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never break any of the religious rules. When we do make mistakes—which everyone does—he then tries to make us feel condemned by our guilt because we have not followed all the rules and regulations.
    What rules and regulations am I talking about? The ones some so-called religious organizations and systems impose. These include things like praying for certain amounts of time, doing good works, reading a certain amount of the Bible each day, observing religious holidays, and using various formulas that will supposedly give us God’s approval.
    When Jesus stated in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden” (KJV), He was talking to people who were struggling while trying to live under the law, but who were always failing. There is nothing wrong with any of the rituals I have listed, and they are in fact good Christian disciplines. But if we view them as something we have to do to gain God’s approval, rather than something we want to do because we love Him, they minister death to us instead of life. They become a burden rather than a joy. The Word teaches us that the law kills, but the Spirit makes alive (2 Corinthians 3:6).
    Jesus had much to say about religion, and none of it was good. Why? Because religion in His day was, and often still is, man’s idea of what God expects. Religion is man trying to reach God through his own good works. The Christian faith teaches that God has reached down to man through Jesus Christ. By placing our faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the benefits from the work He has done for us. His work, not our own works of religion, not following rules and regulations man prescribes, justifies us and makes us right with God, as these Scriptures confirm:
• For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. (Romans 3:20)
• [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His un-merited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
    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 won’t make me become 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 (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). He is not just someone who has agreed to follow certain rules and regulations and 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 a religious organization, where we strive to follow rules in order to gain acceptance and right standing with Him.
    Religious rules and regulations steal peace and joy. They rob us of what Jesus died to give us. Through religion we become works 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 causes us to live under the tyranny of the “shoulds” and “oughts.”
    Religion is the topic of discussion in John 9. The religious leaders were upset because Jesus had healed a blind man on the Sabbath. You see, with religious people, everything must be on the right day and done in the right