Religion vs. Faith

The other night I was sitting with my Alpha group. We just started a new session last week. (I love love love Alpha, and will plug plug plug for it!! It has changed my life, so if I talk a lot about it, it's because it has been a big role playing factor in my faith journey over the course of the last 3 years.) This week's topic was "Who Is Jesus?"  

Hefty question, ay?

As we got into the conversation, the question came up "what's the difference between Religion and Faith?" 

"Ummm. Wow. What a question," I said. 

As the group began to discuss it a little bit, it really got to me, what IS the difference. How does our society look at Religion and Faith?

Let's first define them, by dictionary terms:

Religion:

1. The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.
2. Details of belief as taught or discussed.

Faith:

1. Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
2. Strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
 

I think so many times in life people get so caught up in what they think is "Religion." Thinking it's simply Christianity. Not realizing "religion" can mean any religion(s). Buddhism, Atheism, Islam, Scientology, the list goes on. Each of which having their own set of "rules" if you will, organized behaviors, their own "God" or power they believe in. Having religion in your life does not automatically put you into a Christian category. My neighbors, whom I love dearly, are Muslim. I look at them and know for a fact that they have a different religion that I do, practice different prayers and have different holidays.

Religion does not equal Christianity. Neither does faith. 

Faith simply refers to trust. Trust in yourself, in  your neighbors or in a God. Trust that the rules you have are correct, that if you follow them good things will happen, or trust that you will live another day. Having faith does not automatically make you a Christian. Going back to my neighbors, when I look at them, I still know that even though they are Muslim, the do have faith in their God. They have faith in heaven and going there. Their faith leads their lives.

Going through these Alpha courses I've run into so many types of religions and people who are all wondering the same thing. What does it mean to have FAITH IN GOD? To have faith in Christianity. To see the journeys and the questions laid in front of me is humbling. To know these people are in a very similar place that I was just a few short years ago. The journey can be long, exhausting and downright hard sometimes. But other times it's so rewarding to have the FAITH of knowing you eventually will go to heaven, to see loved ones, to see Jesus. How amazing will that day be? 

I guess my point of this post is to try and look outside the box. The words faith and religion get tossed around these days. They're important words with strong meanings, it's important we understand what they mean and how they relate to our own walks and journeys...