First off, it's not just Cindy who is spiritual but not religious. I noticed when I was dating that the match-making sites had many who claimed spirituality, but not religiosity. When I first noticed that distinction, I had no idea how one could be spiritual but not religious. With years of thought, I now conclude that no one even can be spiritual without being religious! Let's first look at what each are.
RELIGIOUS:
To be religious means to be faithfully committed to a deity or an idea. Hence, any devoted follower of any God is "religious". In fact, anyone faithful to an idea is religious. Because atheists are the hardest to convince otherwise, they are the most faithful to their ideas. Hence, atheists are quite religious in a humanistic sense. Paul challenged the philosophers in Athens about that. Paul addressed those very religious philosophers in this manner:
Acts 17:22 "Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.'"
The philosophers were very religious but failed to know who God even is. Paul proclaimed to them in the Areopagus who God is! He started explaining the nature of God by proclaiming Him as Creator and ruler of the universe, and his invisible presence; thus, indicating that the gods they were arguing about were not even of the same nature of the supernatural God.
Paul went on in later verses to explain that the way to know God is by repentance because everyone will be judged. Their judgment won't be about how religious they are, but how faithful they are to God. Then Paul points out that Jesus is God, he died for the sins of all, and now is resurrected. The philosophers scoffed at the idea that man could be raised from the dead! However, that's what "shall be saved" means - resurrected from the dead to live in eternal bliss, rather than eternal death.
With that now explained, we all know that no one wants to die. They may want to escape the pain associated with this world, but everyone wants to live eternally. Skeptics just can't believe it's true, hence they have no faith in God who provides eternal life by the sacrifice of his only begotten son!
We are children of God when we come to accept Jesus, and trust him to deliver us from sin. We are adopted, as such, after we are emancipated from our earthly father - the Devil. On the other hand, Jesus is the Son of God in a different manner. He was begotten. The Holy Spirit came down on Mary, and God came down to us so that He could experience what we experience.
Paul made it imperative by saying, inspired by God, God is Creator. That was so important that he said that first! Many "Christians" believe in God, but fail to believe He is Creator, choosing to believe in the lie of evolution. As such, their God who doesn't have the power to create is an unknown god because the Known God can create, and did!
There you see, that everyone gathered in the Areopagus were "religious". Paul called them that. Paul was religious too - but he knew who his God is! He proclaimed to them Jesus Christ.
Scripture tells us who the unknown God truly is:
John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Jesus is the straight gate all must enter as they walk the narrow way! Only Jesus saves, and only Jesus says he can save. All other gods are powerless to do anything rather than confuse! However, there is one who lies as he proclaims himself to be God. He is the god of this world - Satan. By bowing to the gods of Athens, those religious people were worshiping Satan! One can be religious but damned to hell, because that's what all these other gods do! Even those who have no god become as gods, and damn themselves by self-worship. Their wrongness in selecting their god is their damnation.
On the other hand, Paul was very religious too. He had great faith in Jesus Christ, and His power to Create and save. Unlike the others, Paul knew his God. I know mine as well. Paul was religious, but not to a mere deity, but the One True God who is called Jesus! One can be religious without God even though Christians are religious people. However, Paul warns that correct religion isn't paying homage to works of man's hands or even the ideas from their minds, but the invisible and real God who came down in the flesh, died and is risen.
I submit, then, that everyone is religious but if their belief is wrong, they are damned by their own reasoning. Religious people who are not devoted to Jesus Christ as taught in Holy Scripture, are merely worshiping in futility. They are foolish!
Romans 1:21 "...because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."It is true: being religious is not saving. But being faithful to Jesus who has the power to save is saving! Belief in Christ is a "religion" of the heart. Devotion is to God who is there but we can't see. It's a relationship between a devoted follower of their Creator and Savior. Doing religious things is mere futility, and like the philosophers of Athens, you, as they, are wasting your time!
SPIRITUAL:
Cindy says that she is "spiritual". We need to look at how one is spiritual.
Being spiritual is having a relationship with the supernatural - what one cannot see, but sense.
Cindy may be spiritual, but is that a good thing?
To understand spiritually one must understand the spiritual world. There is one particular Spirit who is desirable. That is the Holy Ghost who whose essence is God's Spirit. It is my position that He experienced travail on the cross when Jesus died. As Jesus ascended, he sent back the Comforter, who is actually the Ghost of Jesus - or the Spirit of Jesus.
John 4:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”This verse essentially says, that the spirit in which we worship God must be how and as God says. God says that by Jesus we are saved. It is Jesus's Spirit who is with us, and we worship Jesus by revering his presence; he is still with us - the Comforter: the Holy Spirit.
That is one way to be spiritual. One cannot be imbued with the right spirit without worshiping God in truth - by Jesus Christ who is the Way! That Way is being religious, but not just to any god; it must be to Jesus Christ - the One True God!
The other way to be "spiritual" is through demons. There are legions all around us:
Mark 5:8 "For He (Jesus) said to him (the man possessed with evil spirits), 'Come out of the man, unclean spirit!' 9 Then He asked him, 'What is your name?' And he answered, saying, 'My name is Legion; for we are many.'”Jesus wasn't speaking to a man, he was speaking to the many unclean or evil spirits who had taken over the soul of this wild man. Those spirits were real and the man was indeed very spiritual, but not of the righteous kind.
Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."The "spiritual" which one feels is real. If one is religious by being faithful to Jesus Christ and obedience to Him, then that person's spirit is the Holy Spirit. However, if Jesus is not worshiped in Spirit and in Truth, the person is possessed by evil warriors who came to take him or her to hell.
How do evil spirits enter in? We are born with an empty soul which has a need to be filled. The Holy Spirit calls us to be filled with his Spirit:
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."From the moment that we're born as we learn, God's Spirit draws one toward Jesus. The soul must be filled! If it remains empty, it will be filled by something because man is born with that spiritual instinct. Unfortunately, if the soul is not imbued by God's Holy Spirit, it will be filled with an unclean one(s)! Those without Jesus have some sort of unclean spirit(s) within their soul and only by the blood of Jesus can they be washed clean!
How is it that evil spirits enter? They come in by deception. Satan tricks them into believing that they are their own masters of their souls. He tricks them by giving them pleasurable things which takes their minds off God. Throughout history some of those things have always been sexual gratification, excessive and tasty foods, intoxicants, and even things - anything which takes God out of the thought process. We are told to remain vigilant:
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."Being sober is taking our minds off the self with its pleasure, and on Jesus. Unfortunately, false religions use even hallucinogens to open a new reality to filling with the spirits - not the Holy Spirit, but demons! Indians used poisonous mushrooms to empty out the soul in readiness for "spirits" to come in. Nowadays, it's easier to just drop a pill, get drunk, or smoke dope - the Devil's weed. While one is high or low, is when demons find the gate to enter. Unfortunately, after demons enter, they rule the host - namely you who are not sober. As such, those with unclean spirits feel spiritual! They do then what is right on their own eyes at the command of the spirits inside them!
Cindy has used LSD. That drug is used for that very reason! It opens the mind and soul to unclean spirits. It provides an alternate reality where pleasure is experienced. It is one of the forbidden fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which makes people feel "as gods".
SUMMARY
Just as there are two kinds of religions: false and true; there are two kinds of spirits: false and true. If we worship God in spirit and in truth, it is the true Holy Spirit we have. If we fail to worship the true God, then the spirits we feel within are merely demons bargaining for your soul. If one feels spiritual, and doesn't have Christ as Savior, then their spirituality is demons inside deceiving them. There is one way to remove demons from within and get the real deal - faith and obedience to Jesus Christ! With that hope, sinners no longer have a need for the things of the flesh which deceive.
Jesus removes the chains of slavery. If you are spiritual and not religious with faith in Christ, you are chained to Satan by unclean spirits. Only by Jesus can you set free of that evil spirituality that rules you from inside:
Romans 6:18 "And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."It's better to be a slave to Jesus who loves me, than bound in chains to those unclean spirits who seek to destroy!
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