zieglerandlukasiak:

o mhy GOD

haha her face here cathy must have just entered the room lol

love-matic:

May 19th, 2013 “Jesus vs. Religion”

I don’t have a religion. I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. When I say that to people that tell me they don’t agree with organized religion, they don’t understand what this means. They don’t understand that there is a huge difference between having a relationship with God through Jesus and simply having a religion.

When you have a religion, you have a god that is not happy with you. You have to appease him/her/it through various means. You have to pray at a certain time and place. You have to read and write a certain language. You may be required to make a certain type of sacrifice. You may have to withdraw yourself from the rest of the world and be among the other “holy” people. In religion, if you successfully and consistently maintain all the required practices, you are better than others.

When you have Jesus, there’s nothing you can do to gain any more or less of God’s favor. You are already loved. You have His grace despite your shortcomings. You have his grace no matter who you are culturally or in terms of class. You can worship in your native tongue and dress at any given time and place. When you have Jesus, you humble yourself and accept that there is nothing divine or holy about you. You are not better and cannot be better than anyone else. Just because you sin differently than the next person doesn’t make you more or less spiritual. ALL are called to repent. Jesus was is not a fan of hypocrisy.

Luke 11:42 - “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.  You should have practiced the latter, without leaving the former undone.”  

When you have Jesus, you are called to go out into the world instead of running from it. He spent his time ministering to the poor, destitute, homeless, and sick. He rebuked the rich. Jesus rebuked those that used their faith in God as a badge of honor.

Matthew 21:12 - Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.

As anyone can see, Jesus didn’t just get angry. He was pissed off. If Jesus was to return today and see all this goofy television evangelism, He would do the same thing to them. God is not a business. God’s house is not for commerce. Having the love of God is NOT having a religion, as evidenced by Jesus’ reaction to those that would treat it as such.

All these merchants out there that sell holy relics of any sort have a religion. Maybe not all, but televangelists have a religion. Snooty people that turn up thier noses to others have a religion. Any one that is using or selling any tools that can somehow make you closer to God has a religion. As for me, as for Christians in general, we have Jesus.