9 JUL 05: IS IT IN YOU?

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: You may find this humorous, serious, or a little of both - but from time to time, we offer things to reflect upon as we keep the seventh-day Sabbath.)

We never expected a comment about the Adrian Robinson murder case [3 Jul] would touch off some online religious fervor - but it definitely has. The other day we received an e-mail titled, "It's not about Jesus, Mary, Mohammed, or Abraham":

You want my opinion on religion??? (don't answer) Christians (and I'll feel free to speak on this matter, tho i may not be a "southerner", i was born a Christian) have,...well.....to use a metaphor, have got way too much tinsel on the christmas tree. it's all glossed up and doesn't mean what it should. A) it doesn't matter if you believe jesus was the son of god or not, the important thing is to believe "the message". What Would Jesus Do???........he wouldn't put his name on a tee shirt and sell it for $10. christianity has been polluted over the years. it's time to strip away all that lacquer. it's not about mary, jesus, mohammad, or abraham......it's about god. it's about kindness to your fellow man, woman and child. it's about raising your kids in such a way that they grow up knowing there are more important things to life than shiny things made in China. but look around.......how many of you go to church, act very "christian", then go home only to buy off your kid's bad behavior with an X-box or playstation game. and this i know about because my wife is a teacher and has to deal with unruly children like this everyday, and i have to hear about it.

you want god??? look inside your heart, not the torah, the bible, or the koran. god is inside each and every one of us. you want to find peace??? turn off the tv's, talk to one and another, read a friggin book. if we Americans don't change our habits soon, there won't be much left of our legacy besides a few TV Guides and posters of N'Stink. happy Independence Day

Independence, indeed! This man seemingly wants to be independent of all organized religion. But there are problems with this approach - despite not being able to take donations to yourself on your tax return....

Some of us who don't keep Christmas would agree with this writer, about having "too much tinsel" on the tree. In fact, we suggest leaving the trees in the forest - because my Bible says in Jeremiah 10 cutting them down is a "worthless" custom. And besides, couldn't they have worked around some trees to build that new T.G.I. Friday's?

Yet here's Puzzle #1 in this e-mail: to "believe the message" of Christianity DOES require believing Jesus is the Son of God. I John 5:5 says those believers ONLY are the ones who "overcome the world." That is, they eventually gain victory over this world's sins and corruption - even if they pass the wrong bar late at night.

I agree with the writer that Jesus probably wouldn't sell T-shirts with His name on them for ten dollars. But Jesus WAS a carpenter - and I've heard ministers suggest He might have prepared crucifixion stakes during those years. Can you imagine? He may have sold souvenirs AHEAD of the main event.

It also seems fair to say Christianity "has been polluted over the years." This pollution can take many forms - from Jimmy Swaggart's sins to priests molesting children. And who knows how much food was thrown away from church picnics and dinners, which could have been donated to the needy....

But for believers like me, it IS about one of the four choices of people in this writer's message. It's about Jesus, since I Timothy 3:16 describes Him as "God (who) appeared in a body...." Or since the Father remained in heaven, you might say Jesus the Son was the "body double."

Kindness truly is a good thing. Teaching your children about bigger priorities than "shiny things made in China" is also important - but I'm talking here about something more than those new "Korean Hyundais" being made in Montgomery....

And the writer is correct in suggesting we should not simply "act" Christian. No, we should be "Acts Christians" - as in the book of the Bible which follows John.

Yet Puzzle #2 comes with this person's claim that we should "look inside" for God. If inside my heart is where God is, this is truly scary. The "god" inside some people may have killed about 50 transit riders in London this past week.

I think back over events in my life, and clearly can see God has NOT always been inside my heart. Jeremiah 17:9 tells me, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." I could apply this to some of the women I've dreamed of dating, but I won't....

Is peace really as easy as turning off the television, talking and reading a book? History tells me otherwise. They didn't have television in the 1920's, when a lot of people read and talked about Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" - and that seemed to result in World War II.

The answer to peace may come down to which book you read. Mayor Bob Poydasheff wants people in Columbus to "read every book." Somewhere in the library system, there's bound to be a Bible on the shelf somewhere. Read it carefully, apply it properly, and who knows what sort of peace might break out.

We've also heard again from the woman who let us have it Wednesday, concerning Jesus's mother Mary:

I, too, should be careful before hitting the submit button. Although I could spend more time attempting to argue the points you made in your criticism of my e-mail, you amply proved one point on which there can be no dispute: Don't try to engage in commentary with a blogger. He's got the bully pulpit!

We truly do welcome your submissions here - and sometimes readers like you make us stop and think. For instance, I posted a new article online the other day in response to the claim that I'm a "bitter person." Let the record show I haven't drunk any "bitter tea" since - or sweet tea, for that matter.

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