A few words about the word RELIGION
Some link the term Religion to the Latin "religare", meaning "things bound".
Marcus Tullius Cicero linked the term religion to the Latin term "relegere", which means “to read over again".
Are the terms "religare" and "relegere" linked?
Repeating information or ideas over and over is a way of linking your mind to particular ideas or ways of thinking. Even the Spanish “ligar” is a verb meaning of “connecting”. Since the Latin word "re" has come to mean "in the matter of" it is from the ablative of "res" which literally means "thing".
In James 1:27, we see the word religion used in place of the Greek word "thrēskia", which may refer to ceremonies, or practices including acts and common discipline. It is also an “expression of devotion to transcendent beings, especially as it expresses itself in cultic rites, worship”. The way we define worship and what the "transcendent being" calls the people to do.
Pure Religion is a way to create the social bonds of free society through charity rather the legal charity of Cain, Nimrod, Caesar and FDR.
This section is from our article Religion.
What is below was written by Scott H. who has left the network.
Religion literally means to re-bind.
Rebind? What were we originally bound to?
We are naturally bound as corporate members of our natural family.
It is in our natural family that we learn how to love, give, forgive, rebuke, exhort, loose and bind by witness, testimony and doing and serving our family members in need.
It is through the family that we learn to have empathy for all families. For we are all the same, there is nothing new under the sun. What one family has experienced, most families on earth, through all time have also experienced.
So what is it that we are re-bound to? Our community, our nation. How do we do that? There are basically two ways to practice religion. Pure religion and impure religion. (Remember though that all men, male and female, have a natural right to change their nation, just as any man, male and female, are free to change families and be adopted or married into a different family. The United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights at Article 15 preserves this natural right. The United States under Public Law, 15 United States Statutes at Large, Chapter 249, Pages 223-224 (1868) codified at Title 8 USC, Section 1481 also preserves this natural right for U.S. citizens/nationals. The Bible, God's law book, when it talks about repenting, dying, being born again and baptized is talking about this natural right. Legally speaking the civil nation-states call this process expatriation and naturalization. Expatriating in the Bible is talked about using terms like, repenting, or coming out of (ex), or dying to, one pater, father, patronus, parens patriae, state, nation, country, and being born again (alive to a new pater, father, patronus, parens patriae, state, nation, country) and baptized (naturalized over time to learn the laws and way of the new father in order to walk the new father's path according to his will, and character). In others words we are free to change our religion and our nation any time we are led to do so. But that doesn't mean that we immediately are released from all of our obligations to our old father, nation, state or country. We may still have to meet our tally of bricks for the old father. I believe that for US citizens that expatriate their old father, Uncle Sam, still expects his prodigal sons and daughters to pay tribute to him in the form of income taxes for ten years after being born again and baptized as a citizen of a new nation. As Paul states, "IF, you can be free..." IF. Don't run out and do something silly that will end up putting a millstone around your neck out of your covetous desire for illusion of some freedom you think you are being denied by others when its really you that freely walked into a jail cell of your own making. The door to that cell is only unlocked for the truly righteous, humble and virtuous soul seeking to walk in God's character or name.
First we have to understand that our modern understanding of the word religion has changed in the minds of most men (male and female). Today most people think that religion is what someone thinks about an unseen deity. But that is not what the word really means. As we have seen religion literally means, re-binding.
So what does this re-binding, actually look like in everyday action?
Religion is how a community, a nation, a state, or country, a body politic, cares for the needy of their society and also how the nation, state or country helps its national neighbors with foreign aid.
Examples of religion in the United States would be: Social Security, public schools, unemployment insurance, disability, medicare, medicaid, Obamacare, are just a few examples of the religion of the United States body politic, nation, states, country.
So what makes a nation's, community's, society's religion pure or impure?
The nature, name, character and spirit in which the religion of a people is provided. Do the people truly love their neighbor as much as they love themselves so they freely choose to fund their nation's religious programs, like Social Security, medicare and medicaid, by free will offerings freely given to the people's elected ministers, public servants, to administer the religious programs to the needy of the society? Or is the spirit, nature, name or character of the people of a nation selfish and covetous so they have to be compelled to pay a tax via consent, assent, application and participation in the nation's religion in order for the needy of society to be helped by the nation's elected and appointed ministers or public servants?
The United States has an impure religion. Its social welfare programs are provided by covet means. U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, U.S. persons lack faith, lack virtue, honor, love, charity and humility, therefore, they need a ruling authority to compel them to pay tribute, taxes, "tithes", to fund the nation's religious programs for the needy, and if they do not pay, as per the agreements, contracts, and constitutions they are re-bound to their nation by, they will suffer a penalty, fines, fees and even being stoned to death, which is a biblical term that merely means a defendant is found guilty and has been sentence to exile, excommunication, banished for a while from the community, which is what we today call prison.
The Kingdom of Heaven, aka the Kingdom of God, has a system of pure religion. In the kingdom the religion is financed by pure love, pure faith (fidelity), pure charity, pure honor, pure virtue, pure humility, by completely free will offerings by the members of the Christian nation called Israel. Israel means where God prevails. Which means where God's law, way, will and form of government prevails, a re-binding by pure love.
So what is your religion? Do you practice pure religion or do you practice an impure religion? You'll know them by their fruit.