Spirituality vs. Religion

Dennis Prager was discussing a very interesting subject on his syndicated radio show today.  If you don't know who Dennis is, you can find out more about him at his website.  He is a very conservative, religious Jew.  He has very strong morals.  I agree with about 95% of what he says.  The areas I usually disagree with him on have something to do with the Bible or religion.  By the way, he knows the Torah inside and out.  I don't believe he understands it, but he knows it.  If he understood it, he'd see the obvious types of Christ found in it.

Anyway, the subject he covered during the Ultimate Issues hour today was: Spirituality vs. Religion.  He argues strongly for being involved in some kind of organized religion.  One of his points is that any substantive spirituality must come from a source.  Jews get theirs from the Old Testament.  Christians get theirs from the Bible.  Muslims get theirs from the Quran, etc.  As I listened to people call in about their "spirituality," a thought occurred to me.  People are OK with being "spiritual" as long as they aren't accountable to anyone or anything (a pastor, church, holy text or especially God).  They want to be "spiritual" on their terms.

Many people like this who called in referred to "god" or a "higher power."  The funny things is, if God exists or if there is some "higher power," that means He is in charge!  They reference this "higher power" but they don't submit to it.  They want to be in charge.  That is the ultimate sign of pride in man.

You see, if you want to worship God, you have to do it His way.  Jesus said in John 4:23, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him."  In essence, religion is man's understanding of how God wants them to worship Him.  That said, man certainly isn't right about this all the time.  In fact, he's wrong about this most of the time.  That is why there are so many false religions in the world today.

The way I see it, there are three kinds of religions:

1. A religion that worships a false god.

2. A religion that worships the true God the wrong way.

3. A religion that worships the true God the right way.

God is only pleased with option number 3. 

Religion is certainly better than spirituality.  Why?  Because religion is worshiping God and that is the highest form of spirituality.  The key is having the right religion.  When you worship God, you'd better be sure you're doing it the way He wants you to.