Why do aome christians say that they don't follow a religion.?

Question

My friend is a Christian but whenever I say the words "but your religion" they get very offended and say that they are not a religion , but they believe in God go to church and read the bible etc. I am not trying to push anyones buttons now I just dont understand the difference. Like I understand that catholosism is a religion but they arnt catholic they just say they are christians. Is this possible?

Thanks for all your answers I now understand where you and my friend are comeing from and I see nothing wrong with that.

To Max Marie however I was not trying to be argumentative , on the contrary , I was simply trying to get a better view of how they lead their lives. I have always been very opinionated and I never march to the beat of the drum so I think listening to what they had to ay would give me a different perspective on what people believe other than my own or the view of people who are like me.

I dont think I am going to try and have a relationship with God though.

Answer 1

Your friend probably gets offended by "religion" when applied to Christianity because he/she considers it a "personal relationship with God," and not necessarily a "religion."

The difference is that religions, like Catholicism, tend to have man-made rules that one has to follow to be considered a Catholic (e.g. - has to learn all the sacraments, go through confirmation, can't take communion unless..., confession, et cetera).

In my experience with having gone to a Baptist Christian school, there aren't any such rules, you're just able to go to God and "confess your sins and He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sends and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" without any of the stipulations I mentioned above.

Answer 2

A lot of people take the word religious to mean
legalistic, fuddy duddy, holy roller. A lot of them
prefer to be called spiritual. I think a lot of this is
because of the way the Pharisees are depicted
in the bible. The Pharisees obcourse were "religious"
traditional, beuracrats who cared more about following
the law to the letter than they did their fellow man.
The opposite of that would have been Jesus who
was spiritual enough to know how to obey the laws
without letting the law get in the way of his ability
to meet peoples needs.
Also,because a lot of Christians consider a lot of
religion out here false,they don't want that word
associated with their lifestyle. For instance, I am
a Buddhist, others are Islamic, Hindu, etc. To a lot
of Christians I would be considered religious but
hell-bound. This is what distinguishes Christianity
as Christianity and idolatry as religion for those who
believe that their religion is the only correct one.
This attitude is not exclusive to Christians. There
are other religious sects that feel that strongly about
their particular faith.
At least ,that is how I have perceived it.

Answer 3

Your friend is right. Christianity is a relationship with God, not a religion. Christianity has no central church. No central organization. Only a central figure. Jesus Christ. He did not endorse any specific religion, or church. He spoke of God, and what we should do to please Him. Anyone of any denomination can be Christian. What is required is a trust and dependence on the sacrifice and person of Christ. There are no rituals we have to perform. We are not obligated to do anything to get into heaven. It is a unique thing. It's different from any religion in the world. Because it isn't a religion.

Answer 4

Because of the historically bad fruitage of many religions, people tend to equate the word with badness and it often has a negative connotation. Many people today blame the world's woes on religion and there is, to a great extent, a move toward ridding the world of it. Even here on Yahoo Answers, there are many who feel religion should simply be destroyed – it does nothing good. This is understandable; organized religion has so often in the past promoted forms of worship based on false teachings; it has misused its authority and influence to control people, it has offered no true spiritual guidance; and has been overly concerned with money.

True worship is not that way but because of the bad fruitage mentioned above, religion now gets a bad rap and people tend to distance themselves from the word and focus more on their personal relationship with God and their "spirituality."

Hannah J Paul

Answer 5

Being a Christian is believing in the word of God. That is written in the Bible. Religions are man made things telling you how to believe in God and giving you false rules (man made rules) to follow. Thus a Christian can go to any church to worship God, but not fall under that particular churches man made dogma as to how to worship God. I am a Christian but I do not believe, nor will I ever, in a man made religion. I believe in God and only him.

Answer 6

They are just not thinking it through properly.Without the bible and the Christian religion they would know nothing of Christ so they are just being contrary and trying to distance themselves from the dark side of Christianity or the bits they personally don't like, it's pretty spineless really and totally a fantasy.

Answer 7

Who are Christians?
Footstep followers of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) Such love reaches across racial, social, and national boundaries, drawing people together in genuine brotherhood. So strong is this love that it sets them apart as being truly different. When the nations go to war, who have enough love for their Christian brothers in other lands that they refuse to take up arms and kill them? That is what early Christians did.

Jesus said that his true followers would be “no part of the world.” (John 15:19) To worship God in a manner that he approves requires that we keep ourselves “without spot from the world.” (Jas. 1:27) Can that be said of those whose clergy and other members are involved in politics, or whose lives are largely built around materialistic and fleshly desires?—1 John 2:15-17.

Answer 8

That is because as soon as you follow a specific church "organization" you have to submit to their rules and traditions and even Jesus spoke against this. The churches follow the wide path, political correctness etc... This is only one example that goes against the will of God. As soon as you bring an organization into it it is corrupted and becomes religion. "Faith" is the true way and the person listens to Jesus only. These people are true followers not full of lipservice and insincerity. Remember our bodies are the temples of God, so why do people go to a stone building? They are misled!

Answer 9

WOW! You asked a good question and you REALLY got a lot of good answers.I was almost losing faith in YA but you guys are bringing it back.They are right ,they are 2 separate things. I am a Christian.I attend church .But I am guided by the laws God.Not what the church says it should be. As a true Christian your friend understand this.Most people who go to church never do.

Answer 10

Religion is mans way of reaching god; praying a certain way, dressing a certain way etc etc

Christianity is Jesus Christ used by God to reach man. Christianity says we are dead in our sins and can do nothing to reach God except by being born again and excepting Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior.