Thought of the Day

Ball-and-Chain or Light-of-Hope

January 29, 2009

There seems to be a feeling among some these days that all the strife in the world has it roots in religion. If mankind could just break loose from the ball-and-chain of these outdated ideas, and free his mind from the net of ignorance these bankrupt beliefs have become - peace, justice, and progress would flourish and the world would soon become a wonderful place.

A recent NY Times #1 best-selling book (God is not Great : How Religion Poisons Everything - C. Hitchens 2007) purports just this line of thought. Sadly, many events in world history, and even recent history, give fodder to the arguments supporting this point of view.

The fact that people can float such ideas about religion and have them gain traction in the public mindset, is a testament to the warning Jesus gave about us loosing our saltiness coming true. "You are the salt of the earth", he said, "but if the salt has lost its saltiness, it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men". Collectively, Christians have failed in Christ's charge to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Had we lived up to this calling, the world could see our good works, and give glory to our Father in heaven. Instead of people seeing religion as one of the things holding the world back, they should see our faith as something giving the world hope, but that's not their fault, it's ours.

Note that I used the word - collectively - in the above paragraph. Thankfully, we are responsible for, and will be judged by, what we do in this life individually. Eddie made a great point in our Wednesday evening class when we discussed this same topic - I can't change the world, but I can change myself. I can't force everyone who calls themself a Christian to be a light for the world, but I can strive to be a light to those people around me.

--Greg