Right between the Eyes

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27



I think I've just about had my fill of talk radio. Driving home today from work I became so irritated and distressed at the same time that I honestly did not know what to do or what to think. When I think of talk radio, I think of some lively interaction between the caller and the host. This particular station has hosts who will either scream at the caller with whom they disagree or hang up, or both. They seem to want cheerleaders to call in and confirm that the bile spewing forth from their sewers is worthy of the airwaves or is of such thought-provoking substance worthy of serious discussion. Then of course I remembered that the only one forcing me to listen to this nonsense was me, so I changed the station ... forever.

Today's topic was the ongoing debate among Americans about whether or not Islam is a religion of peace. One caller insisted that he has studied the Koran and can say unequivocally that there is nothing "peaceful" about Islam though certain other statements he made reminded me of some other "scholars" who have used the "gotcha" method of "studying" Islam by taking single sentences from the Koran entirely out of its context. I'm sure glad we don't do that with the Bible.

I was waiting for the voice of reason to call in and call the history of Christianity to account for its message of "peace" throughout the Church's history, but then I remembered that reasonable persons gave up on this particular radio host long ago.

Yes, Jesus' message was - and still is - a message of peace, but Jesus is not the topic. In fact, I would come very near to saying that Jesus is not even the focus of the Church though He certainly should be. There is an awful lot of hate going around, and we have successfully directed the general public's focus to the "dangers" of Islam and come close to convincing feeble-minded folks that Islam, and its practitioners, is the root cause of all their problems. Can we really be convinced that these murderous thugs who consider themselves "jihadists" would not be doing what they do were it not for a single religion; in this case, Islam?

If any would dare to be honest, when was the last time we practiced our Christian religion according to the edict of James? When was the last time we as individuals did something specifically for someone in distress, particularly a widow or an orphan? I have to say that I cannot remember the last time I specifically did something for someone, a stranger who needed help, a widow struggling to live out the rest of her days with some semblance of dignity, an orphan who must surely struggle with his sense of self-worth. Oh, I've done little things here and there as long as it was not too much of a bother and it didn't require too much, but I honestly did those things because I needed it and not because someone was in need. There is a huge difference, but I am afraid too many of us cannot see it.

We decry those who practice some perverted form of religion and try to convince others that these criminals and their own brand of "religion" is the cause of everyone's misery, but we rarely look too closely to see if we give strangers any good reason to follow us. We don't challenge ourselves to see if our "religion" gives a widow hope for some dignity or an orphan some hope for tomorrow.

It is not enough to point out what's wrong with something else. What can we do to convince others of what is so "right" about our religion? Rather, what do we CARE to do?

Hurts, don't it?