What Do You Expect From Your Religion?
EVERY person who is religious has some reason for being so. He gets, or hopes to get, from his religion what he feels will benefit him.
Early Christianity offered a thorough understanding of God’s Word and a satisfying relationship with God and with his Son, Jesus Christ. By studying the Scriptures they then had, along with the inspired letters of the apostles, Christians found the solutions to their everyday problems. The knowledge of the Bible promoted a fine spirit among them. In association with others of like faith, they had happiness and contentment, because these associates were clean, law-abiding and loving people. Their faith also impelled them to impart to others a knowledge of the truth they had learned.
A Change in View
Today we find a great change in viewpoint as to what religion should be and do. This current trend was noted in a Copley News Service release, which cited Rawley Myers, a Roman Catholic priest, as saying that the first thing a preacher needs to do in giving a sermon is to get people’s attention, and that quoting from the Bible is the wrong way to do it. He remarked: “If a priest starts with a Scripture quotation, often he has already put a lot of people to sleep.” It appears that Bible teaching is not really desired, for the report continued: “The notion that people go to church looking for help in coping with their mothers-in-law, teen-agers, alcoholic husbands, sickness in the family and other problems is very popular today.”
The Really Desirable Thing
However, does the matter revolve around what the individual or the congregation desires? Or is it what God knows people need? If we go to the Bible to see what God says, and by so doing get the spirit of the Bible, it will enable us to cope with the problems of relationships with marriage mates, mothers-in-law and children, and with other family and personal problems. And we can count on God’s help through prayer, as the Bible promises: “Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God; and the peace of God that excels all thought will guard your hearts and your mental powers by means of Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 4:6, 7.
Three very vital questions therefore present themselves: Do I want a religion based on the Bible, or a social, philosophic religion? And, if I choose a Bible religion, which one of these really follows the Bible? Which religion satisfies, both in helping people with the many problems we face in this modern world and in giving us spiritual benefit?
Making an Examination
If you are a member of a religious group and you wish to be sure of the right religion, you will naturally look at your own religion first. You will want to know, primarily, these three things: (1) Does my religion help me to get an understanding of the Bible? Does it provide regular Bible study, with teachers qualified by study, knowledge and personal faith in the Word of God? (2) Have the doctrines made significant changes in the personalities and ways of its members, so that they are living genuine Christian lives, and do true love and unity prevail among them? (3) Does my church ‘keep itself unspotted from the world,’ not contaminated by its low level of morality, its politics, its selfish strife, as the Christian writer James describes the qualities of true religion at James 1:27?
Many persons in this time of unrest are taking a second look at their religion. Whether you are young or old, it is the appropriate time to do so. If you feel uneasy about your religion, first sit down and do some Bible reading, if possible with your wife or husband and other members of your family. Using a Bible concordance or dictionary, check to see if the teachings of your church are in line with the Bible. Then consider whether your religion is bearing good fruitage. Do the members express “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control”? (Gal. 5:22, 23) Is there the motivation to teach Bible truths to others? Does your religion keep itself ‘unspotted from the world’?
If you find your religion wanting in some of these respects, look for those Christians who are exerting themselves to help others understand the Bible—who are willing to conduct a Bible study or discussion with you. See whether they do this in genuine love, not out of any commercial or selfish motive, but in the peaceable spirit of God’s Word. See whether they follow the pattern of Christ’s early disciples. Associate with those Christians who, in line with the Bible’s counsel, are ‘considering one another to incite to love and fine works.’—Heb. 10:24, 25.
If you do this, you may be sure that God will help you to get what you need from religion and, moreover, what truly satisfies your heart.—Matt. 6:33, 34.