It's been about a week since my last post on meaning and purpose. The more serious the topic, the harder it is to write something I'm willing to release into the wild. I've been pondering this aspect and editing off and on, but I am still by no means convinced this is good to go. I also always feel a bit self-conscious when I write about religion, because I most emphatically do not claim any special holiness or sacred wisdom. But these ideas need to be explored and discussed. If I don't publish it now, it may never get published at all. My apologies for any lack of cohesion.
This song was first recorded before I was born. I'm sharing this video and the lyrics here because the problem it describes has arguably grown in the intervening 40-odd years.
Written by Bob Hartman
Outside a dying world in desperation calls.
But no one hears the cries, or knows what they're about.
The doors are locked within, or is it from without?
Looking through rose colored stained glass windows,
Never allowing the world to come in.
Seeing no evil and feeling no pain,
Making the light as it comes from within, so dim.
Ignore them long enough, maybe they'll go away.
When you have so much, you think you have so much to lose,
You think you have no lack, when you're really destitute.
Religion offers meaning, but speaking from experience, the Christian church has lost its way and resorted to condemnation for sinners instead of offering a refuge where people can heal and grow. Too many have forgotten that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and have become modern Pharisees proclaiming self-righteously that they are above their fellows, or Puritans demanding political power to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven by legislation. I see many anti-religionists creating stereotypes of Christians in order to make strawman arguments, but there are juuuust enough Puritans and Pharisees to make it look legit, too.
I grew up in the 90s when W.W.J.D bracelets, "See You at the Pole," and an explosion of Christian alternative music hit the scene. There was at least a spoken ethos of meeting people where they were and bringing Christ to the lost. Looking back, I see a lot of parallels to the Parable of the Sower. Many of the church were led astray by false prophets of the end times shortly before the turn of the century and concerns about Y2K. Lots of those kids were swept up in war fever following September 11th. Social justice causes pulled people out of the Church and into a militant religious form of Statism. Some of those Christian artists of the 90s have even renounced their faith. Something failed to fill the void. Is that the fault of Christ, or Christianity as it evolved into megachurch mediocrity?
I see people today seeking the comfort of ritual and tradition, whether Latin rite Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox pageantry, or even basic Lutheran traditionalism. I also know people who have turned to Islam or more traditional Judaism in their search for the cultural trappings of religion. I sometimes wonder whether this ritualism is another attempt to find comfort. I can't see their souls, but their behavior and comments strike me as seeking an aesthetic instead of salvation.
Is religion just like interchangeable corporate brands vying for our loyalty? I still believe there is a true faith, and while the church has failed Christians, Christ has not. Government has betrayed us, but the State is not society, and we are not the State. There is value in charity, cooperation, being a good steward of the sphere of property and relationships.
The global doom-and-gloom crowd demand you spend your energy where it affects nothing but their interests. We cannot seek meaning in anything handed to us by others. It must come from within, and with the aid of the Creator. If your meaning comes from others, you are under their control. Meaning you discover is meaning you own, and no one can take it from you. Rituals, relics, and apparel are not a substitute.
And we've such numb souls,
But shirts and bumper stickers,
Man we got 'em by the truckload.
Is true religion what you have around your wrist?
What does the scripture say of this?
"They honor me with words,
But their hearts are far away."
I call 'em like I see 'em,
And that's what I see today.
So where do we go from here? How do we find the solid foundation and build something better than the hollow rituals and empty platitudes left in the wake of the latest rounds of "revivals"? People are so wrapped up in hating sin they forget the sinner, or even shun them from the start. We can't offer meaning if we push people away. The church is supposed to be a haven, not hostile territory.
