Everyone loves labels and titles, "what religion are you?" is a common question. I love replying with SBNR, then if anyone is interested, having a longer conversation about what it means to find spirituality that is not attached to any dogmas or specific groups
This is quite interesting to me as one who identifies with a specific group who all subscribe to the same beliefs and practices in a global brotherhood.
For those who think of themselves as “spiritual”....what does that actually mean in real terms?
I think we know what it means to be “religious” because those who identify as belonging to a particular group, have a range of beliefs and practices to which most happily subscribe.....the “label wearers” if you like. But for a good many of those, it’s very much a pick and choose arrangement because they don’t support their denomination’s dogmas wholeheartedly. They will practice their religion but only the parts that they find acceptable....or they will uphold their religion’s actions even if it goes contrary to what the Bible teaches.
When we (JW’s) engage in our door to door work, seeking to find individuals who are “spiritual” but not necessarily “religious”, we have those who tell us...”I have my own religion”.....and some really mean it. Their religion is their very own...a concoction of various beliefs gleaned from a variety of religious sources. A bit like “shopping” in “the great celestial supermarket” and they have filled their basket with what appeals to them.
But, is that OK with God? Or only OK with the individual ‘shoppers’, who are now happy to have their own ‘denomination’ or ‘label’?
In the big scheme of things, if there is one God (the Creator of all things)...and one truth contained in a written guidebook....(about our existence here and God’s requirements for us)....does it matter what we personally want to believe and practice, if it’s not what the true God requires?
Are those who identify as “spiritual but not religious” rebelling against any form of personal constraint in the expression of their inherent ‘spirituality’? Is it entirely selfish?...and ultimately meaningless to anyone apart from the one who embraces it?
In my belief system, it matters more about what God requires of us, more so than what we require of God, or what our personal preferences are. To us, this is what separates ‘the sheep from the goats’.
There are those I call the “fence sitters” who have an imagined place where they will wait and see what goes down and hopefully jump the right way when it all comes down to the wire. Those who are on the Abrahamic fringe, have a feeling that it must all come to a head, because that is what the Bible indicates.....a time of judgment......but rather than there being a fence to sit on, God actually requires a decision before that judgment day takes place. That means that the fence does not actually exist.
If that is the case and the SBNR adherents have not chosen a definite position regarding how their spirituality will be exercised, or what god they actually believe in, where do you believe that leaves you? Is it something that even enters your consciousness?
