{"id":4183,"date":"2019-07-19T14:37:28","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T10:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/?p=4183"},"modified":"2019-07-19T14:37:28","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T10:37:28","slug":"religion-and-godliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/religion-and-godliness\/","title":{"rendered":"RELIGION AND GODLINESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, in my blog, in the section called \u201cChange your life\u201d, I have posted a material titled \u201cGodliness or Religion\u201d (May 17, 2019), in which, using a comparison of the Pacific Ocean to a pond by its shore, I spoke about godliness and religion. We can see from people\u2019s lives that this subject is unknown to many, and this lack of knowledge results in so much misery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Religion means a faith, profession or worship. The Bible speaks about pure and undefiled religion, which is manifested in holy life with love and concern for people. It is written in James 1:26-27, \u201cIf anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one\u2019s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.\u201d That is why it is often said that Christianity is not a religion but a lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Religion as a term can also mean beliefs and confessions. Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Paganism, worship of different gods and spirits are religions, like the religion of Islam, pagan religions, etc. This is the reason why we must distinguish between religion and true godliness. Faith in dead or material gods is religion; on the contrary, faith in and worship of the God Who created the universe, who has no beginning and no end, \u2013 Father God, risen Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, \u2013 is true religion or godliness.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is, Christianity can become a religion as well, if there is no personal relationship and perpetual fellowship between man and God. Oftentimes, people believe that God exists, that Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again, but their faith isn\u2019t developed, so they cannot appropriate everything that belongs to them through crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another manifestation of religion is, when a person stands in front of an icon and asks for help the saints who died long ago \u2013 Paul the Apostle, Peter the Apostle, Saint Vardan, Saint Sarkis, etc., not knowing or having forgotten that there is only one mediator between man and God \u2013 Jesus Christ: \u201cI am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture\u201d (Jn. 10:9), and \u201cAnd whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son\u201d (Jn. 14:13).<\/span><\/p>\n

Godliness is an undeniable faith in the fact that Jesus Christ is the only Savior, because He was crucified for mankind, rose again, overcame death and defeated all the plans and actions of the devil against mankind.<\/span><\/p>\n

If people understand that the Lord was risen and the power of His resurrection can radically change each person\u2019s life provided that they believe and obey the Word of God, they will inherit the blessings described in the Scriptures:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich\u201d (2 Co. 8:9).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments\u2026 the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground\u2026 The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand\u2026 if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways\u2026\u201d (Dt. 28:1-14).<\/span><\/p>\n

Religion is useless if we have a form of godliness, but deny its power. There are so many Christians, who attend Church services and listen to sermons, but still live in poverty, sickness, under debt and in clutches of fear; they have no success in what they do, are disappointed and live in defeat. Our faith and worship shall be manifested in permanent fellowship with the Lord, reading the Word and practicing it, not only through singing worship songs, but through daily activities that bring glory to the Lord. If a person experiences living communion with Jesus Christ, the risen God, the promises written in the Word of God will be fulfilled in their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, in my blog, in the section called \u201cChange your life\u201d, I have posted a material titled \u201cGodliness or Religion\u201d (May 17, 2019), in which, using a comparison of the Pacific Ocean to a pond by its shore, I spoke about godliness and religion. We can see from people\u2019s lives that this subject is unknown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-change-your-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=4183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4183\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4173\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=4183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=4183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gayaneblog.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=4183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}