I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in a God, but I do believe in
many of the points addressed in the various religions,
"accumulating spiritual treasures" being one of them. In fact, I'm
one of the few crazy people who is against the concept
of money. Imagine this: all forms of currency (legal tender,
bank deposits) in the world disappear right now. The world
pretty much ends, even though every other aspect of
life remains exactly the same. That's how much we
rely on a false resource.
I digress. Religion (Christianity in this case) is an
abstract concept that means different things to different
people. To me, it's philosophy. If I were a Christian, I
wouldn't go to churches (mainly because of all the bullshit
religion has picked up over the centuries). I imagine
simply making positive impacts on the people around me
would be enough to please Him. If you truly wanted to help people,
why would you need to go through a church? It's a place for worship
(which you can do anywhere) and communing (which you can also do
anywhere nowadays). Sometimes I feel like I'm more religious than
many religious people even though I'm an atheist. Different
definitions I guess.
Another question to ask is how one can earn their salary by
being a religious leader. It seems very contradictory to me.
To sum it all up, I guess the most important part of being
religious is from within. Everything else is superficial.
Christianity is not a religion but it's a way of life(and I know I
leave a lot to be desired, really). When it's reduced to mere
religion it becomes Catholic and Protestant and others. In fact I
do believe religion will not save anyone. The Pharisees of Jesus
time were the most religious people in the Jewish community and
Jesus spoke sternly against them. Because though they are religious
their only partake in the physical aspect of what supposed to be a
spiritual journey. So they may memorize the Torah, they may wash
themselves for religious obligations, they may respect the sabbath
and they may fast periodically but they are not spiritual people,
they DON'T KNOW GOD. They are religious for the sake of being
religious hence missing the point of loving God which is the first
and actually the only commandment in the whole torah and bible.
even loving one another must not go against loving God and instead
must come from loving God.
You're right we do not need to go to churches to worship and pray
and glorifying God. In fact if we do our job well for God(meant it
for God not to seek self glory) we are already glorifying His name
in our work. But in order to grow spiritually one needs one another
to support each other. The church is not one man it's the
congragation of the people who put their faith in God. So it
doesn't point to a building or attached to a religion though
practically speaking the church is now has been reduced in meaning
to a worship building while I believe the church is actually the
people who put their faith in God.
Some of the priest and pastors in Christianity(religion) swear an
oath of chastity that means living simple and not accumulating
wealth. While other priests and pastors are allowed to form family.
When swearing to a life of celibacy and chastity one may not have
the need to accumulate wealth but when a pastor has a family to
feed and nurture he needs to be responsible to his family and thus
he needs money more than those who swore a life of celibacy and
chastity.
If you think Christianity as a religion has been contaminated by
false doctrines you could always try to fight for it to return to
the truth that you sincerely believe. Anyway one is already a
Christian if one admits that Jesus is the son of God and his
savior. So if you admit that already in your heart you are a
Christian even when you don't belong to any church
denomination.
