{"id":4357,"date":"2021-02-22T19:35:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T19:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/?p=4357"},"modified":"2021-02-22T19:35:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T19:35:29","slug":"christianity-as-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/christianity-as-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Christianity as Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christianity is in fact a religion. Indeed it is the one true religion. The effort to trade in the timeless structure and order of the Church for “it’s just a relationship” goo is part to blame for where we are. You can’t build civilizations on goo. You need a firm foundation and strong structures that the religion of Christianity offers.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“It’s not a religion it’s a relationship” is a self-centered emotionally based rip-off of Christianity that shrinks Christianity down to each individual’s little pea-sized world and promotes an introspective and inverted way of life. But when someone walks into the ancient halls of Christianity they are immediately brought into a world much bigger than themselves, struck with awe at the reality of the transcendent.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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You can’t have truth, beauty, and goodness in a “it’s just a relationship” Christianity, for it is all about in inward spiritual personal experience. But when Christianity is rightly seen as the one true religion, institutional and all, that is when truth, beauty, and goodness are seen and cultivated. I am talking about many things here, but you can see it in the way a worship service is structured. In a “it’s not a religion it’s a relationship” church, the services will often be completely dark in the audience so as to create an atmosphere where each individual is having their own personal time with God. In contrast, a local church that recognizes they are part of something bigger than themselves will have all kinds of natural light pouring in where the congregation sees and interacts with others so as not to think all that matters is their own personal little world and mind. They will often have beautiful structures, or things like stained glass windows (as resources allow), so as to enrapture the congregations wonder to God in Heaven who is beauty Himself, and from which all beauty flows.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Some of you will read this and think that I am talking about architecture, but I am not. I am talking about Christianity as religion, which means order, structure, history, beauty, architecture, generational continuity, creeds, confessions, hymnals, corporate-ness, etc. The implications of this are many. It starts very simply. It starts with thinking about Christianity as about more than yourself and your experience; but about yourself in the life of the Church – and not just the church here and now but the Church throughout the ages – past, present, and future.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Christianity as religion is not simply being historical, although it of course is not less than that. It is about being historical and future oriented. Future oriented does not mean present and trendy minded. Future orientation is about building and participating in things that last – things that are bigger than yourself. I don’t want a church that shifts and bends to fit the desires of every so called seeker and unbeliever. I want a church that understands the desires of the individual must be informed and shaped by the transcendent Christian religion. By God’s grace, this is\u00a0Hope Baptist Church.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As Christians we are a part of something that has a history and a future. The Church was here before us, and it will be here when we are gone. Because we are apart of an institution that is built on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with Christ as her head, it is an institution with a recorded history. This means it matters greatly what we do here and now. Will we be part of the mushy goo, or will we be part of those who rise from muck with hammers and nails, with hands, hearts, and heads ready to build anew, ready to revive the old foundations, and ready to make the church beautiful again?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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If we want to build for the future we need more than private devotions. We need families doing family worship, but we need more than that. We need households of households (local churches) building together in the same direction, not simply communing together on a spiritual plane with no outward lasting manifestations. Come build with us.<\/div>\n
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For Christendom!<\/div>\n
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19\u00a0<\/sup>So then you are no longer\u00a0strangers and aliens,[d<\/a>]<\/sup>\u00a0but you are\u00a0fellow citizens with the saints and\u00a0members of the household of God,<\/span>\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup>built on the foundation of the\u00a0apostles and prophets,\u00a0Christ Jesus himself being\u00a0the cornerstone,<\/span>\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup>in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into\u00a0a holy temple in the Lord.<\/span>\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup>In him\u00a0you also are being built together\u00a0into a dwelling place for God by[e<\/a>]<\/sup> the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christianity is in fact a religion. Indeed it is the one true religion. The effort to trade in the timeless structure and order of the Church for “it’s just a relationship” goo is part to blame for where we are. You can’t build civilizations on goo. You need a firm foundation and strong structures that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":4361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,23,24],"tags":[1460,278,281,678,699,1413,1492,1039,1196],"class_list":{"0":"post-4357","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-church-history","8":"category-culture","9":"category-eschatology","10":"tag-building","11":"tag-christianity","12":"tag-church","13":"tag-jenkins","14":"tag-joshua","15":"tag-order","16":"tag-relationship","17":"tag-religion","18":"tag-structure","19":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/02\/churchbuilding.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6504,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/bad-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":4357,"position":0},"title":"Bad Religion","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio If anyone thinks he is religious\u00a0and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's\u00a0religion is worthless.\u00a027\u00a0Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/0aed084c3c12dd48ea8afa882f1cbd27-cowboy-tattoos-cowboy-art.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/0aed084c3c12dd48ea8afa882f1cbd27-cowboy-tattoos-cowboy-art.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/05\/0aed084c3c12dd48ea8afa882f1cbd27-cowboy-tattoos-cowboy-art.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":752,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/god-only-saves-by-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":4357,"position":1},"title":"God Only Saves By Grace","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The gospel is an unrelenting assault on graceless religion, on all the ways we try to avoid grace.\" + Scotty Smith As I read this quote from the commentary notes in the Gospel Transformation Bible, the grace of God struck me upside the head. Christianity is the only religion where\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"by\"","block_context":{"text":"by","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/tag\/by\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5538,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/celtic-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":4357,"position":2},"title":"Celtic Christianity","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"February 20, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for sermon audio Ireland: Magical Land on the Edge of the World The history of Ireland is the story of an island on the edge of the world. 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That was dumb. In Russell Moore's book Onward he talked about how the cultural Christianity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/08\/guardian-angel-graphics-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/08\/guardian-angel-graphics-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2020\/08\/guardian-angel-graphics-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5217,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/constantine-the-great\/","url_meta":{"origin":4357,"position":4},"title":"Constantine, the Great?","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"September 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Click HERE for Audio The Greatness of Constantine Constantine was born in 280 and died in 337 A. 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