You’ve probably seen people typing or maybe even talking about their walk with Jesus Christ being “a relationship not a religion.” I have always been suspicious of the idea. I grew up in the Episcopal Church and for all its faults it was still a community of believers. There is a power in organized religion that a personal relationship just doesn’t have. My other misgiving about a personal relationship is that it can lead to private interpretation of the scriptures. That said I seem to be moving in the relationship direction. I don’t know how far down this slippery slope I’m going to end up, but I am slipping.
28 June 2024
Latter Day Sinner 
2 responses to “A Relationship not a Religion”
Funny I come across this blog. I was thinking of this exact topic today. Organized religion should help us in our relationships, including our relationship with God. It should build up the faith community. I see the problems when there is no organization. However I reject the notion that we must go through clergy to get to God. I do not believe any one church has a monopoly on God. Not all churches make this claim, but some do.
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I am suspicious of anyone who claims they have a monopoly on the truth or a perfect organization. The claim of a being in The One True Church is a subset of that. There’s “settled science” and “the right side of history” under the larger umbrella. I try to take people’s sincere convictions at face value though. It is dangerous to jump to the conclusion that because someone is misguided that they are actually malevolent. Thanks for reading.
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