liseezy:

dennisnoodles:

lovethatquietsallmyfears:

You know society is in a bad place when the word “religion” is a bad word. Why? I feel the hate towards “religion” is usually geared towards the Catholic Church so I took it a bit that way. In response to this video I would like to point out a couple of things:

• Without a church to lead you in your beliefs, you can quite literally just create a god. In turn, you aren’t worshipping our one, true God. You’re worshipping someone you make Him out to be. Religion helps shape that for you.
• The Roman Catholic Church has some pretty bomb churches. It really does. And why shouldn’t it? It holds the Body and Blood of Jesus! I would think every Christian believes Jesus deserves that respect.
• The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t just build churches. It is the single largest charity organization in the world. Catholics don’t “fail to feed the poor.” The Catholic Church clothes, feeds, gives water, administers health care, counsels, and gives shelter to the poor. I’m not sure which religions this guy was talking about, but it surely wasn’t the Catholic Church.
• Jesus did not come to abolish religion. He came to save us from our sins. He started His own church. He set it up to guide us to Him. To love Him. The Church isn’t about rules or “a long list of chores.” It’s about living a godly life and finding forgiveness for your sins. The Church is there to help you find a community of others who love and worship God just as much as you do. It’s not a bad thing.
• God doesn’t hate you for getting divorce. He doesn’t hate anyone. It’s impossible. He is love. Love can’t hate.
• We are human. We are sinners. We are corrupted. Religious followers sometimes go astray. Jesus came and brought us back to the path we were meant to be on. Jesus didn’t hate religion or come to abolish it. He came and improved it.
• Jesus already lives in my Catholic Church so we’ve already let Him in. Boom.
• Religion is an infection? Really? Religion and Jesus are NOT on opposite sides of the spectrum. “Religion says slave. Jesus says son.” My religion does not say slave at all. Mine encourages me to live for Jesus with all my heart and that I should be doing works for Him and I choose to slave for Him! I think that’s a pretty darned good idea.
• The Catholic Church has not put me in bondage. Or made me blind.
• “Religion is man searching for God. Christianity is God searching for man.” Christianity is a religion (awkward…) and man should always be seeking out and looking for God as He has searched for us and our hearts. It goes both ways.

That is all.

“What’s interesting is when you get to the root word, the oldest root word for religion means relationship. And my brothers and my sisters, any of us that are Catholic Christian know that our religion, our Catholicism is one rooted in relationship, one rooted in an intimate encounter and relationship with God, most specifically through the sacraments. When we talk about being Catholic, when we talk about religion, what we talk about is a person, more than just a thing. We’re talking about Jesus, not just a set of practices.” - Mark Hart (the Bible Geek)

^ Thank you!

I’m glad im not alone in this