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Talking about 'Religion' and Obfuscating the GospelWhen I was a child, 'religion' was not a dirty word. If someone asked me what my religion was, I'd say 'Christian'. I don't remember church people having an issue with it.In the early '80's, Jimmy Swaggart preached against 'religiousity'. Some time in the mid-80's, I heard an evangelist say that religion was man reaching out to God, and Christianity was God reaching out to man. By the early to mid-1990's, I heard preachers saying that religion is a bad thing. They'd redefined the word in my own lifetime. In older books by the Puritans and others, 'religion' is used pretty much synonymously with 'Christianity' or 'the Christian faith.' The weird thing is, to unbelievers who do not speak our evangelical jargon, 'religion' means beliefs and practices having to do with God or gods. Just as it was to our ancestors and forebearers, prayer is considered to be a religious activity.But you see evangelists, pastors, and street witnessers now thinking it necessary to correct the audience definition of 'religion'-- wasting time on that when they could be preaching the gospel. Then there are certain streams of Charismatics and other evangelicals who think having a set prayer time or other disciplines is 'religious.' You've got people trying to prove they aren't religious. If you don't want to get a tattoo because of Leviticus, or if you try to stay away from songs with dirty lyrics, that is 'religious.' I went to a meeting in a home where some guys who did not want to be 'religious' were jumping on the trampoline outside while the other brethren were inside studying the Bible. And some Charismatics seem to think religion is an evil spirit.All the while our Bibles say that pure religion and undefiled is to visit the widows and fatherless in their aflication and to keep himself unspotted from the world. IMO, our redefinition of religion to mean something different from what it means to everyone outside of the evangelical bubble is potentially harmful. Wasting time on redefining the word can detract from actually preaching the Gospel. It's like the distraction that the word 'personal' became in the '70's. Keith Green had a good pamphlet on this and other problems with to the modern Gospel What's Wrong with the Gospel? The Additions. A generation of Christians added the word 'Personal' before Savior, usually without any explanation, leaving the audience wondering what is meant by this odd phrase. And probably resulting in so many people refusing to discuss their religion because it is 'personal'. Now we have people who do not want to be 'religious' trying not to be too strict or disciplined with their own personal or devlotional lives. And we have others who waste time trying to get individuals or audiences to buy in to the new niche redefinition of 'religion' as if learning our lingo were a part of the gospel. I did not participate in the redefinition of the word

You bring up some good points Link. YES, I know folk who don't want to be tooooo religious. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/