Religion or Christ, What's the Difference? (2001), Martin R. De Haan II, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Another useful free resource from my employer, the Canadian Bible Society, @ Cafe Logos, Vancouver.
Headings include
The Danger of being religious (2)
Our worst errors are always religious ones. (2)
Danger follows those who trust God on their own terms. (3).
Religion is something to believe and do: (4)
Christ is someone to know and trust: (5)
Importantly for my review within the Defining Our Terms (32) section is
Quote in italics:
Religion-a system of thought and conduct expressing a belief in God. (32)
From this booklet, Biblical Christianity is not a system of thought and conduct expressing a belief in God?
I strongly and respectfully, disagree with this view.
This booklet is helpful, but as does sometimes occur on this website, here with this brief review we see a divide between this type of evangelical and in this case I would deduce, fundamentalist views on theology versus my Reformed, theological and philosophical views.
By this booklet's own definition, for clarity, in my humble opinion, Christianity too would be a religion.
I reason, Christian, faith, theology and philosophy has with its core doctrines, sound, reasonable, true premises and conclusions. It is a system of thoughts, ethics, morals with beliefs in regard to God.
I as well reason that core Christianity contains more truth in its premises and conclusion than any other competing worldview, religious or non-religious.
Although within an admittedly well-meaning, evangelical approach, I reason this still useful booklet, does a disservice to Christian apologetics, theology and pro-Christian philosophy of religion.
In denying Christianity is a religion, this booklet, most notably, deletes Christianity from the legitimate academic disciplines that use the word Religion, such as Religious Studies and Philosophy of Religion and places Christianity in the personalized 'I know Jesus Christ personally' intellectual category.
In contrast, I view Christianity as reasonably supported within the academic disciplines of Religious Studies and Philosophy of Religion, and of course as well, Theology and Biblical Studies and academic disciplines such as History and Archaeology, as examples.
The triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is personally known within a true biblical Christian walk of regeneration (Titus 3) being born again (John 3) via the applied atoning and resurrection work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, for humanity.
