As we all know, religion doesn't make people better. However, without religions, the situation'll also be the same. At least that's how I think it is. We all have our weaknesses. Even our strengths can be our weaknesses, as well. Our strengths can act like a boomerang against us, especially if we've cultivated them to the extreme.
I've witnessed the so-called religious people (who know more about religious theories than I do) fail to be "religious" in their daily affairs. They can perform religious practices very well and convincingly and they can cite religious verses very well. However, they've failed to follow this rule: love your neighbours just like you love yourself. They love themselves more than they love their neighbours, thus they follow this advice so happily and effectively: the end justifies the means. And when they're done doing that, they think they're so blessed by God, so they praise Him immensely without realizing that they've defiled their own act of worship.
Some others are so twisted in their religious thinking that they think they're the holiest ones. Thus they preach on what they believe in and try to feed it to others without realizing that they're also stained. Everybody's stained! Yet they fail to see the stains all over themselves and they keep on preaching without admitting their own stains.
I have a problem with people who use religion to get what they want. I have a problem with holier-than-thou type of people. I have a problem with people who know a lot about religious theories, but they seem to "forget" morality and ethics. Greed, lust, ambition overrule them. They contort religion to their own liking. They bring shame to their own religions.
However, at the end of this contemplation, I look back upon myself and I find myself stained, as well. Let me just not try to change others, but first change myself. Let me not try too hard to see other people's faults. Let me just realize that humans are humans, thus they're prone to fail when they face temptations. Simply because we have free will to choose and simply because we don't always choose the right thing. Let me learn from my mistakes and forgive others who've done me wrong. Let me live a balanced life, so that I may choose to do the right things every single day for the rest of my life. This is my prayer for me and everybody else. May God help us all.
Very well thought out and written.
ReplyDeleteAll I can think of to say is - I agree.
I also dislike the "religious" people who send me emails about being caring, loving etc etc, but I know that they're not like that in real life at all. They're all words - no action.
THX, M!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, we all do need more and more action, not just sweet talk about religious stuff he he he...After all, talking is the easy part. Anybody can do it, but the action is the toughest part of all.
That was BEAUTIFUL, Amel. I loved the way you didn't fall into the anger trap: having a problem with hypocrites without becoming one. You showed yourself humble, capable of loving your enemies, not just your neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI could write volumes about the many points you brought up. You would think that makes me one of those guys that knows a lot about religious theories (which I do), and can quote a lot of stuff (which I can). Am I?
My reason is this: "... God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4) I seek to become knowledgeable of the truth, and I desire to share that truth. "Your word is truth." (John 17:17)
Yet, as much as I think I know truth (I also know I have much, much more to learn), I struggle with the very thing you've identified. Do I really believe in, and trust my life with, the things I say? If so, why don't I do them? God help me!
"I say that the world is lost
Without the message of the cross.
But still I stay inside my room
Afraid to leave my comfort zone."
- Rob Frazier, "The Things I Say"
I know from personal experience the power of touch. I know what it means not to be touched in a loving way as a child. I'm often hypersensitive to touch (yet I love to hug). When someone touches me affectionately, it almost always feels like more than what was intended because I long to be touched. I'm aware of this and often feel vulnerable in this area. For charities, as a result, I'd rather open my wallet than open my arms.
This is my prayer: that God would use this sensitivity for His purposes, to gently love others, physically help them, and to help me put His words into action.
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." (James 1:27)
Notice that it doesn't say to keep others unstained. That's worldly religion.
Glad you liked it, Dwight. :-))) When it comes to loving enemies, I haven't yet met mine, so we'll see if it happens later on. I hope I'll never have enemies he he he...
ReplyDeleteHe he he...I have no problem about people who know a lot about religious theories. What I dislike is when they try to make themselves sound so pure by judging others and never admitting their own problems.
So the point is really in living the things we believe in day by day and not just preaching the theories to everybody. Yep, TOUGH job indeed!!! Nobody's good 24/7 anyway he he he...
Amen to your prayer, Dwight. I LOVE your last point. :-)))