The terms ôfaithö and ôreligionö have become virtually synonymous in the minds of many Americans, and yet there is a vivid contrast between them. Religion is a manmade institution that may or may not have any faith associated with it. Although adherents to any Christian religion generally assume that their particular ôflavorö of religion is sanctioned by God, these denominations are not found in the Bible, which is considered by most to be the authority on GodÆs perspective. In elucidating the contrast between faith and religion, this paper will clarify both and show why they should not be considered equivalent terms.
Religion is an organized institution that men establish. Although religion ostensibly is intended to put man into right relationship with God, it is a one-sided relationship where man defines all the rules and expects God to honor them. Man essentially says, ôI came up with all these rules, and IÆm adhering to all of them, so IÆm right with you.ö Since is God is not obligated to honor anything that man devises, however, there is an inherent disconnect in religion; it cannot be what it purports to be. God does obligate Himself to honor His own word, but often man disregards that and adheres instead to the religion that he himself has come up with. God does outline rules of His own in the Bible, but manÆs religion often omits or adds to these, skewing them. Those who read the Bible for the first time are often astonished to discover that it treats religion as a negative thing. In fact, the most religious people of ChristÆs day were the Phariseesùthe ones who had Him crucified.
Faith, on the other hand, is not concerned with rules but with the condition of the heart; it is what a person believes enough to live by. A man who has faith in the veracity of the Bible, for example, will be willing to live his life according to it because he believes that what it says will
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