RELIGION has been defined as "conformity in faith and life to the precepts inculcated in the Bible, respecting the conduct of life and duty toward God and man; the Christian faith and practice;" and ethics as "a system of principles and rules concerning duty."
It is not unusual for individuals to disregard religion in its deeper sense, and to feel they are doing their duty through indefinite adherence to a superficial code designed to govern human behavior generally. Such people need to learn something of the vast difference between mere human codes and the God-inspired activities of a workable Christianity, that Christianity which is founded on an understanding of God's love for man and the demonstration thereof as embodied in the life of Christ Jesus.
One can be superficially ethical without being spiritually religious, but not truly religious without being genuinely ethical. The truth of this statement should be self-evident; and it indicates the relative value of the two systems in question. For instance, a human sense of responsibility and obligation may change to conform to shifting mortal conditions, but true religion is changeless. Without the spiritual concepts of God as Love, and of man as Love's reflection, mankind will remain unsaved. What the world needs is Christian ethics, for through understanding of it the sick are healed and the sinner is reformed.
