You dont need religion only Jesus..how to reply to

[linChleb]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus. This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

 

[JimG]

If all she needs is Jesus, then maybe she needs to visit Him in at the adoration chapel, or any day meet him in person at daily Mass.

 

[Jon_S_1]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus. This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

Then why was Jesus religious?

Baptizing
Baptized
Celebrating Jewish laws and festivals
Teaching in the temple
Etc…

 

[bsroufek]

Luke 11:23, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Also, at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed that we may be one, just as He and The Father are one. How are we to be one if we do not unite and gather?

And, the Apostles formed Churches. They didn’t convert a person and leave him/her, but united them together in Churches. And, as we know, Jesus and The Apostles are the Foundation of The Church.

 

[Rete]

Then why did Jesus establish a Church if you don’t need it?

 

[bzkoss236]

You tell them they don’t understand the definition of religion.

To believe in Jesus is to have a religion.

 

[boomerang]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus. This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

Which Jesus is she referring to? The Mormon Jesus, who’s brother is Satan? How about the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus who is really Michael the Archangel? Or maybe the Muslim Jesus who was merely a prophet? Or how about the New Age Jesus who is one of the “Ascended Masters” along with Mohammed and the Buddha? Or how about the Protestant Jesus who was only kidding when He said “This IS my body, this IS my blood”? Perhaps the Jewish Jesus who is either a “good rabbi” or a blasphemer, depending upon who you talk to. Or how about the hippy-dippy Jesus who’s everyone’s long-haired, sandaled buddy? It matters very much that you belong to a religion, and not just any religion, but the religion that speaks the truth, and delivers the sacraments that Jesus gave us.

 

[Dorothy]

Perhaps she needs to be made aware that “just needing Jesus” is the foundation for people interpreting Scripture in contradiction to one another.

We need a three-legged stool, not a one-legged stool. The Catholic Church has the three-legged stool…

1. Sacred Scripture
2. Teaching authority (Magisterium)
3. Sacred Tradition (capital “T” Tradition).

If a person feels we just need Jesus, it is easy to rationalize that whatever we believe about faith and morals is correct.

Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, shows us what Church (His Body) is all about.

 

[Michael57]

Then why did Jesus establish a Church if you don’t need it?

 

[Elizium23]

Link them this video by Fr. Robert Barron

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Doesn’t matter how “low church” you go – Protestants have their own hierarchy, magisterium, tradition, and rites and ceremonies. It’s unavoidable. “Just Jesus” is a doctrine (of men, I might add). The “altar call” is a rite (which is not in the Bible). Their church government, no matter how informal, is still a form of hierarchy.

So it’s not a question of whether to have religion, but which religion to have.

 

[CaptFun]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus. This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

Similar to “I don’t believe in organized religion. Just Jesus.”

Snappy answer: “That’s funny. Jesus organized a religion!”

Addendums for “I don’t need to go to Church. I have a Bible!” etc.

Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?

Matthew 16:18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock*** I will build my church***, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

– Jesus

Hebrews 10:25 Do not*** absent yourself from your own assemblies,*** as some do, but encourage each other; the more so as you see the Day drawing near.

Matthew 15:7 Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said:

8 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;

9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’"

 

[JRKH]

Which Jesus is she referring to? The Mormon Jesus, who’s brother is Satan? How about the Jehovah’s Witness Jesus who is really Michael the Archangel? Or maybe the Muslim Jesus who was merely a prophet? Or how about the New Age Jesus who is one of the “Ascended Masters” along with Mohammed and the Buddha? Or how about the Protestant Jesus who was only kidding when He said “This IS my body, this IS my blood”? Perhaps the Jewish Jesus who is either a “good rabbi” or a blasphemer, depending upon who you talk to. Or how about the hippy-dippy Jesus who’s everyone’s long-haired, sandaled buddy? It matters very much that you belong to a religion, and not just any religion, but the religion that speaks the truth, and delivers the sacraments that Jesus gave us.

I love this…

Perhaps she needs to be made aware that “just needing Jesus” is the foundation for people interpreting Scripture in contradiction to one another.

We need a three-legged stool, not a one-legged stool. The Catholic Church has the three-legged stool…

1. Sacred Scripture
2. Teaching authority (Magisterium)
3. Sacred Tradition (capital “T” Tradition).

If a person feels we just need Jesus, it is easy to rationalize that whatever we believe about faith and morals is correct.

Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, shows us what Church (His Body) is all about.

Both of these speak to how I would want to respond…Basically to say to her, "What do you mean by that??
You can find out pretty quickly if she really believes this and if she really knows what she is talking about…OR…If she is just using this as a “cop-out” to having to actually DO something (like truly conform her life).

As Dorothy mentions above - so often this sort of view makes it so easy to rationalize and to skip over the hard parts etc…

So my suggestion is to ask her what she means by that and then use the many other suggestions related in this thread to guide the conversation.

Peace
James

 

[StrawberryJam]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus. This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

Does she mean that some will be saved by the blood of Jesus because he chose them to be saved?

 

[adawgj]

Just Jesus would mean following what Jesus teaches. There is more to it than just saying praise Jesus hallelujah. Such as following the Church that he established by giving St. Peter the first pope the keys to heaven.

 

[TimothyH]

Jesus without religion is like coffee without a cup.

Peter tried to get out of the boat and walked for a few steps but then sank. Jesus without religion is very difficult to do.

-Tim-

 

[zz912]

Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will obey His commands. Jesus also prayed that we would be one. How can Christians be one without a Church?

 

[linChleb]

If all she needs is Jesus, then maybe she needs to visit Him in at the adoration chapel, or any day meet him in person at daily Mass.

Yes I tell her I go to Mass to receive Jesus and I couldnt do that without my religion.

 

[AdvocatusVerbum]

Christ Jesus taught His Apostles. His Apostles had disciples of their own and fostered The Church created by Our Lord himself upon The Rock. Those disciples prospered in the face of persecution and spread and maintained The Church. That Church still exists today as He said the gates of hell would never prevail against it.

End with Matthew 28:

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Bonus to point out the hierarchy sprang up very early and the historical record of such from the formation of the canon of the New Testament to the development to the medieval Church through Holy Mother Church’s sponsorship of so many of the scientists of the Renaissance (including the infamous Galileo) through to the modern day.

 

[steve_b]

My sister is always saying to me that you dont need religion only Jesus**.** This confuses me and I dont know how to respond! I have told her I never have felt as close to Jesus as in my Catholic faith. What else can I tell her?

Then she can’t argue with His conditions.

1. 
   *]John 14:15
   *]John 14:21
   *]John 15:10
   *]John 6:54 taking the Eucharist is necessary
   *]John 6:56 "
   *]Hebrews 10:24-26 attending Mass every Sunday (the Day) is required, because the sacrifice for sins is the Eucharist.