What Is Religion
What is the relationship with God and Religion? The answer to that is that God has no relationship with Religion. In fact God is the opposite of Religion. Religion is born out of the mind of mankind. It is the man made mental concepts of who and what God is. God cannot be described with mere human words. Even the very word God has been distorted over thousands of years. When spoken it brings to mind concepts that a person has heard over their lifetime and in most cases invokes a false image of God. You could say that mankind has made God in their image. Religion is following ideas, rituals, customs, observances, or practices and thinking that these things will cause you to become aware of or know God. When the word Religion is uttered or the subject of Religion comes up the vast majority of people think you are talking about God. There are many kinds of Religions in the world that go by many different names. Buddhism, Judaism, Islamism, Scientology, Hinduism, Taoism, and Christianity to name a few. And these contain many different sects within their groups. There are too many Religions and offshoots to list them all. Many of these Religions in the past had foundational truths about how to become aware of the reality of God but now most are diluted forms of the original. They have been contaminated by mankind's ideas and concepts. Jesus said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the spiritual teachers of that day. A small amount of leaven (yeast) is put into dough and permeates it to cause bread to rise. He then plainly said that the leaven was the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Beware of it. In other words the teaching that arises out of the carnal unenlightened mind will carry you into Religious practices and away from God. Jesus also said that the word of God was made of no effect through the traditions they handed down.
Spiritual awareness is described in many ways. Some talk about becoming aware, being enlightened, being saved, being born again, meeting God and Jesus, or seeing the light. All of these terms mean the same thing. This awareness comes from a deeper place than your human mind. It comes from the real you that is a part of and connected to God. Every person on the face of the Earth has this ability. Nothing you have ever done or that has been done to you can stop you from this awareness of God. Only your mind can stop you. The mind in most people is running away with them and they think this constant running is normal. But there is a quiet place within you where the mind does not have to run constantly. It is in this place that you become aware of God.