Hmmmm. What an interesting thread.

Something I think more of us will understand as we exit the Matrix and enter the clean air of God's presence, how we see things and what we see are so deeply influenced and often defined by the vantage point we adopt; our viewpoint determines in part what we see and how we see them.

I'm most certainly Christian, but I would not define Christian as necessarily having "formal religion".

For example, I certainly adhere to the maxim: "it's not about religion, it's about relationship". In this context, I see "religion" in whatever form or faith - Christian, buddhist, hindu, other, as being a "school" for learning and acquiring the principles and skills that allow a relationship to be formed with the Creator and with others.

Some may think this is a relativist viewpoint but no: my understanding of most faiths is that the Father inspired them and brought them into being via various messengers in order to prepare the way for those people to come closer to the point where they could receive and unite with Christ. So I'm not saying all religions (schools) are equal. I'm saying that they came into being divinely inspired as part of a process of bringing more and more people to the place where they can recognize, receive and unite with Christ.

Is it mere coincidence that the last prophet in the Old Testament who spearheaded a major reformation prior to the advent of Christ came 400 years before Christ, and that other teachers also emerged in that time frame? The teachers in Greece, the teachers in the East, and so forth? (no.)

Many forget that religion is a school; "re-ligio" to re-connect". But the purpose of school is not to remain in school forever. Rather, it is to learn what the school offers, infuse it, inherit it, embody it, and then graduate.

The purpose of formal (and informal) religion is to train us to be capable of building and growing a living relationship with the Creator (the Father) through a relationship with Christ.

When that relationship is living, live and full, then you begin to transcend religion. Not throwing it aside, but rather naturally embodying the value of it. Just as someone with a pure conscience and clean heart does NOT need the law to guide them, but rather, they transcend the law because their natural practice and character prevents them from doing that which the law is intended to proscribe.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm a Christian, without a "formal" religion.