Faith v. Religion

Ever since I began this journey with the Lord I have heard the words ‘faith’ and ‘religion’ used interchangeably. Faith and religion, religion and faith...all the same. However, on this journey with Christ spending much time in meditation and prayer I’ve come to this fundamental conclusion the faith and religion are NOT the same thing. In fact, they are distinct.

According to Webster’s dictionary, faith is defined as:
1. allegiance to duty or a person: LOYALTY; fidelity to one’s promises; sincerity of intentions.
2. belief and trust in and loyalty to God; belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion; firm belief in something for which there is no proof; complete trust.
Need more be said?
Based on these definitions, faith is indeed what or whom you believe for which there is no tangible evidence. It is a decision we all make in our minds and our hearts. Faith is believing without seeing.

Now then, religion is defined as:
1. the state of a religious; the service and worship of God or the supernatural; commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2. a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3. scrupulous conformity: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4. a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith

As you can see, religion and faith are not the same thing. Religion is simply the stuff we do or don’t do. Taking communion and how we do it is all religion. Baptism is all religion. Whether we sit down, stand up, kneel down, or whatever when we pray is all religion. Expressed mathematically, R=do.

Now, here’s what burns my biscuit. People will actually follow the religion more than really following Christ. Jesus did not come into this world to start some new religion or sub-culture. Jesus calls us to follow Him, not follow His followers. Religion is not the end point. Religion has a purpose, and that is only to help all of us going in the right direction. Religion serves as a sign post that says, go this way, or STOP, or Yield. Now what’s worse, people may actually believe that if you don’t do this or that then you won’t get to go to Heaven. WROOOOOOOOOOONG! Jesus is the One who gets us into Heaven, not us! To say that we must perform all these things with scrupulous conformity or we won’t get to Heaven is to suggest that we can make it on our own. We cannot make it on our own.

Religion without any faith is garbage! Faith without religion is incomplete. We need faith to lead the religion, and we need religion to aid our faith. So faith and religion do go together in a perfect marriage, but they are two different things.

So if you are reading this and may be engaging in religion without really thinking about what you are doing or why, stop! If the religion has become just another task on the list to check off, stop! Get your faith solid first, then put it into practice.