I am not Religious

I’m not religious. You may find this statement to be strange if you have read my previous posts to this Blog. I’ve been asked on occasion if I was “religious”. I always hesitated, which probably conveyed a sense of doubt about any matters of Faith I might believe in. The truth is, I am very secure in my Faith. The Faith I speak of is simple. I am a believer in Jesus. I believe the resurrection is a historical event that can be defended on logic. I believe it is the final proof of Jesus’ divinity, and he is the only path by which you and I can find eternal salvation.

Wait, that sure sounded like a lot of religious stuff right there for someone who isn’t religious…

The word religion has been misused. You can refer to “The Christian Religion”. The problem is that the Christian religion includes, according to the government, Catholics, Mormons, and “born again” Christians all in the same category. If you compared these three, you would quickly discover they are different. Religion in the eyes of man is an organization or rules pertaining to a belief system created and run by men. Atheists today will point to the numerous atrocities, wars, and regional conflicts that have been done in the name of “religion” as proof that we don’t need religion. People who are confused about what religion is and isn’t, take these arguments against religion and stare blankly back with no counter argument and end up looking foolish, which further empowers the atheist to thinking they have won. This is a tragedy in my book. Atheists claim to be truth seekers. The reality is much darker, they are seekers of independence, specifically independence of God. Truth sometimes gets in the way of that, and debating an atheist can quickly devolve into emotional snipes on a personal level. But this is a topic for another time.

My Bible (NIV) mentions the word “religion” twice. That is it. Does that surprise you? In that same Bible, the word “Christian” is only mentioned once. For all I know, that one reference is a translation error and used only to allow it to register with a modern audience. So what does that tell me? The terms Religion, and Christian are creations of man in order to label people. The Bible is much more interested in other things. For example, around 30% of the Bible is prophecy. (if only Harold Camping read some of it…) It is easier for the world to view us as “Christians” or put us into “Religious” categories. Are you a Muslim, Jew, Morman, Catholic, Budaist, Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, etc. The God I know does not see us in categories except for one; believer or non-believer. So then what does the bible actually say about religion?

James 1:27 – Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

So am I religious? By that definition…no, I am not very religious, and I can only hope that one day I can change that answer. This is the only verse that defines religion in the eyes of God. One sentence, but what a difficult challenge it is!

I do not know if you share my beliefs or not, you may read a few paragraphs and roll your eyes and stop reading. If that is the case, there is probably very little that I can say to cause you to pause and think beyond your sphere of influence. The rest of this is not about trying to “convert” you, it is about humanity and getting over our internal selfishness. Earlier this year I was shown a series of videos that explained to me that Houston, my home, is the number one place in the US for Human trafficking and the sex trade. Houston. That was something I wasn’t truly prepared for. This wasn’t some 3rd world country, it was places I drove by oblivious for years.



Did you catch that?

25% of Sex Trafficking in the United States is in Houston. 50% of Sex Trafficking Victims are Children. Those children are predominantly orphans. They are orphaned either by their parents dying, or their parents selling them into this for money knowingly or for the promise of a better job in the US.

On occasion we might hear about human trafficking. Another video I saw, someone said, “I think that is when they try and sneak people across the border”. This isn’t illegal immigration we are talking about. It is slavery. In the Ukraine, if a female is an orphan and is not adopted there is an 80% chance that they will end up as a prostitute. If these things do not absolutely break your heart, I do not know if anything I say will.



I am not calling for everyone to adopt a child. For some this might be the option. What I hope, is that this brings a small bit of awareness to the world wide problem of orphans, human trafficking, and the sex trade. Get involved, support those in need, those who are less fortunate than yourself. I have not begun to speak about widows in this post, but with the number of wars we find our nation in, I would bet that the widow is a statistic that is much larger than we realize. Perhaps you know of one.

Religion isn’t a set of rules to follow and rituals to do in order to satisfy a supernatural being. Clinging to worldly things such as necklaces, bracelets, and rings are symbols. They can’t help cure anything. They don’t magically open a communication channel to God. It is clear what needs to be done, and it is a job so staggering that it is difficult to comprehend.

I know one thing, I have never met or heard of a family who has adopted a child who didn’t not find a great sense of blessing and joy come from that child, whether it is because they couldn’t have children of their own, or because they wanted to make the difference in one child’s life.

Hope is a universal thing. It crosses ethnicities, government borders, and systems of faith. It is something that we should all be able to get behind no matter what. The first step, is just being aware of the problem. I pray that this inadequate post only serves as a seed for you to discover more about what I am alluding to. I do not have the words to express how dire the situation really is.

I’m not a fan of what the world calls religion. According to the Bible, I’m not very religious. Maybe one day I will be able to say that I am doing what I can to “look after the orphans and widows in distress”. Maybe on that day…I will claim to be religious.

Jon