“No thank you, I’m not religious”

“No thank you, I’m not religious”

Sometimes when I invite someone to come along to one of our special events, they very politely say “Thank you for asking, but that’s not my cup of tea.  You see I’m not really religious.”  Perhaps you’ve said the same thing yourself?  You don’t really want to get tied up with a lot of ritual and jargon and waste an hour of your life each week at a church service when you could be doing something better.

You may be surprised to hear that Jesus would have had a lot of sympathy with your point of view.  When you read about his life, you find that he saved his strongest words for those who consider themselves “religious.”  He told them that they made up all sorts of rules and rituals to appear holy but on the inside they were like rottingcorpses.  You see, God doesn’t just look at the outward appearances that people put on.  He can see what we are really like.  And God has very little time for hypocrisy.

Maybe it surprises you to hear that.   We can often have pre-conceived ideas about what the message of Christianity is all about.  Too often, people who have claimed to speak on behalf of Christians have made it all about being religious, keeping rules, observing ceremonies.  But this is a far cry from the very simple message that we find in the Bible. 

We want everybody in Bearwood to find out what that message is.   So we are offering you two opportunities to find out more.  First of all, we are offering every household a copy of a free booklet called “Two Ways to Live.”  If you haven’t yet received your copy, then please get in touch and we would love to drop a booklet into you. 

Secondly, we would like to invite you to come along and find out more.  Every so often we run a course called “Christianity Explored.” We won’t ask you to attend a religious service.  We won’t even expect you to sing hymns and there certainly won’t be a collection.  There will be a short talk or DVD and then opportunity to discuss and ask questions.  If you are interested in attending the course, please do get in contact with us.

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