"It's not a religion, but a relationship with Jesus!"

[All Along The Watchtower]

Is this phrase indicative of an  intersection between evangelical Protestant theology and New Agey "spirituality", or something else?

Maybe BRTD can help me out here.

[Small L]

It's a fundamental misunderstanding of semantics.

[7,052,770]

I gag every time I hear that nonsense.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's basically a statement that they perceive their faith to be something more than mere rituals that are reflexively invoked.

[they don't love you like i love you]

It's basically a statement that they perceive their faith to be something more than mere rituals that are reflexively invoked.

And not about following rules like the Pharisees insisted. How I see it.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Meaningless cant, but meaningless cant that can be deployed with some value in situations where one or one's interlocutor has limiting preconceived notions about what religion is.

[DC Al Fine]

I think its an indicator of moderately conservative evangelicalism. I've yet to hear a liberal say that phrase, and the arch-conservatives are proud to call what they practice religion.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I think its an indicator of moderately conservative evangelicalism. I've yet to hear a liberal say that phrase, and the arch-conservatives are proud to call what they practice religion.

You don't associate with liberal Christians especially of the emergent variety much clearly. We once had a sermon series "Exchanging the Bad News of Religion for the Good News of Jesus" for example.

[DC Al Fine]

I think its an indicator of moderately conservative evangelicalism. I've yet to hear a liberal say that phrase, and the arch-conservatives are proud to call what they practice religion.

You don't associate with liberal Christians especially of the emergent variety much clearly. We once had a sermon series "Exchanging the Bad News of Religion for the Good News of Jesus" for example.

Agreed. There's zero emergent scene where I live. All of the theological liberalism I've come into contact with IRL was from the mainline Protestant churches.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I've heard a few liberal Christians say something along the lines of, "It's not a religion, it's a decision to follow the Way of Jesus," which is pretty much the same thing.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I've heard a few liberal Christians say something along the lines of, "It's not a religion, it's a decision to follow the Way of Jesus," which is pretty much the same thing.

That sounds a bit more secular, seemingly along the lines of "Jesus was a good man", in which the actually religious part is denied or at least ignored.

[they don't love you like i love you]

http://www.fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=90238

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

http://www.fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=90238

This is hilarious. It's particularly amusing in the event that you're on 'Fundie Watch' but jmfcst isn't. I wonder how many more quotes on that site are taken completely out of context (either of their function in the conversation or of their relationship to the rest of the quoted person's personality). It doesn't seem like the sorts of people who are commenting on that quote would care very much. I wonder if I'm on 'Fundie Watch'.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

http://www.fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=90238

This is hilarious. It's particularly amusing in the event that you're on 'Fundie Watch' but jmfcst isn't. I wonder how many more quotes on that site are taken completely out of context (either of their function in the conversation or of their relationship to the rest of the quoted person's personality). It doesn't seem like the sorts of people who are commenting on that quote would care very much. I wonder if I'm on 'Fundie Watch'.

Lol.  I did a quick search on that site and BRTD has several entries, apparently.  Bushie also has one on there submitted by Ebowed.

[H. Ross Peron]

http://www.fstdt.com/QuoteComment.aspx?QID=90238

This is hilarious. It's particularly amusing in the event that you're on 'Fundie Watch' but jmfcst isn't. I wonder how many more quotes on that site are taken completely out of context (either of their function in the conversation or of their relationship to the rest of the quoted person's personality). It doesn't seem like the sorts of people who are commenting on that quote would care very much. I wonder if I'm on 'Fundie Watch'.

Lol.  I did a quick search on that site and BRTD has several entries, apparently.  Bushie also has one on there submitted by Ebowed.

There's also a sarcastic comment by King that's taken seriously.

[ZuWo]

It's a phrase I hear quite frequently among other evangelical Christians I know (both conservative and more liberal ones). What is meant by this phrase is that these people don't regard their faith as formalized and mainly focused on particular religious instructions, rites and customs. On the contrary, they put strong emphasis on a vibrant relationship with Jesus through prayer and bible study. Importantly, they often use this phrase to distinguish themselves from "Christians in name only" who merely identify with their church or denomination because of culture and tradition but don't actually believe in Jesus.

I am a bit torn on the phrase myself. On the one hand, I understand what the people who make use of this phrase mean and why they say it, but on the other hand I consider their definition of the term "religion" to be semantic nit-picking.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I can't think of any context in which this phrase would make the slightest amount of sense.

[Blue3]

I never heard of this term before, but why do so many people have a problem with it?

[politicus]

I never heard of this term before, but why do so many people have a problem with it?

Its very illogical that a relationship with the son of God is not part of a religion. And even if one can somehow argue that this distinction makes sense that kind of semantic nitpicking is generally annoying.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I never heard of this term before, but why do so many people have a problem with it?

Its very illogical that a relationship with the son of God is not part of a religion. And even if one can somehow argue that this distinction makes sense that kind of semantic nitpicking is generally annoying.

Basically it's using the term "religion" to mean partaking of a rote set of rituals one can perform without having any particular connexion to actual believed faith.  It's a useful distinction to make, I'm just not certain "religion" is the rite [sic] word to use.

[© tweed]

it's dumb and haughty and a pet peeve of mine.  the fools think they've come up with something incredibly novel.  it's been going on for a good hundred years, almost -- Paul Tillich somewhere discussed his shock at all the people who saw religion as a categorically bad thing and were surprised when he spoke of it in a positive light, as "what happens when man grapples with God's revelation" (paraphrase)

[afleitch]

I think of it along the same lines as someone who says they have a relationship with their cat; harmless but it isn't really quantifiable. And I say that as someone who loves cats.

[politicus]

I never heard of this term before, but why do so many people have a problem with it?

Its very illogical that a relationship with the son of God is not part of a religion. And even if one can somehow argue that this distinction makes sense that kind of semantic nitpicking is generally annoying.

Basically it's using the term "religion" to mean partaking of a rote set of rituals one can perform without having any particular connexion to actual believed faith.  It's a useful distinction to make, I'm just not certain "religion" is the rite [sic] word to use.

It clearly isn't. Religion is a much broader concept.

[TJ in Oregon]

I find it rather annoying, as it strikes me as a marketing ploy to sound hip, cool, "vibrant", "relevant", or any number of other dumb, irrelevant buzz words people try to come up with to allow themselves to bypass the inconvenient notion of being associated or connected with Christianity in any way, or some nebulous undesirable thing called "religion" for whatever reason.