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Sometimes people say that they are not religious but they believe in prayer and God. This confuses me because when they say they only believe in prayer and God does this mean they are a very liberal Christian or what? Or when someone says they are not religious but they say they pray...then who are they praying to? Does it mean they are athiests or they're just liberal?

2007-07-15 20:13:35 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

17 answers

I am not religious. I do believe in God, Jesus, prayer.

"Religious" has less to do with belief and faith than it has to do with rituals. Religious people can be of any denomination of any religion, usually abiding by the rules and practices of the religion. Those things often have nothing to do with God and prayer. Religions are set up by men who interpret the Bible (or other book or man) however they deem fit, then set guidelines for others to follow. (This is how cults are born.) From time to time, these same religions change the rules they have touted for so long because they have changed their way of thinking to go along with the age in which they live.

Many religions actually have nothing to do with God and praying to God.

One who prays to the God of this universe can be merely seeking a relationship with his maker, having faith that God is the answer... not some man-made religion.

One who prays to the God of the Bible is often just having a chat with "Dad."

By the way, religious people can be anywhere from extremely liberal to extremely conservative. Those who are not religious but do pray to God often are found to be moderately conservative.

2007-07-15 20:44:28 · answer #1 · answered by Renee D 2 · 4 0

Religions provide answers to spiritual questions. If you ask a religion about what the attributes of God are, most religions will provide the answer to that question. How to pray, to whom to pray, when to pray ... religions will often answer that question for you.

But, what if you devote your life to asking those questions, but don't expect anyone else but God to provide the answers. How do you ask God about God, when you don't even know what God is? This is the path of a spiritual seeker, as opposed to a religion.

To walk this path requires a few things, the most important of which might be an open mind. The second would be just enough of a leap of faith that it's worth your time to pray to this entity ... God, spirit, mother earther, whatever ... that you have very little knowledge about. But it doesn't require any pre-concieved notion of what or who God is. It's experiential and goes something like this ... you pray ... and wait ... and listen ... and relax ... and maybe you get an answer. But where did that answer come from? Was that God? Or just a voice in your head? Well, that brings up more questions. So you pray for answers to those questions, and off you go.

Gradually, over time, with enough dilligence and earnestness, you might come to have experiences that convince you that you have indeed connected with a higher power, and that this higher power has nothing to do with religion.

2007-07-15 20:31:47 · answer #2 · answered by mbilitatu 1 · 0 0

Many people pray, some direct prayers to a higher power as they understand. This may or may not be the Christian God. Prayers can be directed at 'the source of the universe' and/or 'the energy that connects us all' - whatever peoples concepetions of spirituality is will impact their feelings about prayer.

2007-07-15 20:24:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

People may have a 'religion' (a set of beliefs and practices held by a community, with regard to a supernatural construct eg God), but might not practice this 'religiously'. Being religious generally means one of two things: having a belief in the existence, nature and worship of a deity or deities; or - a serious commitment to a regular activity.

2007-07-15 20:43:09 · answer #4 · answered by cheir 7 · 0 0

it means theyre agnostic. you can believe in god but not commit to a religion when you dont believe in the religious teachings. like lets say your christian...you believe in god but so do muslims....you guys are brother religions and are pretty much worshiping the same god....but you personally dont believe in the muslI'm religion...get what im saying?

atheists means they have NO RELIGION AT ALL and DO NOT believe in ANY type of god, gods, goddess, or any other supernatural beings such as ghosts or spirits.

agnostics are more open to the possibility that there is a god but are not sure because you cant prove or disprove god.

2007-07-15 20:18:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

I think they generally mean that they don't ascribe to rituals and ceremony and platitudes but believe that God is a person that can be directly addressed. Most religious people believe God can be addressed personally as well, but there are a lot of cumbersome additions, like heavy stress on doctrines and a whole social way of thinking particular to each sect or denomination.

2007-07-15 20:27:31 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

In my case, it means I follow Christ to the best of my abilities. I DO NOT follow the people who claim to follow Christ. If I were to attend a church that told me I had to do something that wasn't in the bible to get to heaven, win favor with God or the like, I wouldn't do it and I'd probably leave that church. IMHO religious people are following a religion. I do my best to follow God.
I hope that makes sense to you. A great book to read in called "The End of Religion: Discovering the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus" by Bruxy Cavey. Jesus spoke out against religious people on many occasions.

edit - To be clear - I have accepted Jesus and was baptized as an adult. I'm a member of a church and attend weekly, tithe, serve in many capacities at that church, lead a small group with my husband sponsored by my church, pray and read scripture daily.

2007-07-15 20:23:25 · answer #7 · answered by talliemay 3 · 1 0

You can call me what you want, God and Jesus Christ is my religion.
I was raised Catholic, and I feel I fit more as a christian, although I go to whatever church I want to, or where God leads me to go, since God is everywhere and works in most religions.
This is how I feel, as long as I can connect with God, why do I need to be in a religion, they are all off in some ways and most are connected in some way, especially there only being one God.

2007-07-15 20:41:03 · answer #8 · answered by inteleyes 7 · 0 0

When someone says they are "not religious", I take that to mean that they don't belong to any church or that they don't go to church. It also can mean that they don't pray everyday or have any other religious habits. If a person is an atheist, they will just say so.

2007-07-15 20:19:34 · answer #9 · answered by out of the grey 4 · 0 0

I believe that they don't believe in the institution of the Church but they do believe in God and Prayers.

We are taught God is everywhere so therefore there isn't a need to go to church every week to worship him, it can be done anywhere.

2007-07-15 20:21:05 · answer #10 · answered by wickedly_funny66 5 · 3 0

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