Sep
8
Written by:
HeartlandBaptist
9/8/2011 4:13 PM
True Religion Begats Good
James 1:27 “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world”. September 11, 2001 was a terrible day. I was a businessman back in Indiana and was sitting in my office watching those horrible events on television in unbelief. That day, business came to a stand-still and instead of the phone ringing with orders, it began ringing with friends calling to ask what I thought of the events. Many were afraid and some had family in New York that they couldn’t get in contact with because of the overloaded phone system and wanted prayer for their loved ones. I had just retired from the Indiana National Guard and had many friends who began to be called in for duty. I knew they’d soon be asked to defend their country overseas.
As the days went by, Americans saw two things happen. We saw an outpouring of charity for the families who suffered loss and we saw a determination rise in our country to take justice to those responsible. And then one more thing happened. People began to ask why and started looking for the roots of the hatred that caused this terrible event. Some blamed foreign policy, some blamed economic inequality in the world, some said it was nothing more than the actions of evil men but some used an unfairly broad brush and blamed religion.
Now a decade later, though we may not know the answers to all the questions, we certainly know more than we did then. We know there is no such thing as a perfect foreign policy and though our country has tried its best, that no matter who we’ve tried to help, no matter how we’ve tried to stabilize another country for their collective good, that it will always irritate somebody who wants power but doesn’t have it.
And we also know that while someone’s religion may be the stated reason for their hatred of others, that it is only a façade for their wicked evil hearts. Blaming religion for violence is the worst type of stereotyping and callous assumption that there is and I find that those who draw wrong conclusions do so typically because they have no religion. The reason for their wrong conclusions is the simple fact that they believe that everyone who says they’re religious is religious and that they can’t tell the difference between a person of faith practicing their religion and someone who is an obvious liar and is using religion to cover their own hate of others.
So what do I know about religion? I know I was born at St. Francis hospital and that those Hoosier Catholics cared for my mom. I know that when my dad was in the Marines, a Lutheran navy chaplain helped him through tough times. I know that when my grandfather was sick, a Baptist pastor made house calls to pray for the ease of his pain. I know that when I’ve traveled to third world countries, I find missionaries building schools, digging wells and caring for a people who are not their own. I know that when people go to the hospital or have a crisis in their life, they call a religious friend to pray. At Christmas time, I see the Salvation Army standing in the cold, ringing bells to collect money for the needy. When there is a natural disaster in this country, churches and religious organizations send supplies or even take vacation time to go and help. In this very city, churches offer food banks, free counseling, and help in a variety of ways. As a pastor, I know where the needy show up and its not to the atheist to ask for help but from the religious. Isn’t it interesting how the poor know what true religion is. Maybe they should give some lectures!
Now I’m not oblivious to the fact that there are some who ‘seem’ to be very religious and yet still peddle hate. But those who can’t see through the false statements need to go back to the source of truth and learn the definition of true or pure religion. In the book of James, the verse quoted above was not trying to lay out how to become a Christian but to show how to tell apart those with true religion from the pretenders. James says that true religion will care for others, and notes two of many types of people that are deserving of care. And then James also adds another way to discern true religion from false users of it, that being that they will be unspotted or untarnished with obvious sins. This verse shows such great wisdom for it balances doing good with being good. A terrorist cannot give to the poor and call himself religious for he has tarnished himself with hate and murder. Again, the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures amazes me in that it still gives answers for the questions of our day.
And so those that think that true religion begats violence only show that they don’t understand true religion at all for true religion is not just doing some good, it is having a heart right with God and then choosing to do good because of it. True religion changes our heart, which will then change our actions and when a pure heart and good actions are found, you have found true religion.
There are many who can only find fault in things, look for problems and inconsistencies and want to tear good things down. They cannot see the forest of good for some bad briars on the edge. I humbly admit that even in my own walk of faith as a Bible believing Christian, that there are always things that one could find fault in but they are my faults and no one is to blame but me.
I would encourage you to look past the news reports of the hatemongers who claim religion and see that they are false pretenders but to also look past the newspaper columns that want to blame everything on religion and understand that they evidently can’t tell the difference between good and evil.
On September 11, 2001, evil men murdered innocent civilians. On September 12, 2001, religious people started to raise money for the victims and held prayer meetings and set out to take justice to the wicked. That’s the difference.
Rev. R. A. Abell
Senior Pastor
Heartland Baptist Church