God is about relationship - “religion” is man made, and God has had a lot to say about it. (Think Old Testament idol worship, Sodom and Gomorrah, and what Jesus had to say about the chief priests and Pharisees.) God has always been about restoring His relationship with us. God doesn’t need our “Religion” to bring us to Him.
Isaiah 1:16-17 NLT
Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. [17] Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
Amos 5:21-24 NLT
"I hate all your show and pretense- the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. [22] I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. [23] Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. [24] Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.
Mark 12:29-31 NLT
Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. [30] And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' [31] The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."
James 1:27 NLT
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
Organized religion is used to usurp and twist our relationship with God to nefarious ends. One look at the history of the Papacy, as an example, will show you the demented crap that has been the custom since almost the very beginning. It began as something pure, but that didnt last long. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is the legacy of organized religion. That and death in the name of God.
Now that is not to say there arent any good men of religion. There absolutely is good men involved. A very many good men, with good intentions. But it is rotten at the top.
God is about relationship - “religion” is man made, and God has had a lot to say about it. (Think Old Testament idol worship, Sodom and Gomorrah, and what Jesus had to say about the chief priests and Pharisees.) God has always been about restoring His relationship with us. God doesn’t need our “Religion” to bring us to Him.
Isaiah 1:16-17 NLT Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. [17] Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
Amos 5:21-24 NLT "I hate all your show and pretense- the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. [22] I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. [23] Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. [24] Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.
Mark 12:29-31 NLT Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. [30] And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' [31] The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."
James 1:27 NLT Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
Humans coalesce into hierarchical groups. Its our nature. So is exploiting the power to influence others. Hence the challenge with organized religion.
Hallelujah!
That is the truth.
That's why I avoid churches -- any kind of organized religion.
I believe most religions exist to PREVENT people from knowing God. To obstruct it.
There are some exceptions, of course.
I am no atheist. But no worries.
correct
Jesus instructed us how to pray
he gave the powers of binding abd loosing to his disciples, not to the crowds, and not to people who read about it later
the last supper was a continuation of the jewish passover ritual, the consummation of the new covenant, and he commanded us to do it
people need to pull their wishy-washy heads out of the sand
The Lord's Prayer....Jesus said "pray in this manner"...he did not say "repeat after me". The Lord's Prayer is an outline for prayer.
Organized religion is used to usurp and twist our relationship with God to nefarious ends. One look at the history of the Papacy, as an example, will show you the demented crap that has been the custom since almost the very beginning. It began as something pure, but that didnt last long. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is the legacy of organized religion. That and death in the name of God.
Now that is not to say there arent any good men of religion. There absolutely is good men involved. A very many good men, with good intentions. But it is rotten at the top.
Death in the name of God?
Yeah because martyrdom is oRgAnIzEd ReLiGiOn
Read up buddy
Sounds like you hit your head in that boating accident.