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Forum » Knowledge » Religious/Philosophical Debate » Religion vs Christianity? Is there a Difference?
Religion vs Christianity? Is there a Difference?
EmSeeD Date: Friday, 13/Jan/12, 6:19 AM | Message # 1

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as you might know this video "I Hate Religion but Love Jesus" is going viral, obviously someone is paid money for this, Christians in more evangelical churches make the claim that christianity isn't a religion because it is only about a 'relationship' with Jesus and spirituality, what do you think about this? Is there a difference between christianity and religion and is there a difference between spirituality and religion? Or is it just a way of avoiding the blame for all the bad things that have come from religion

I was once in an evangelical 'mega church' so i used to hear this often, I'm gonna write my thoughts later



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Treach Date: Friday, 13/Jan/12, 10:57 AM | Message # 2

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christianity is a religion, spirituality does not = religion

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Greeny Date: Friday, 13/Jan/12, 5:54 PM | Message # 3

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Quote (Treach)
christianity is a religion, spirituality does not = religion

In a nutshell. Saying that it's not a religion because it's just a relationship between oneself and the almighty superman is just ridiculous. It's offensive, really. They say that christianity is above all other religions. Well, I think everyone thinks that about their own religion.
He touched a lot of issues there. I thought that thought before, that God would probably have hated religion. But some of the things he says are so arrogant that I want to slap him across the face.

Got the feeling that there's some subliminal political message in there that I missed...


:)
eboyd Date: Sunday, 15/Jan/12, 4:21 AM | Message # 4

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it really depends on your definition of religion. i would consider any set of common beliefs (and by that i mean that it needs to share multiple common traits, guidelines, etc., within a group of people, not just one or two commonalities) revolving around how the universe came to exist, the metaphysical, the supernatural, and other things that have not been/cannot be explained by science to be a religion. by that logic, atheism, deism, pantheism, secularism, and even some forms of spirituality do not qualify as religions, however, Christianity, the ancient Egyptian and Greek religions, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Paganism, etc., are all forms of religion. does that necessarily make it a bad thing? no. i personally think religious and spiritual people are misguided, but that is nothing more than my opinion. religion, as with atheism, cannot be blamed for bad things occurring throughout the world, nor can it be credited with good things that occur. what we can do, however, is see that religious groups and individuals have been involved in horrible things throughout history, but many have also done great things, often in the name of religion. i think syntactically separating religion from Christianity, which is essentially the case here, is futile, but i think it is just as pointless to blame Christianity for any of the social ills we've sustained throughout history.

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Greeny Date: Sunday, 15/Jan/12, 5:20 PM | Message # 5

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Secularism isn't really a religion tho, but I think atheism can well be seen as one. That aside, I think that religion can be and very often is very destructive. When you have a bunch of people thinking irrationally, confused and easy to manipulate, that can very fast go off track and history shows that a lot of wars come of this. Ideally religion can be good, but it's better IMO that people were thinking logically. That way they were more stable and would be able to compromise and shit namean.
I don't know if I'm keeping it comprehensible, idc. I see a lot of good things in religion in everyday life, and I haven't sorted out if it in the end is for the better.


:)
eboyd Date: Monday, 16/Jan/12, 0:21 AM | Message # 6

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Quote (Greeny)
Secularism isn't really a religion tho, but I think atheism can well be seen as one.


how so?? if you abide by my definition, it is far from a religion. i know atheists who believe in spirituality, voodoo, karma, etc., and then i know atheists whose beliefs rely completely on science. most Buddhists can actually be considered atheists. atheism is simply the lack of a belief in God(s). sure, there are your stereotypical atheists who follow common beliefs and seemingly hate anything that has to do with religion, and if you want to call that form of "atheism" a religion, then fine, but atheism in and of itself is not a religion unless you define religion differently.


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Greeny Date: Monday, 16/Jan/12, 5:29 PM | Message # 7

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Was a sidenote, I shouldn't even have lead discussion that way. What I meant by religion there was religious beliefs or orientation. A secularist would be one that avoided religion, whereas an atheist confines it by definition, since he has disbelief in a god.
Anyway, do you agree that religion can be bad, yeah? Faith is the common denominator, and faith is illogical, and if you're illogical you can't be argued with, meaning a war is more probable.


:)
EmSeeD Date: Monday, 16/Jan/12, 10:46 PM | Message # 8

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Erik I think your right about your definition of religion

spirituality can be different if there's no god but like meditating on your own inner being, but for the most part i think its pretty much the same

Some christians say, the parts of christianity that have come from people and not god but religion, but the parts that have come from god (or the word of god) is spiritual and therefore different. But that only means that christianity has been misused or misinterpreted by people, that doesn't mean christianity isn't a religion, just because people have misused it. The thing is the whole bible is mans interpretation of god, believers say 'divinely inspired' by god and written by man, but its the same thing as 'interpreted' by man, so imo its all come from people.

To me, what he's really saying is the parts of christianity he thinks are wrong, he labels 'religion' and the parts of he agrees with he labels, 'spirituality'.

He claims that christianity isn't about following rules or laws, and that christianity is about 'freeing' or even 'freeing from the law', then he talks about how he was wrong and sinful for watching porn and says its wrong to have sex outside marriage and go to parties?? I thought there were no rules and that rules was for the "religious" people? He says how the "religious" put christianity in a pretty package like a mummy while the corpse rots underneath.
To me it seems like what he's the one putting christianity in a 'pretty package' because its like he's presenting christianity as simply believing in god, where its really easy and different from the 'religious', but underneath the wrapping you see that its really the same, its the same rules, same closed beliefs etc. I've even been seeing in the youtube comments, people saying how jesus is the only way to heaven and that those who don't accept him will go to hell, doesn't seem "free" and peaceful to me. In a way this kinda reminds me of that South Park episode where Stans Dad has to join the 12 step program and they tell him he has to accept a higher power and follow the 12 steps but its not a religion, its the 12 Step Program totally different lol.
I think this is just a way of christians trying to disassociate themselves from all the bad things that have come from christianity, I'm not saying christians are to blame for ALL wars etc like some atheists do, I'm just saying I think this is merely something christians say to avoid any association with the bad things that have come from christianity in the past. Personally I think its dishonest.

Is religion a bad thing or to blame for social ills?

I know not all christians or religious people are the same and that there are very liberal religious people who believe in Jesus but don't believe in hell or even heaven, a preacher at my church was one of these, he even gave a sermon at our church about how he doesn't believe in any after life. But he is by far the minority. The thing about religion/christianity is that, because they believe a perfect all knowing god made the laws, they believe its beyond any criticism. Even if its laws are scientifically proven wrong or have become irrelevant, and its from this that a lot of harm or prejudice can come, so yes, I think religion can be blamed for certain social ills. But of course not all, and we would still have wars and prejudice even if there was no religion, I know there are atheists who are homophobic etc. But the fact is religion has help spread these prejudices on things like homosexuality, prejudices against people of other faiths etc.


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DeathChamberzMusic Date: Saturday, 21/Jan/12, 12:01 PM | Message # 9

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All Christians are part of a religion not all religious people have actual relationship with Christ. They do go together but there differences between them

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Greeny Date: Saturday, 21/Jan/12, 2:21 PM | Message # 10

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Almost all christians I know see their faith as something different from the rest and in that way separate themselves from the religion. They have a tiny detail different from what's normal. This is mainly to defend their faith from arguments against the religion it might fall under or prejudice of sorts, I suspect. But doing so they've already fallen under the criticism by altering their belief, and so they've taken a step away from their original religion, and at last it's a whole different faith and not necessarily a religion, e.g. a personal relationship with jesus; or nothing at all.

But christianity has a wide definition. If you put your faith in the teachings of christ, you're a christian, so it really doesn't matter if you see it as only a relationship with the man...


:)
ritesofpasage Date: Saturday, 21/Jan/12, 4:53 PM | Message # 11

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A Christian is a person who does what Christ taught and listens to his teachings.

People will forever argue about how much of Christians that they are.

Having a personal relationship with the Almighty Lord, is a correct step that is being taken to clarify what should of been taught but wasn't in the foundation of many people's knowledge about God.

God was to be feared, (and he is) but that's not all. God is to be loved (and he is) but that is not all as well.

God is really to be known and worshiped.


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eboyd Date: Sunday, 22/Jan/12, 12:19 PM | Message # 12

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Quote (ritesofpasage)
A Christian is a person who does what Christ taught and listens to his teachings.

People will forever argue about how much of Christians that they are.

Having a personal relationship with the Almighty Lord, is a correct step that is being taken to clarify what should of been taught but wasn't in the foundation of many people's knowledge about God.

God was to be feared, (and he is) but that's not all. God is to be loved (and he is) but that is not all as well.

God is really to be known and worshiped.


i see what you are saying. i just want you to clarify though because you don't fully make it clear, are you arguing that Christianity and religion are different or that Christianity is a religion? if the former, what makes them different (ie: how are you defining religion)? if the latter, what makes it automatically religious? also, would you agree with my definition (above) of religion?


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"True poetry can communicate before it is understood"

-T.S. Eliot

battle record:

7-0-0

Greeny Date: Monday, 23/Jan/12, 9:48 AM | Message # 13

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I actually misread your previous post wherein you defined religion. I find it very accurate. :]

:)
Menace Date: Monday, 23/Jan/12, 11:22 AM | Message # 14

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This video destroyed that poor dude's poem.


Greeny Date: Monday, 23/Jan/12, 1:23 PM | Message # 15

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lawl. He doesn't always make sense, but it's humourous.

:)
Forum » Knowledge » Religious/Philosophical Debate » Religion vs Christianity? Is there a Difference?
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