Wednesday, December 29, 2004
The question has been posed, if there was no Religion, would Faith still exist?
That has got me thinking and has led me to a new question. Can Religion exist without God and can God exist without Religion? My response to the first question is yes. There are plenty of religious people in the world, of all faiths who have missed the boat completely on God. I have seen this first hand in the Christian Faith and sadly, at different times in my life, I have been one of those people.
Regarding the second question, can God exist without Religion? Most definitely. God did exist prior to creation of man and earth. However, when I started to think about where Religion came from and how it started, I discover that God had introduced Religion to man.
(Let me define what I believe Religion to be so that we all can have an understanding of what I am trying to say here. I see religion as an institutionalized system of practices and structure, wherein faith is practiced and exercise, through worship, teaching and obedience.)
(I also understand that I am writing this post from the stance of which I believe the Christianity Faith and History to be true. I hope that does not muddy up the water and that we can all still look at this from outside the box and pick it apart for better understanding.)
God told Adam and Eve not eat from the Tree of Knowledge and to tend to the animals. That was their structure God had provided for them, wherein, if abided by, they were honoring God. It was God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments. It was Jesus who instructed us to love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
Are these not rules and regulations that God has imposed for us to practice and when we do so, we honor God? I am not even sure where I am going with this now, but I would love to pick at it with you guys. It just seems to me that God started the ball on Religion. I know Religion is bigger than just the Ten Commandments, but they do provide a sense of structure and order and is that not the purpose of Religion?
Anyhow, to answer your question Jason, I believe Faith would still exist if Religion was taken away or eliminated, but take Humans/ mankind away, Faith ceases to exist.
That has got me thinking and has led me to a new question. Can Religion exist without God and can God exist without Religion? My response to the first question is yes. There are plenty of religious people in the world, of all faiths who have missed the boat completely on God. I have seen this first hand in the Christian Faith and sadly, at different times in my life, I have been one of those people.
Regarding the second question, can God exist without Religion? Most definitely. God did exist prior to creation of man and earth. However, when I started to think about where Religion came from and how it started, I discover that God had introduced Religion to man.
(Let me define what I believe Religion to be so that we all can have an understanding of what I am trying to say here. I see religion as an institutionalized system of practices and structure, wherein faith is practiced and exercise, through worship, teaching and obedience.)
(I also understand that I am writing this post from the stance of which I believe the Christianity Faith and History to be true. I hope that does not muddy up the water and that we can all still look at this from outside the box and pick it apart for better understanding.)
God told Adam and Eve not eat from the Tree of Knowledge and to tend to the animals. That was their structure God had provided for them, wherein, if abided by, they were honoring God. It was God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments. It was Jesus who instructed us to love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
Are these not rules and regulations that God has imposed for us to practice and when we do so, we honor God? I am not even sure where I am going with this now, but I would love to pick at it with you guys. It just seems to me that God started the ball on Religion. I know Religion is bigger than just the Ten Commandments, but they do provide a sense of structure and order and is that not the purpose of Religion?
Anyhow, to answer your question Jason, I believe Faith would still exist if Religion was taken away or eliminated, but take Humans/ mankind away, Faith ceases to exist.
