Why I Don't Like Religion

Religion: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.*

That does not sound so bad.  I believe in and worship a personal God.  So why would I say I don't like religion?  When I hear the word religion the things that come to mind are rules and regulations that have very little to do with the worship of God.  As I have studied the earlthly ministry of Jesus the only people I see him having issue with are religious leaders who were constantly makig God inaccessible with rules and customs that they made up.  All of the major religions of the world have this problem.  People genuinely seek after God through religion and only find a man on the other side holding a list of rules. 

Recently I searched the word, religion, on Google and the origin of the word came up with the definition.  When you look at the illustration below and see the Latin roots of the word it makes sense why people have such negative feelings toward religion.  Some of the words that pop out are "to bind, obligation, bond".  Does any of that scream "sign me up!"  Of course not.  Who wants to sign up to be bound to one more obligation?

This is where Jesus is different.  Jesus did not come to set up a new religion.  He did not come to bring a bunch of new rules to bind us.  In fact, he said "so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed"(John 8:36 NIV). He came to set us free of obligation.  He came to give us life and life to the full (John 10:10 NIV).  Jesus' only desire is to restore the fellowship that existed from the beginning.  The only bond he wants to have with us is the bond of love (Romans 13:8 NIV).

Why do I not like religion?  It gets in the way of a relationship with the personal God.  When you get to know Jesus for who he really is you will know God (John 14:7).  Jesus is the only God that does not tell man to straighten their act up and come to him.  He came to us and accepts us for who we are.  He did not come to take from man but came to give and he gave everything.  When you know God for who he really is the only natural response is worship.

"Definition and orign of word "Religion" taken from Google definition

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