Biblical Christians need to abandon the foolish cliché, "It's a relationship, not a religion." Why? Because it simply is not true! Read any worthy Christian writings from prior to the last 100 years and you will see every single one of them refer to Christianity as a religion—because it is! Only an ignoramus would spew the utter nonsense, "It's a relationship, not a religion." Christianity is a religion! It is the perfect religion! Why? Because it was created by God! Rather than man reaching up to God, God reached down to man. Man cannot save himself. Christianity is also the only true religion! "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6).
Many Christians today think that while God's essence and character are holy and fixed, His relatability to humanity is capable of being swayed. They think that if God is not compassionate enough in a given scenario, with enough prayer, fasting, and reasoning with God, He will comply to their unique perspective and insight into the scenario that God quite obviously does not have. This is how most Christians live out their relationship with God. To them, He's like the genie from Aladdin. They even try to reason this ridiculous belief from the Scriptures, arguing how men supposedly changed God's mind.
God does not change, Christian! He is perfect! He knows the end from the beginning. And in case you missed it, God's ways are different and higher than our ways. Do not make the mistake of thinking that He is just like us. Scripture speaks using anthropomorphic speech—giving God human-like characteristics in order to help us understand aspects about God. They are written the way they are written in order to help finite beings such as ourselves understand an infinite Being. God is the Creator—we are the creature. He is the potter, we are the clay. Never forget that!
We are not on the same level as God, and we are not more moral than God. Morality comes from God. It is part of His character. When you think you are somehow holier than God and more moral than He, questioning why He does not right all the wrongs on the Earth, do not forget that if you want God's justice to fall, you will be eradicated as well. God will not merely go after the murderers and rapists and other criminals, but He will also go after the liars and thieves and adulterers. God will have His day in court and all sin will be judged. All sin is against God. Without the blood of Jesus covering you, your sentence will come as well. Be careful what you wish for.
God is in control of everything! He does not change His mind, and you cannot manipulate Him. You have no power over Him to sway Him to the left or to the right. Any false teacher who has told you otherwise, may he/she either come to repentance and faith or be damned.
The reason so many Christians have a skewed view of God is because they have left biblical doctrine behind and tried to make God like us. They try to view God in a buddy-buddy relationship rather than a master-slave relationship as Scripture explains it. Again, we are not on the same level as God. God is God. We are not. He will never be like us. He will never think like us. Our thoughts are juvenile compared to God's thoughts. Christianity is a religion, whether you like it or not. Just because you have been brainwashed to think that "religion" is a bad word does not change reality one iota. Yes, Christians have a relationship with God almighty, but Christianity is still a religion. It is the religion of God. He created it before the foundation of the universe and revealed it bit by bit through time.