Wrestling with Scripture

There is a new trend among people these days, claiming to be spiritual but not religious. They find religion to be unnecessary and also consider it to be the cause of most problems in the world. One of the popular understanding among spiritual people is that each one can practice their faith in private instead of coming together in an organized institution. We know that there is nothing wrong in being spiritual, all religious people are in fact spiritual as they deal with the spiritual dimension. However, why is being religious, frowned upon by many? By the very definition, religion simply deals with the worship of a God or gods. According to Christianity it would be defined as the worship of the one true God, but the definition wouldn't stop there...If we go back to the Biblical understanding of religion in the letter of St James, he says "If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that

Oscar Wilde, once said "I can resist everything except temptation." However the Bible would disagree, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1Corinthians 10:13) Temptations on their own are not the problem, it is only when we give into them that they lead us down the path of sin. On the contrary, resisting them actually makes us stronger and holier. The reason we fall into sin is because temptations appear in the disguise of something good. Greek mythology speaks of Sirens, which were dangerous monsters that used to sing sweet enchanting music to lure sailors on to rocky shores resulting in shipwrecks and death. In the same way even sin entered the world when Eve, decided to eat the forbidden fruit, which on its own seemed harmless and was probably tasty but in her doing so, she defied God, bringing destruction to herself and to the h