Religion: A Man-Made Concept

In my opinion, all religions are cults. I was raised as a Christian and therefore do not class it as a religion but as a friendship with God. My definition of religion is man's attempt to reach God whereas Christianity is God's attempt to reach man through Jesus Christ.

However, other 'branches' of Christianity such as Catholicism and Jehovah Witnesses would constitute as religion or cults. They focus so much more on strict discipline and following rules than actually making an effort to know their Creator on a one-to-one level.

This may also be said for some other strict denominations of Christianity and even individual churches themselves. Having grown up in a non-denominational Christian family I have seen what it is like when people have a personal relationship with God. It is not about following every single rule in the Bible or constantly worrying about whether God is angry with you for your constant sinning; it's about spending time just talking to him and then the ability to behave in a more Christ-like way will soon follow and it will become easier to resist temptation. Even if you do sin, God will forgive any sin if you genuinely repent.

However, I'm no longer a practising Christian - not because I didn't want a personal relationship with God but because of the mass hypocrisy I found in churches. Christians have been given a bad name by those that have lost sight of what it is to be close to God and have become 'religious' and have started to judge others because they're not living in a Christ-like way. This hypocritical behaviour is not in accordance to the teachings of the Bible; the whole Christian doctrine is based on love and many so-called Christians have become so caught up in doing 'good works' in order to look good in front of others, rather than simply relying on their faith. According to Hebrews 11v1 : "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" - NKJ.

I believe that if you truly want to know God as opposed to becoming 'religious' you should just look to him and read the Bible, his word. From personal experience I have found that by looking towards other so-called Christians and their behaviour, they are not a true representation of the Christian faith and the love that God has for every individual.

Following cults such as Jehovah Witnesses get naive people caught up in others ideologies of what it is to be close to God. Why listen to a man when you can listen to the Creator himself?