Relationship vs Religion

[james_dillaplai]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. one how do you respond to that ive asked her what she means but i dont get a direct answer. so can anyone Catholic or Protestant tell me what she means and what denomination this is and can anyone give me a Catholic website that says what specific denominations believe?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. one how do you respond to that ive asked her what she means but i dont get a direct answer. so can anyone Catholic or Protestant tell me what she means and what denomination this is and can anyone give me a Catholic website that says what specific denominations believe?

If she won’t tell you what she means by being saved how can we know what she means? It sounds like she doesn’t go to any church if that is what she thinks about religion. She may think ‘being saved’ means you are assured you will go to heaven. She may have bad feelings about religion and churches because of experiences she had with ‘religious people’ who were not kind and loving. Sometimes an authoritarian father will make it hard for someone to see God as a loving father and that feeling may transfer to how she feels about pastors or priests or authorities in general.

You could tell her you agree that the most important thing in life is a relationship with Jesus. Now what does Jesus tell us about how to have a relationship with him and follow him? Then you could show her things in the bible. Jesus talks about building his church. Jesus says to eat his body, tells the apostles to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. He teaches the apostles after he rises from the dead. He promises to send the Holy Spirit. etc. He tells us to love God and one another.

Well, Jesus must want us to be part of the church, to listen to what the apostles taught, to be baptized. In Paul’s letters he tells how the church is like Christ’s body. Gifts are given to some members so they can be used for the good of the others. She needs to share the gifts God gives her.

DON’T try to get into this all at once. Your purpose is not to win arguments.

It might be best to begin with sharing your faith journey with her. How you came to know Jesus. What He has done in your life. Ask how she came to know Him? How knowing Him has made a difference to her. What are things the does to follow Him? Maybe you can work together on a project to help others. Can you pray together?, ask her if she would like to go to Stations of the Cross one time in lent? Let her see that religion is to help us get closer to God.

Keep praying for her. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. ve?

I would respond that of God did not want us to worship Him he would not have spend so much time informing the prophets of the OT how he wished them to worship, nor would Jesus have spent so much time, including the night before he died, instructing us precisely in how we are to worship, nor would the Holy Spirit have inspired the NT writers to enjoin us to follow and preserve the traditions handed on from the apostles.

 

[ralphinal]

I see it like this. What is a park? An open place where people can play or relax that has some tie to nature. If you just have a field, people will use it. If you put in playground equipment, kids FLOCK to the equipment. But, the equipment limits the play, right? Then why do they use it? A swing is always a swing. Back and forth. Sure you can go higher or faster, but it is still the same motion. Yet the swing is still used. IF you bring a football, people play together, following rules. These rules limit play, right? But everyone wants them in place.

Religion gives us both the equipment to use in our relationship with God as well as the rules to use to worship correctly. God knows that we are at our best when we work within a system.

I agree that you should find out what salvation means to her. You should also find out if it is a “me and Jesus” kind of thing, which is not what Jesus taught at all.

 

[Genesis315]

The false conflict created between “priest and prophet” or institution and individual was introduced in 18th and 19th century Liberalism in order to relativize God and limit Him to the private sphere only and to keep the public sphere secular and free of His influence (then Cardinal Ratzinger’s book “Called to Communion” has a great section about this).

So it seems it is the “relationship” person who wants to create their own God and box him away at home or in their own mind.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. one how do you respond to that ive asked her what she means but i dont get a direct answer. so can anyone Catholic or Protestant tell me what she means and what denomination this is and can anyone give me a Catholic website that says what specific denominations believe?

If what she says is true, why did God go to such extraordinary lengths to design the Israelite Tabernacle, organize their feast days and religious obligations and their priestly rituals, and define their religious traditions? The Bible says that all of this was dictated to Moses by God.

Now it occurs to me that your friend would have to admit that either God designed the Hebrew religion because it was really important to Him or that the Bible is untrue when it says that God was the source of all of that. You might also want to point out to her that the RELATIONSHIP that she perceives to be the source of salvation is a direct result of the religion that God designed for the Israelites. That religion was one huge object lesson on who and what Jesus would be when He came to dwell (literally tabernacle) among men. The Catholic Church is the Jewish religion come to fruition in the light of Christ.

 

[inthecloud]

have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions

A atheist would answer that if you have a realtionship with a invisible superior being you are either in a religion or delutional.
Why evangelicals have so much problems with English? Is not my first language and I know what religion means.

 

[Spirithound]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. one how do you respond to that ive asked her what she means but i dont get a direct answer. so can anyone Catholic or Protestant tell me what she means and what denomination this is and can anyone give me a Catholic website that says what specific denominations believe?

Tell her to read James 1:27. Then tell her to stop denying definitions of common English words.

 

[b_justb]

I have a protestant friend who says that being saved is a relationship with Jesus Christ and religion is mans way of trying to fit God into a box and smother Him with traditions. one how do you respond to that ive asked her what she means but i dont get a direct answer. so can anyone Catholic or Protestant tell me what she means and what denomination this is and can anyone give me a Catholic website that says what specific denominations believe?

I think what your friend means is: “I am tired of Main-Line Christian Denominations with their rules, creeds, and rituals. All that stuff just gets in the way of knowing who Jesus is and relating to Him on an individual level. There is no connection with me and God in a traditional Church setting, but when I <insert option here, pray, sing, be alone in the mountains, reading my bible, whatever> I really feel connected to God and am at peace. Something I never experienced with any of the Main-Line Christian Denominations Church stuff.”

Maybe ask your fried how it is that they came to have this personal relationship with Jesus and just listen to her testimony.

As far as proving that relationship is better or worse than religion, as if there is even a “this or that” dichotomy here, simply don’t do it. Don’t fall into the trap. Get her talking about the positive aspects of her faith and see where you are unified, and then point out those unifying aspects between you two. Rejoice in the unity of Christ. Once a comfortable rapport and relationship between you has begun to grow then you can get into various difference in ideologies in religion without confrontation.

 

[james_dillaplai]

I guess i wasnt as clear as i wanted to be about her she says she is Non-Denominational and a Bible believing Christian. Although she also brought up “Aura” which is a new-age belief that everyone has a certain aura around them. She also really wont talk to me about religion unfortunately. lets see what else…oh yeah she loves God her father isnt an authoritarian hes a minister at her church. Shes pretty faith-filled although maybe a little misguided. i hope this clarifies a bit more about her and also my parents seem to not be following the traditional stance of lent they are not going to not eat meat on Fridays which kinda worries me. Also alot of yalls (ya im Texan) ideas for defending Tradition and Religion are pretty good thank yall for that