Monday, June 30, 2014
I Confess... I've Looked In Some Wrong Places...
A 2007 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that when it came to questions of right and wrong, 59% of the people surveyed who were affiliated with mainline protestant Christian churches said they would most look to practical experience and common sense for guidance. Only 24% said they would look to religious teachings and beliefs. (I'm hoping that updated numbers may... be different, but that's not the trend we've seen recently so who knows...) I'm not a hater of logic, reason, or common sense... but I have to wonder about this.
Common sense says that I'm destined to die. Practical experience tells me that there are things I can't do (i.e. change my attitudes, change destructive behaviors, or let go of hatred for those who have wronged me to name a very few of the many things I shouldn't be able to do based on pure human nature and environmental factors that shape me).
And yet my faith lets me know that I don't have to die. Experiencing Grace allows me to overcome my tendencies towards not changing. And experiencing God's presence empowers me to do the impossible, and become whole in the midst of a fractured life and world.
Maybe it's just me, but if I know there is a better perspective than what my limited experience tells me, then common sense dictates I should look there for guidance.
But then, I'm also foolish enough to believe that there is a spark of Divine good present in everyone, whether they choose to fan it into a flame or not... that evil loses to Love EVERY time... and that just maybe one day my Saints will win another Superbowl. (Well, 2 out of 3 of those for sure.)
With love in Christ,
Chris
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