Many might describe a Christian as someone who goes to church. This of course is not a Christian. A Christian may go to church, but one does not become a Christian through church attendance alone. I can sit in my garage all day and that does not make me a car. A christian is someone who has had his heart changed by faith in Jesus Christ. He has had a change in his moral nature. He is not just someone who has agreed to follow certain rules and regulations and observe certain rules and regulations to observe certain days as holy.
Religion is filled with rules and regulations one must follow to be part of a certain religious group. Christianity, however, is agreeing to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit entirely. We must remember that God has invited us into personal relationship and intimacy with Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His invitation is not to be in religious organisation, where we strive to follow rules in order to gain acceptance and right standing with Him.
Religious rules and regulations steals peace and joy. They Rob us of what Jesus died to give us. Through religion we become work oriented rather than faith oriented. We pray because we are supposed to, rather than because we want to. We study the Bible because we are obligated: we have made it a rule. We have been taught that we should, so we do because we are afraid not to. We may do good works, but our motive is wrong if we do them to gain acceptance from God, rather than to reach out to someone in love because of what Christ has done for us. Religion cause us to live under the tyranny of the should and ought.
Religion is the topic of discussion in John 9. The religious leaders were upset because Jesus had healed a blind man on a Sabbath day. You see, with religious people, everything must be on the right day and done the right way, which is their way. The results don't really matter as long as you follow their rules. If you don't follow their rules they will not vindicate you.
The Pharisees interrogated the blind man over and over to learn exactly how Jesus did this work that gave him sight. They felt that Jesus must become a sinner because He worked on a holy day.
Finally this man said,
I don't know all the answers to your questions. All I know is that I was blind, and now I can see. Then he asked the religious leaders if they wanted to be Jesus disciples, at which point they became enraged and stormed at him. (John 9:27-28).
GOD BLESS YOU