Are You Religious?

Religion and faith are two entirely different things.



Religion is an institutionalized set of beliefs, attitudes and practices that are formed over generations.   Often, the practice of the religion takes on a life of its own.   The core belief is replaced over time by the routine of the practice of the religion.   An idea is stacked upon another idea until these ideas become the religion and the core belief is often forgotten or at the very least its importance is minimized.



Faith is different.   Faith is personal.   Faith comes from the realization that “I was created by God.”   Faith is separate and apart from the history of mankind as a group.



All of mankind has a deep, internal knowledge that we are created.   We know deep inside that we are not a cosmic accident or an evolutionary experiment.   It is man’s pride, the thinking more highly of himself than he ought, that causes us to turn to science or mother earth or whatever is the fad religion of the day.



Yes, to be sure, science and environmentalism are religions.



Scientists now call the existence of God “Intelligent Design” as they move closer and closer to proving that God exists.   There is no coincidence in our world.   God gives all of us ample opportunity to find Him.   Scientists will eventually find the truth in their own way, just as a painter finds God as he or she paints, or as an athlete experiences God through competition.   No matter where we turn we see God at work.   Quietly, persistently He calls us.



God never changes and the truth is we don’t either.   We think we do and often spend our whole lives to vainly trying to prove otherwise.   But, life is about faith.



So, do you have faith?   Or, are you religious?