Religious vs. Spiritual -- Is there a Difference

[Rain Man]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
From the Chit Chat section of GC there is a conversation now where several GCers are now talking about whether or not last Tuesday's tragic incident has made people "more religious".

My questions for you are:

A. How do you define being religious?
B. How do you define being spiritual?
C. Is there a difference?
D. Which one are you?
E. Has last Tuesday effected your relationship/views/belief in God?
F. When "bad things" in general happen, what is your take on them?
G. Do you believe that "EVERYTHING happens for a reason"?

A. I define being religious as doing everything prescribed and in a rigid manner with no sense of flexibility along with an inability to discern the spirit of God in which He may want you to deviate from the "normal routine" for reasons only knownst to Him. Being religious is going through the motions of being a Chrisitian (or whatever religion you may be) but not growing and maturing in God. In a nutshell, it is "playing church"

B. I define being spiritual as having an active relationship with God and seeking ways to forge a closer bond with Him. Doing whatever He may wish to have you do to please Him, even if you don't necessarily want to do it. Being able to go against the pious religion as usual--where He leads, you follow. An unending desire to please the Lord and to have a true relationship with Him.

C. YES! Nuff said.
D. Spiritual, of course! I was religious for at least 20 years. I have been spiritual for the past three, and I have a lot more to show for those three years than I had for the past 20, praise God! On a side note, that is probably the reason why my views on Greeks has been so controversial lately. But anyways...

E. It has forged an even closer bond with the Lord, and I pray that Tuesday's incident will bring the US back to it's founding roots: to be a nation that was formed so that it's people can worship the Lord freely and openly without persecution, restriction or hindrance.

F. There are three reasons why adversity takes place:
1. A direct result of disobedience to God
2. Satan attempting to divert or take away something God has or is about to bestow upon a person(s)
3. As an attempt to test the faith of a person(s).

G. YES!!

Just my input.
RM