No, “religion” (theologically speaking) is defined as a theological process by which a man or woman earns their way into relationship with a specific deity…religion is “works based” suggesting that mankind can work sufficiently or do something sufficiently pleasing, be sufficiently “good” to earn favor with God.
Christianity is “faith based” meaning that the Holy Bible/the Holy Spirit teaches that all of humanity is under the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23; 5:12), there is NOTHING we can do in and of ourselves to earn God’s forgiveness/acceptance but that Jesus, in HIS divine perfection, paid the required price for our sin on the Cross at Golgotha (1 Peter 1:18-19) and the Father declares that anyone who trusts in what Jesus has done for them will be declared “not guilty” (John 3:16; Hebrews 8:12) based solely on the work of Jesus on our behalf (Romans 4:4-5).
Man is not saved from sin and Hell by works or deeds or behavior but man is saved and enters into covenant relationship with Elohim by faith in the ONE, Jesus Christ, who did the work for us; therefore, the answer to your question is not “religion” but “Christianity” (Galatians 2:16).
Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Why is Jesus and the Holy Spirit essential to the survival of America’s Constitutional Republic?
Our Founder’s desired a form of government that would be very limited in scope, in its intrusion into the personal lives of the citizenry; therefore, our Founder’s were fully cognizant of the necessity for a controlling force, a restrainer, over the sinful nature of mankind apart from government tyranny and relentless pursuit of laws and edicts controlling behavior; therefore, our Founder’s knew that the experiment of a “Constitutional Republic” could only be successful if the overwhelming majority of the populous was controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit who teaches morality and ethics and righteousness and obedience through daily Christian sanctification; otherwise, there would be insufficient numbers of police-prosecutors-judges-jails-prisons to maintain peace, order and honor a sustainable daily quality of life for the whole of society…not Catholicism, not Islam, not Religion…but Christianity.
America has been on a steady course of self-destruction subsequent John Dewey (Circa 1880’s-the father of modern education) and Rousseau. Dewey’s Progressive-Socialist strategies infused into the American education system along with the atheistic catalyst of Darwin has destroyed America via our impressionable and naive youth…Dewey sought to destroy individualism and teach obedience to group think. Every atheist, every secular humanist, is the product of this failed and demonic strategy…it is the atheist, the secular humanist, the demonically inspired Democrat-Progressive, that will ultimately destroy the United States via immoral implosion. America has lost a majority of its youth to Satan’s religions of Atheism, Secular Humanism, Islam and other such cults and sects.
Without Jesus as KING in the heart of the majority, our Constitutional Republic will fail…that failure is festering and bubbling to the surface today for the entire World to see and contemplate, to mock and ridicule.
Can true Christian faith be the product of indoctrination?
Though many can be “indoctrinated” into a cult or a religion, it is NOT possible to be indoctrinated into true Christianity as true Christianity is an intimate, abiding, personal, relationship with our Creator by faith. Genuine, Life-Giving, Faith is beyond “indoctrination”…it is not possible to “indoctrinate” Christian faith and Christian faith cannot be taught, coerced, manipulated, but Christian faith is volitional trusting-believing with a sincere heart that what has been provided by the Holy Spirit in the Canon of Scripture is true and that same Christian faith believes that our Creator will do exactly as He has promised.
Christian Faith cannot be achieved, internalized or maintained through coercion or deception…faith in Jesus as Messiah must be internally genuine in order to ingratiate one’s self with our Creator and thereby establish New Covenant relationship with Him and receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant promise (Ephesians 1:13-14; Hebrews 11:6).
Though Christian faith comes through hearing the words of our Creator (Romans 10:17), those words must be volitionally internalized and received as true with a sincere heart and subsequently responded to in the affirmative in order that said faith be valid, applicable and regenerative.
On the other hand,
The false “faith” of the atheist, secular humanist, is the product of demonic deception as it’s the product of Satan, false teaching via Marxist education/indoctrination; generally, more often than not…atheism is a product of Darwinian Evolution forced upon the naive in public school settings. Atheism, once ingrained in the heart of the deceived, the arrogant, the proud, the narcissist, is likened to a metastasizing malignancy as it eats away at the soul and decimates the conscience and ultimately leads to antisocial, perverse, behaviors that destroy mind, body, soul, in Hell. It is the false faith of the atheist that comprises the “many” in Jesus’ warning…
The Narrow and Wide Gates
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14
Why do Atheists possess greater FAITH and BELIEF than the Christian?
Atheist, you do “believe” that there is no Creator; therefore, you do “believe” absent natural and Scriptural evidence to the contrary. You can’t have it both ways; therefore, you “believe” and express incredible “faith” that all of Nature emanated from a naturalistic origin which is a much “greater” faith than that of the Christian who “believes” that Elohim (Genesis 1:1) is Creator yet you have NO evidence of a Naturalist Origin yet Elohim has expressed and articulated clearly the who, what, where, when, why, concerning the creation narrative and He has provided eschatology, fulfilled prophecy, that under girds His ownership of said creation narrative. Atheism is a “religion” of unbelief in a god or a creator and this “unbelief” is a “belief” in a naturalist origin of all things which is an expression of unfathomable “faith.” Atheism is kin to Secular Humanism-Darwinism where you worship and serve that which has been created rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18-32).
Concerning calls for “unification” between Republicans and Democrat-Progressives…
Subsequent the assassination attempt on President Trump, there is a call for unification and a “coming together” between Conservatives and Liberals; Republicans and Democrat-Progressives; Christianity and Atheism; Faith and Secularism.
For the record, Light and darkness cannot coexist; Good and evil will not mingle; Life and death are antithetical and it is not possible that a Conservative unify with a Liberal or a true Republican come to terms with a Democrat-Progressive or a Christian ally with an Atheist/Secular Humanist nor more than Faith can compromise with Secularism; therefore, America’s fracture and divide has but one solution, a second civil war where Republicans, once again, nullify the demonic agenda of the Democrat-Progressive.
A Political Party, an ideology, that is based in, founded upon, the murder of babies in the womb; the celebration of unconscionable sexual perversion via LGBTQAI++ spiritual illness; open borders destroying the sovereignty of America and the safety of Her citizenry, a Political Party that worships the creation and express hatred for the Creator, this Political Party is NOT sustainable in a Constitutional Republic; therefore, it cannot be allowed to exist and rule in tyranny nor can those who love America coexist with those who seek to destroy Her. Democrats-Progressives-Marxists-Atheists-Secular Humanists are horrible people and they have no place in a Land founded for the free and the brave and the worshipers of Jesus Christ to His glory, forever.
Atheist – Secular Humanist, why not simply employ “naturalism” and prove the absence of a Creator and let’s rid ourselves of “religion” and the much-despised Christianity and the Church?
Commonsense, void a crippling obsession with satiating one’s penis or vulva in aberrant pleasure, tells us that the supernatural Universe which encompasses us, permeates us, 24/7/365 possesses the divine earmarks of “design” and purpose – and – commonsense uninterrupted by the proclivities of self-righteousness, arrogance, hedonism, narcissism e.g., atheism/secular humanism tells us that this unfathomable “design” must be under girded by an omnipotent Designer who is most probably existing outside the constraints of Time and physics; therefore, commonsense tells us that if a Designer exists and the complexity of that design (the human genome for example) most likely emanates from a supernatural design that said Designer would be remiss if He, She, It, They, did not reveal them self, themselves, to those “created” and in conjunction with that revelation provide logical reasoning for having created the supernatural “creation” that engulfs us 24/7/365.
If one is honest and they perform a diligent search for that “Creator” there exists only ONE-SOURCE where a Creator has not only identified “Himself” but He has also thoroughly explained the who, what, where, when, why, concerning His creation; that source, the “Canon of Scripture.” In fact, our Creator has told the atheist, the secular humanist, the unbeliever, that He exists and that their denial of His existence is foolish (Psalms 14:1) because He has clearly revealed Himself through what He has made in nature and placed before our eyes (Romans 1:20), a supernatural creation which cannot be duplicated by created beings constrained by Time and physics; furthermore, our Creator has entered the Realm of Time and walked among us for 33.5-years in the form of a man named Messiah Jesus and He has clearly proclaimed that Elohim is One, our Creator, and that anyone seeking peace and intimacy with Him must enter that relationship through “faith” in the Son, Jesus our Messiah who died for them as Messiah Jesus defeated the works of Satan at Golgotha (John 3; 1 John 3:8b)…our Creator exists.
If the atheist is so sure that our Creator does NOT exist, why not bring forth a valid explanation, causation, reasoning, for what confronts us daily in nature using a naturalistic explanation so that we can rid ourselves of “religion” and the much-despised Christianity and the Church and pursue moral relativism void conscience with uninhibited pleasure?
If our Creator does not exist, why not prove His, Her, Its, absence to a believing-faithful segment of the World so that their desires and efforts to constrain their behavior via conformity to sustainable morality might be proven irrelevant and let’s all pursue moral relativism because “if it feels good, do it;” after all, tomorrow we die and nihilism is our deity and life really means nothing in summation of all things?
Religion, theologically speaking, is not based in faith…Religions like Islam, Judaism, Catholicism, are based in a works doctrine where the individual seeks a relationship with a particular deity via self-righteousness, efforts to conform to a set of rules or laws sufficiently in order to ingratiate themselves with said deity.
Christianity is the only “faith based” system in existence that teaches the truism that Human Kind is not capable of working or striving sufficiently to please Elohim (Genesis 1:1); this, due the Adamic sin-nature (Romans 5:12) but that Elohim, Himself, provides the Path to intimate relationship with Him through selfless love demonstrated by Messiah Jesus on a Roman Cross some 2000-years ago (John 3:16).
There are also demonically-rooted “religions” such as Atheism, Darwinism-Evolution and Secular Humanism which also display great “faith” in that they tout a rejection of any deity yet believe that all things present within the Realm of Time, all things present in nature, manifest from nothing which exploded…this is the greatest “faith” of all.
As a Christian who has debated the atheist for YEARS, I can only quietly giggle in anger when I receive rebuttal from the demonically led atheist that my Christianity is inferior because I don’t play by their rule; that is, I’m not the meek and mild Christian victim of their ludicrous demonic religious mockery and hatred; I tell the atheist the uncomfortable Truth; that is, they are dying in their sin (John 8:24), their lives in atheism are nothing more than nihilistic impotency and lest they repent and trust in Jesus they will suffer horrifically as they approach the “second death” in Hell due their rejection of Messiah Jesus for the forgiveness of sin (John 3; Revelation 20:11-15).
I do consider the atheist a sissified, self-endowed, ignorant fool and if one is repulsed by that character summation all one must do to acknowledge the truism that atheists are spiritually dead, cognitively handicapped, servants of Satan is sit quietly for a few minutes and absorb their demonic rhetoric as they dehumanize and insult and mock a Christian seeking to share with them the Truth of Scripture, the Gospel.
Atheists are bully tyrants, fascists, in a demonic religion of ha-te – sexual perversion – infanticide – Marxism – Progressivism. I do not recommend a Christian, one that adheres to Paul’s admonition to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:25); that is, to rebut critics of Christianity with “meekness and gentleness” to engage the demonic atheist…it’s not worth the injury to your obedient and loving soul but I know the atheist, they are sissified bullies…so let’s do this!
You sissified bully atheists in this forum…I have noticed over time how you treat Christians, especially @JustSayin…shame on you hypocrites as you gag at a gnat and swallow a camel.
As one who loves, adores, worships, Jesus our Messiah, Elohim the Father and Elohim the Holy Spirit, I discuss atheists, progressives, democrats, Marxists, LGBTQ perverts, abortionists and denote these as EVIL people at their core…these are those who murder babies in the womb and fight and clamor and demonstrate for the perceived “right” to mutilate babies at ANY point of gestation; these are the people who fight and clamor and pollute our society with the most vile of sexual perversion and then mandate their mental and spiritual illness be forced upon our children in public schools; sick and perverse trans drag queens humping in the face of children and demanding they chant their demonic lyrics, these arrogant sexual demons force their demonic culture upon our families, our weak church congregations and administrations…these are Marxists who hate America, our freedoms, our Christianity, they hate Israel and advocate for Islamic terrorism and terrorists…the atheist – secular humanist – democrat – progressive are a vile and demonic people who do NOT deserve the goodness America offers nor are they worthy of the sacrifices made by our fallen in battle. The democrat – the progressive – the atheist – the Marxist – the secular humanist – these are moral-ethical-traitors, these are the demonic among us – these are to be shunned and ostracized as they are worthy of confinement in Federal prison, state mental institutions, deportation, exiled away from our children, our most innocent, our families.
@Putin challenged me to provide an eleventh-reason why Atheism is killing America; this, in addition to the ten-reasons articulated in a Debate Premise published on 3/09/24 in this DebateIsland forum that teams with representatives of Satan i.e., the vile atheist…
Reason#11 why Liberalism-Progressivism-Atheism are destroying America is the do-gooder virtue signaling LEFT’s warped understanding of human nature as the atheist denies the Biblical sin-nature of humanity (Romans 5:12) and erroneously, foolishly, believes that human nature is basically “good” and all that is required for that “goodness” to manifest in reality is the provision of Maslow’s needs made readily accessible…an ingratiating environment conducive to human realization of nirvana and then there would be World peace and interpersonal relationships of love, joy, fulfillment….these are the thoughts of a demonic fool and we see them played-out in real time via our current war on police; war on jurisprudence-bail-confinement-do the crime do the time…the decriminalization of theft, drugs, forms of assault…BLM, ANTIFA….the atheist is a boil on the butt of America.
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 