etc.

Answer 7

To be spiritual is to be aware of a higher intelligence [ Almighty God, Jehovah..Exodus 6;3]
to be religious sometimes means to be born into a type of religion and forced to follow it by social pressure.
(MATTHEW 5:3) ““Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them.”

Answer 8

David M is right. You cannot separate the two. You cannot be spiritual and not be religious or vice versa even if you don't belong to a particular religion. How can you be spiritual without being diligent which is another definition of religious?
Peace!

Answer 9

I suppose both are systems of faith and belief. Spiritual meaning you don't follow and established organized path and religious meaning you follow a traditional faith of some sort?

That distinction never really made a whole lot of difference to me.

Answer 10

Religious means you are acting for the benefit of other people.