Responding to "Spiritual, NOT Religious"

[Carolyn]

Oftentimes I will come across an individual who say (or write) “now I am not religious, but I consider myself a SPIRITUAL person.”
The impression I get is that the person feels that “religion” is something bad, or that someone who considers theirself “religious” is a blind sheep following an organization.

How can I charitably respond?

 

[Thal59]

Carolyn:

Oftentimes I will come across an individual who say (or write) “now I am not religious, but I consider myself a SPIRITUAL person.”
The impression I get is that the person feels that “religion” is something bad, or that someone who considers theirself “religious” is a blind sheep following an organization.

How can I charitably respond?

It is like the person who says that “I use to give to charities, but not anymore, they are all a bunch of crooks.” While there are many false charities, this is not a reason to condemn them all. If one rejects all charities on this basis it is the same thing as saying “I know there are good charities out there, but I don’t care to look for them.”

So it is with Christianity. Man has made so many “religions” that serve his personal wants and desires that they have to a certain degree given religion a bad name. There is the true religion of God, the Catholic church, and there are a plethora of man-made religions. To throw them all out is like saying “I know there is a valid apostolic church out there, I just don’t care to look for it.”

Rather, though, than make an accusation of motives, the only charitable way to respond is to give positive testimony of the true religion through your words and examples.

Thal59

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Pax vobiscum!

Well, the first thing to do would be to find out exactly what they mean by “spiritual”. Do they believe in the God of Abraham? Some higher power? Eastern spirituality? I think you have to find out what they believe in before you can respond to something like this.

It has been my experience (and probably most of the other people here) that those who say they are spritual but not religious are people that want to believe in God but want to believe in God only in a way that is convenient for them. They don’t want to have a bunch of moral rules to follow. With religions, there are rules, and with “spirituality” there are no rules but the ones you give yourself.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[Eileen_T]

I worked at a CPC that had a religious goods shop attached. A nun brought a pregnant woman to see us and I suggested that while she was waiting she might like to look around the shop. She poked her head around the door and remarked that it was not her sort of ‘spirituality.’

I wasn’t surprised later when she expressed concern that the woman decided to have the baby, said she shouldn’t make such an important decision so quickly.

Gotta wonder the name of that ‘spirit’ who guides her.

 

[Nicene]

Carolyn:

Oftentimes I will come across an individual who say (or write) “now I am not religious, but I consider myself a SPIRITUAL person.”
The impression I get is that the person feels that “religion” is something bad, or that someone who considers theirself “religious” is a blind sheep following an organization.

How can I charitably respond?

**Jam 5:27: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
**

Religion and spirituality aren’t mutually exclusive. They are expressions of one another.

Peace and God Bless
Nicene

 

[rwoehmke]

I think and Al’thor probably has pinned the situation pretty well. People who say they are not religous often believe in some form of spirituality, but any relationship to a god is on their own terms. They probably would not be called pius and I think for them for one to be religous implies at least a moderate level of piety. That being said I also think that they do not find any form of organized religion attractive. In my opinion everyone has a spirituality in the sense that they relate to the spiritual aspects of life sometimes positively, sometimes negatively, and not infrequently with indifference. One or more aspects of New Age “religion” would often appeal to them.

 

[FCEGM]

Carolyn:

Oftentimes I will come across an individual who say (or write) “now I am not religious, but I consider myself a SPIRITUAL person.”
The impression I get is that the person feels that “religion” is something bad, or that someone who considers theirself “religious” is a blind sheep following an organization.

How can I charitably respond?

Charitably: “Yes, and our spirituality is given to us to respond to the One Who placed a desire for Him in our hearts. True religion aids us in our response.”

Uncharitably: “Well, Satan, too, is very spiritual.”