Spiritual vs. religious?

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Heard this before. I would ask if this person considered themselves open minded and accepting of other people. Most ‘spiritual’ people do and ask them why they are judgmental of religiouse people, because religious people usually are spiritual too, they just have differing opinions on many topics.
I have heard this one too “church is for people who are afraid of going to hell and spirituality is for people who have already been there” pretty egotistical, but I used to tout these things too.
Is this person in a 12 step program by any chance?
 
Thanks-This person is a lapsed Catholic, and says he is a spiritual person, but not a religious one. How can I convince him to return to the Church?
 
IThe best retort I have heard to this went something like: “These people want all the pay with none of the work.” They want to reduce their relationship with God to the warm fuzzy feelings they get from His work without giving anything back to Him. A self serving pseudo-spirituality. The kind of spirituality whose pinnacle is admiring a tree. :rolleyes:

I should add I was guilty of this at one time, so I understand what leads one to those things. As far as bringing him back, perhaps give him a gift of a really good Catholic apologetics book?
 
Try, kindly but firmly, to get the person to state at what point they came to this “spiritual but not religious” way, and if they had upsetting experiences with people in a religious institution. See if they are willing to go deeper in confiding to you those experiences, or visiting with a priest about the issues or experiences.

If the person has left the Catholic Church, would he/she consider visiting a website like www.catholicscomehome.org or joining CAF?
 
Yes, and don’t forget to pray. I often hear this talk at 12 meetings, with people just finding their higher power. Often they are ‘recovering’ Catholics. In listening to them I don’t think the problem was that religion was shoved down their throat like they think but really under catechized.
 
Sneezy123 said:
Thanks-This person is a lapsed Catholic, and says he is a spiritual person, but not a religious one. How can I convince him to return to the Church?
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It’s difficult because he has authority issues with the Sacraments and the Church.

A spiritual person gets to sleep through on Sunday and do his own thing on Saturday evenings.

A spiritual person fabricates and distributes his own graces, independent of what Jesus’ died to institute.
 
Most folks who reject established religion by saying they are spiritual but not religious have an issue with authority.

They are refusing to accept that God granted an institution on earth the authority to teach and guide in his stead. They are setting themselves up as a church of one.

Ergo, they do not see themselves as rejecting God and his teaching, they are rejecting other human beings. This allows them to rationalize doing pretty much whatever they want and live in accordance with their conscience, without acknowledging it may be flawed.

Often they cite the flawed nature of the people who hold office in the Church as justification. Christ noted that the leaders of a Church may personally be flawed and not act in accordance with the teachings of a Church while still instructing followers correctly.

Matthew 23,
Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said,

2 'The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses.

3 You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach.
 
styrgwillidar said:
Most folks who reject established religion by saying they are spiritual but not religious have an issue with authority.
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I agree with this. Sometimes, I’m just walking around, and I have a really “spiritual” moment or realization. But for me this is synonymous with a religious moment of awe, etc. This is because spirituality and religion are completely intertwined.

God is behind these spiritual moments; they are a way of seeing beyond the temporal world. God wanted us to be religious, too, though; otherwise why would he give us the Church or the sacraments? The thing about Catholicism is that it offers us ways of God coming to us, which is what we would expect any “spiritual” person who seeks God would desire.
 
I used to be one of those spiritual. Oh I believe… I just don’t go to Church, pray that often, and rarely read the bible… What a bunch of nonsense, I was living in.

Those that say are spiritual are deluded. They have forgot what Jesus says in the NT, and the need to have communities in order to strengthen our faith, and share the good news of Salvation. Those are the true believers. Those that study the scripture. Those that pray daily. Those that have groups of faith. Those that attend Mass because of love. Being Christian is about LOVING GOD. If you LOVE, you PLEASE THOSE THAT YOU LOVE. God pleases you plenty. All those blessings, despite our unworthiness as sons and daughters of Him, are what? Acts of love. When He gave you, When He healed you, When He saved you… All that God did, does, and will do for you is because of HIS LOVE for us. If you love HIM, then SHOW IT.
 
Reading between the lines, when someone says they are spiritual and not religious usually means they are eclectic and want to pick and dabble to find their beliefs as they see fit, determine their own morality and not have a commitment to any organizied church.
 
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