Individuals from all over the world come to this country (United States) for a comfortable and better life. Most come for freedom of religion. Strangely enough, the single biggest cause of our problems is the very thing that was supposed to provide a salvation: religion. I call it a paradox. Historically, religion has been the primary driving force behind the vast majority of global conflict. This is especially true today. Global terrorism is fueled by extremist religious ideology and mindset. In the name of Allah, radical Muslim groups such as Hamas, al-Qaeda, and now ISIS utilize violence and terror to either convert or destroy the "infidels" (unbelievers). In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite Muslim groups kill each other in a bloodletting unleashed by the release of years of pent-up anger, resentment, hostility and hatred. The burning of churches in Pakistan results in the retaliatory torching of temples and mosques in India.
Religion is not a peaceful prospect and definitely not a solution. Religious conflict is not restricted to Islam or Hinduism or other "non-Western" religions. Christianity carries its own heavy burden of responsibility for religiously motivated conflict. Do you remember the Crusades of the Middle Ages? The Crusades of the Middle Ages had centuries of hostility and persecution between Christians and Muslims. Another prime example was between the Catholics and Protestants. Take a moment to think of all the years that Belfast and Northern Ireland burned with unrest and violence because Catholics and Protestants were unable to live together in peace.
Now, lets speak on division. Denomination within the Church are like little kingdoms of their own, jockeying for position and advantage and fight amongst themselves over theology, doctrine and theories of church government instead of working together for the common cause of the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is why I make a clear and precise distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and institutional Christianity as a religious entity. They are definitely not the same.
Jesus gave the answer to all those seeking or being concerned Earthly needs and wants. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
I will continue my discussion in my next writing.
Matthew 6:25-34
~~W.R. Luchie
Religion is not a peaceful prospect and definitely not a solution. Religious conflict is not restricted to Islam or Hinduism or other "non-Western" religions. Christianity carries its own heavy burden of responsibility for religiously motivated conflict. Do you remember the Crusades of the Middle Ages? The Crusades of the Middle Ages had centuries of hostility and persecution between Christians and Muslims. Another prime example was between the Catholics and Protestants. Take a moment to think of all the years that Belfast and Northern Ireland burned with unrest and violence because Catholics and Protestants were unable to live together in peace.
Now, lets speak on division. Denomination within the Church are like little kingdoms of their own, jockeying for position and advantage and fight amongst themselves over theology, doctrine and theories of church government instead of working together for the common cause of the Gospel of the Kingdom. This is why I make a clear and precise distinction between the Kingdom of Heaven and institutional Christianity as a religious entity. They are definitely not the same.
Jesus gave the answer to all those seeking or being concerned Earthly needs and wants. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
I will continue my discussion in my next writing.
Matthew 6:25-34
~~W.R. Luchie
