Preface

What I want to know

I, a strong believer in the faith of Christianity, would like to discover more information about certain issues of religion and Christianity, in order to answer a mind boggling question. Is Christianity a religion?

During my investigation of this topic, I hope to understand why people believe Christianity is a religion, and their reasons for believing this statement. In my younger years, I also viewed Christianity as a religion; however, as I matured in my walk with Christ I came to the realization that Christianity was not a religion but a father and son relationship with our Creator. Once I came to this realization it became a natural habit for me to accept the fact that Christianity and religion were not the same, but I never new why and how to prove it. Now that I am exploring this subject, I want to examine different types of religions, so that I can compare them to Christianity in hopes of finding the differences and similarities.

Why it is important to me

As a Christian, my sole purpose in life is to do the will of God. In the Bible it states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Syswerda 1303). Thus, my purpose as a Christian is to share the gospel with others and to make the fact clear that Christianity is not a type of religion, but is a intimate relationship with our Father in Heaven. My intention of writing this paper was driven based on the broad topic suggestions given to me in English class. The paper contained many broad topics, including Religion. I assumed that Christianity fell under the category of religion, due to the fact that there was no category for Christianity. Christianity vs. Religion is an extremely important topic because other religions believe that to get ones self to Heaven, you must do good works and be a good person. However, Christianity teaches that it's a relationship with Jesus Christ that one may attain salvation. No one can get to the father, but through me, said Jesus. This topic may seem like a meaningless paper, but truthfully it is a matter of eternity spent in Heaven or the flaming fires of Hell.

What I already know

Christianity is not a religion, and many people that claim to be Christians do not view and practice Christianity as a religion, not only affecting those that practice Christianity as a religion, but also ruining the true representation of Christianity. The Word of God is my main source of information for this debatable topic. I know that there are many different religions which are close in certain areas to Christianity, but none have the true concept of Christianity. The Word of God is my main source of information for this debatable topic. Today, many people around the earth view and practice Christianity as a religion. In fact, I had an opportunity to explain the difference between Christianity and religion to a Christian friend, who believed that Christianity was a religion.

The full story of my search

I started my investigation of the topic by searching for thoughts and ideas in my mind. However, after hours of mental frustration I called my youth pastor from Waynesburg, PA. I already knew that Christianity was definitely not a religion, but I was not sure how to back myself up on the topic. My youth pastor quickly reassured my belief that Christianity was not a religion, and he started to inform me why it was not a religion, making references from the bible as proof. At once, I called one of my good friends from high school who gave me an excellent selection of books based on the topic; by two very well know authors C.S. Lewis, and Lee Stroble. Subsequently, I searched the internet on the search engine, www.google.com and found various interesting and astonishing info about Christianity and the differences between Christianity and other religions.

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