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Religion
The 19th-century Danish
theologian Soren Kierkegaard identified two kinds of religion -- Religion A and
Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only (2 Tim. 3:5). It's the
practice of attending church without genuine faith in the living Lord.
Religion B
on the other
hand
is a life-transforming
destiny-changing experience. It's a definite
commitment to the crucified and risen Savior
which establishes an ongoing
personal relationship between a forgiven sinner and a gracious God.
This difference explains
why for many years British author C.S. Lewis had such great difficulty in
becoming a Christian. Religion A had blinded him to Religion B. According to
his brother Warren
his conversion was "no sudden plunge into a new life
but rather a slow
steady convalescence from a deep-seated spiritual illness -
an illness that had its origins in our childhood
in the dry husks of religion
offered by the semi-political churchgoing of Ulster
and the similar dull
emptiness of compulsory church during our school days."
Our Daily Bread
March 15
1994.
Religion is what keeps the
poor from murdering the rich.
Napoleon.
Hence we find in
non-Christian religions a restless sense of the hostility of the powers of the
universe; an undefined feeling of guilt
and all sorts of merit-making
techniques designed to get rid of it; a dread of death
and a consuming anxiety
to feel that one has conquered it; forms of worship aimed at once to placate
bribe
and control the gods
and to make them keep their distance
except when
wanted; an alarming readiness to call moral evil good
and good evil
in the
name of religion; an ambivalent attitude of mind which seems both to seek God
and to seek to evade him in the same act.
Therefore in our
evangelistic dialogue with people of non-Christian religions
our task must be
to present the biblical revelation of God in Christ -- not as supplementing
them but as explaining their existence
exposing their errors
and judging
their inadequacy.
James Packer
Your
Father Loves You
Harold Shaw Publishers
1986.
Beulah Collins:
Several cotton farmers
were whiling away a winter afternoon around the potbellied stove. They soon
became entangled in a heated discussion on the merits of their respective religions.
The eldest of the farmers had been sitting quietly
just listening
when the
group turned to him and demanded
"Who's right
old Jim? Which one of
these religions is the right one?"
"Well
" said Jim
thoughtfully
"you know there are three ways to get from here to the
cotton gin. You can go right over the big hill. That's shorter but it's a
powerful climb. You can go around the east side of the hill. That's not too
far
but the road is rougher'n tarnation. Or you can go around the west side of
the hill
which is the longest way
but the easiest.
"But you know
"
he said
looking them squarely in the eye
"when you get there
the gin
man don't ask you how you come. He just asks
'Man
how good is your
cotton?'"
Los Angeles Times
Syndicate.
People who practice their
religious faith regularly may be getting some earthly benefits: They appear to
be healthier compared to people who never attend a house of worship. A study
conducted by sociologists at Purdue University in West Lafayette
Ind.
found
that 4 percent of those who regularly went to church or synagogue reported poor
health
compared with 9 percent of those who did not attend a house of worship.
And 36 percent of weekly worshippers reported they were in excellent health
compared with 26 percent of non-attenders. Why the difference? Researchers
aren't sure
but they say the reason may be that people attending weekly
services may be more likely to see friends who ask about their health and can
recommend a doctor.
Spokesman Review
October
1992.
Let's accompany the
British journalist David Pryce-Jones to Hereford Cathedral. While showing the
cathedral to a pair of foreign guests
they stumbled upon a service in progress
and were rebuked by the vicar. "Not a single worshipper
apart from the
vicar
was present in that great nave
" writes Pryce-Jones "Evensong
was taking place in a vacuum: nunc dimittis
indeed."
D. Bruce Lockerbie
Thinking
and Acting Like a Christian
p. 32.
Some people have just
enough religion to make themselves miserable.
Harry Emerson Fosdick.
In the book Gaily the
Troubadour
published in 1936
Arthur Guiterman wrote the following poem.
Reading his observations
you wouldn't guess it was written nearly fifty years
ago.
First denistry was
painless;
Then bicycles were
chainless
And carriages were
horseless
And may laws
enforceless.
Next
cookery was
fireless
Telegraphy was wireless
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee
caffeineless.
Soon oranges were
seedless
The putting green was
weedless
The college boy hatless
The proper diet
fatless
Now motor roads are
dustless
The latest steel is
rustless
Our tennis courts are
sodless
Our new religions
godless.
Arthur Guiterman
Gaily
the Troubadour
1936.
When in comes to belief in
God
Canada's young people are a lot like their elders
but they view religion
as relatively unimportant
according to a federally sponsored study conducted
by two experienced observers of Canadian social trends. Entitled Canada's
Youth: Ready for Today
the study was authored by Alberta sociologist Reginald
Bibby and Ontario youth consultant Donald Posterski. The finding showed that 84
percent of the young people surveyed believe in God and 81 percent in the
divinity of Jesus. Those figures are almost identical to previous Canadian
statistics relating to the overall population. Over 80 percent of those
surveyed said they would want a religious funeral or wedding; about 75 percent
would involve a minister
priest
or rabbi in a birth-related rite. Only one in
ten
however
indicated that God has "a great deal" of influence on
how they live. Further
only one in 200 said they look to a religious leader
for counsel or assistance.
Christianity Today
February 3
1989
p. 52-3.