False religion

@secondson said
Very well written dj. Kudos to your brother. Better than I could have done by a long shot. 👍🏽

He is a real inspiration to me. He lives what he preaches.

@secondson said
Divegeester didn't read it.

Correct.
Nor do I read 90 of sonships posts.

@dj2becker said
My older brother who grew up in the same cult that I did shared this with me and I would like to have your thoughts on it:

"Shared this with me"

Did he also write it? This sounds like any number of anti-religion screeds on the internet. It has a title and references, which leads me to think one could search the internet for the author. Kind of surprised that the usual suspects aren't clamoring for you to give your source for this. Maybe it's because they agree. Christians are always saying that Christianity is not a religion. Well the plain fact is that it is. Despite this article starting off decrying "false religion", by the end it conflates all "religion" as being bad, which is part and parcel with these Christians who claim that Christianity is not a religion.

So what IS your source for this? Let's get to the bottom of it.

@suzianne said
"Shared this with me"

Did he also write it? This sounds like any number of anti-religion screeds on the internet. It has a title and references, which leads me to think one could search the internet for the author. Kind of surprised that the usual suspects aren't clamoring for you to give your source for this. Maybe it's because they agree. Christians are always sayi ...[text shortened]... Christianity is not a religion.

So what IS your source for this? Let's get to the bottom of it.

"Christianity" isn't a religion, but it's been turned into one by religionists.

The Word of God is, and has always been about God and His relationship with His people.

Christianity is just a term used to describe the church, which is Christ's body, made up off those that have trusted in God's salvation through faith in the shed blood of Christ.

Christianity and Christian are umbrella terms that signify the separation between a lost world and those that belong to God. It is based on a "relationship" engineered by God before the foundation of the world.

False "religion", false "doctrine" and false "believers" have always been a plague on "the church" from its inception, and never more so in the day we live.

Without a "relationship" with God based on the terms and conditions established by God, "Christianity" wouldn't even exist.

"Shared this with me"? Apparently you didn't take the time to read dj's opening posts either.

@suzianne said
"Shared this with me"

Did he also write it? This sounds like any number of anti-religion screeds on the internet. It has a title and references, which leads me to think one could search the internet for the author. Kind of surprised that the usual suspects aren't clamoring for you to give your source for this. Maybe it's because they agree. Christians are always sayi ...[text shortened]... Christianity is not a religion.

So what IS your source for this? Let's get to the bottom of it.

By the way, I tried finding the source of what was written in the OP on the internet after I first read it early this morning, but was unsuccessful.

It's a genuine article written by dj's brother. Are you troubled by its content for some reason that you would suggest dj is lying?

Your post is disappointing on several levels.

@secondson said
By the way, I tried finding the source of what was written in the OP on the internet after I first read it early this morning, but was unsuccessful.

It's a genuine article written by dj's brother. Are you troubled by its content for some reason that you would suggest dj is lying?

Your post is disappointing on several levels.

He never said he wrote it. Everyone replying assumed he did.

@secondson said
"Christianity" isn't a religion, but it's been turned into one by religionists.

The Word of God is, and has always been about God and His relationship with His people.

Christianity is just a term used to describe the church, which is Christ's body, made up off those that have trusted in God's salvation through faith in the shed blood of Christ.

Christianity and Chr ...[text shortened]... st.

"Shared this with me"? Apparently you didn't take the time to read dj's opening posts either.

Christianity IS a religion and all these Christians wanting to make it "special" doesn't change that.

I'm more than tired of everyone and their brother dissing "religionists" and claiming that Christianity is not a religion and therefore doesn't have "religionists", when very nearly every single "religionist" I know IS a Christian. Hypocrites abound in Christianity.

@suzianne said
"Shared this with me"

Did he also write it? This sounds like any number of anti-religion screeds on the internet. It has a title and references, which leads me to think one could search the internet for the author. Kind of surprised that the usual suspects aren't clamoring for you to give your source for this. Maybe it's because they agree. Christians are always sayi ...[text shortened]... Christianity is not a religion.

So what IS your source for this? Let's get to the bottom of it.

My brother wrote it. Did you read any of it?

@suzianne said
Christianity IS a religion and all these Christians wanting to make it "special" doesn't change that.

I'm more than tired of everyone and their brother dissing "religionists" and claiming that Christianity is not a religion and therefore doesn't have "religionists", when very nearly every single "religionist" I know IS a Christian. Hypocrites abound in Christianity.

It seems you have missed the entire point of the article. The point is not to argue that Christianity is not a religion.

@secondson said
"Christianity" isn't a religion, but it's been turned into one by religionists.

Of course Christianity is a religion, by definition. And of course it has its own characteristics, tenets and tradition, as every religion does. But defining Christianity in terms of its defining characteristics, tenets and tradition and then declaring this 'not a religion' [because, surprise, surprise, they are not the same as the characteristics, tenets and traditions of other religions] is just sophistry. Christians are religionists. Adherents to all religions are religionists.

@fmf said
Of course Christianity is a religion, by definition. And of course it has its own characteristics, tenets and tradition, as every religion does. But defining Christianity in terms of its defining characteristics, tenets and tradition and then declaring this 'not a religion' [because, surprise, surprise, they are not the same as the characteristics, tenets and traditions of other ...[text shortened]... igions] is just sophistry. Christians are religionists. Adherents to all religions are religionists.

No, I must take exception to this.

Yes, I agree that Christianity is a religion, but this does not automatically make all Christians 'religionists'. You can engage in your own sophistry to claim that anyone who adheres to a religion is a 'religionist', but this is not the meaning of those who use the word to describe some people who claim to be Christian and yet fail to apply the teachings of Christ in their own lives. These people seem more fascinated with the trappings of their religion than with following any teaching thereof. Those who constantly cry "that's not in the Bible", or "that's not what the Bible says" are professing a sort of "technical Christianity" and these people are the 'religionists' who fail to emulate the Christ, and rather speak of some subset of rules that they claim all Christians must follow, rather than following Jesus. They tend to focus their attention on the Bible instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to move within them. For 'religionists', the focus is not on the Christ, but on the religion and rules -- the outward, rather than the inward.

@suzianne said
Yes, I agree that Christianity is a religion, but this does not automatically make all Christians 'religionists'.

It does to me for the reasons I gave a few weeks ago when this came up before. If people subscribe to notions of supernatural phenomena and beings that have been codified into a religious dogma, then they are religionists. A religionist is a person who is an adherent of a religion and the religious doctrine attendant thereto, regardless of the degree of zealotry, then they are religionist.

@suzianne said
Yes, I agree that Christianity is a religion, but this does not automatically make all Christians 'religionists'. You can engage in your own sophistry to claim that anyone who adheres to a religion is a 'religionist', but this is not the meaning of those who use the word to describe some people who claim to be Christian and yet fail to apply the teachings of Christ in their ...[text shortened]... he focus is not on the Christ, but on the religion and rules -- the outward, rather than the inward.

The OP is merely a bit of waffly and sanctimonious Christian-on-Christian holier-than-thou-ism.

@fmf said
The OP is merely a bit of waffly and sanctimonious Christian-on-Christian holier-than-thou-ism.

It is everything but holier-than-thou.