The modern-day conjecture is that out of all the hundreds of religions in the world today, there are Abrahamic religions. The Abrahamic religions are just three and they include Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. That Christianity is considered a religion by most people today, is a little bit bizarre to me. This grotesque and incongruous attitude often stirs in me, a wave of anger as it portrays a wrong ideology about the Christian faith.
The reason is that, Christianity (the belief in which Jesus Christ is the Central figure) does not have any criterion and in fact, does not meet any criteria that a religion is expected to have. If belief should have a benchmark to be called religion, Christianity does not meet it. If religion should have a yardstick, Christianity is out of it.
I posit that Christianity is never a religion because it WAS NOT when the Christian faith was handed over to the apostles and based on certain facts which are also requirements for a belief system to be considered a religion. If Christianity is never a religion, what then is Christianity?
We need to bear in mind that Christianity is not a religion but rather an identity of a follower of Jesus. In other words, it is “Who a believer in Christ is”. Christians are not religious individuals, they are rather persons who are after the footpath of Christ Jesus. Thus, if we are talking about Abrahamic religions, Christianity is not one of them based on the fact that the meaning of Christianity itself is not religion but lifestyle.
I am persuaded to make known certain facts which are also requirements for a belief system to be considered a religion. Christianity, being a belief system, does not meet any of them.
- Every religion must have a founder. In my personal evaluation of world religions, I discovered that there is no religion in the world today without a founder. A physical entity which must be a person must be the initiator of a religion and the followers of such religion are bound by its holy book to follow the footpath of its initiator. For instance, Zoroastrianism follows the footpath of their leader Zoroaster. The Mohammedans follow the footpath of their leader Mohammed.
But for Christianity, there is no place in the Bible where Jesus said he has come to establish a new religion in place of Judaism. There is no place in the Bible where Jesus called his followers ‘Christians’, neither is it in any verified historical record that over 2000 years ago, Jesus introduced a new religion called “Christianity”.
Jesus gave the reason for his coming into this world. He said he had come to save the lost.
Matthew 18:11 (KJV) “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”
- When you check the Muslim book and other books from various religions, there is often an admittance that their belief systems are “religions”. For instance, Mohammed admitted that ‘Islam, being a belief system, is the religion of Allah”. In the Bible, you can’t find where it is said that Christianity is a religion.
- In various religions, there is legalism. In other words, there are “Dos and Don’ts.” For instance, in Judaism, Saturday Sabbath is essential and in those days when the laws of Moses were active, a person who set firewood on the Sabbath day was eliminated from the Israel communities. In Islam, Muslims are bound not to eat pork.
But in Christianity, there is no such thing as legalism. The Bible even teaches against legalism.
Galatians 5:1 (KJV) “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
A Christian is never mandated to offer alms; he is never mandated to fast; he is never given a specified time to pray, he is rather ‘exhorted’ to pray without ceasing. He is rather urged to pray and not fainting.
On a further note, in religion, man is deemed a reconciliator. He does all the good he can to gain the mercy of a ‘fiendish God’. In Christianity, God is deemed a reconciliator. Man is viewed as a lost sheep who needs God, the All-knowing shepherd to take him home. He does all the good he can with the help of God to gain the reward of a Merciful and Loving Father.
2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV) “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
There will always be wrong ideologies about the Christian faith if the ancient history of Christianity is not visited. In the Genesis of the Christian faith, Christians don’t call themselves
Christians but rather Saints. The Bible made it clear that the word ‘Christians’ has its morphology history from Antioch.
Acts 11:26 (KJV) “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”
Until the time Christ’s followers were called Christians in Antioch, there was nothing like Christianity.
