do actions alone make one "morally good?"

 

 "Even in the shadow of fear and darkness, there is still hope. Just ask Lauren Drain, previously a member of the hateful and oppressive, Westboro Baptist Church. The group's "you all are damned, neener neener neener" message is terribly un-Christian. As we can all agree, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church are not good people, despite their devotion to religion. In contrast, we can all think of someone who is not religious, but whose actions are widely considered to be morally good."

The Dalai Lama has no church building, no group of elders, or as in the Catholic faith, cardinals, bishops and archbishops, yet he is widely revered as a holy man, similar to the Pope. I have pondered this very much. Sometimes I think that "religion" as we know it has inspired more hate, more judgment, more cynicism than good. Think back to the Crusades and then what is happening now in the mid-east, the "jihads" in which many are killed in the "name of God."

WHY?
Did anything that Jesus taught us during His three years of ministry sink in?

The current Pope Francis took his name from St Francis of Assisi, a gentle saint whose love of simplicity we should all emulate. In fact, it is Pope Francis' mission that we do so. Look after your neighbor, help a friend, love your enemy, care for a stranger. When it is put this way, how can we not?

I have a cousin who, once when he visited me, whipped out his checkbook and showed me entries of checks that he had written out to his Pentecostal church. "Look at this!" he said excitedly. "Six thousand dollars! And here, two thousand dollars! And here, four thousand dollars! I give all I have to my church!"
He wears designer clothes and sports large chunks of jewelry on his fingers. He has a huge SUV. He takes lavish vacations. Sadly enough, so does HIS pastor. What is wrong with this picture?

And his sister, who lives not 40 miles away, lives in poverty because he doesn't feel it would be worth his while to care for her. According to his idea, it would be "enabling her" to rely on him.

What has his "church" taught him? Look out for number one because number two is nothing?

Friends, if you want to get into Heaven, you're gonna have to give it up for the Man! You can't take it with you, so you may as well give it away and the time to do it is NOW! Not 20 years down the road. People are in need, as they have been since time began. Why would you allow suffering if you could help it?
My daughter just returned from a college field trip to Paris. The stories that she told of the homeless people there made my heart ache. They don't have social programs such as we have here, so old men, women with small children, and people her age camp out in the subways, stealing what they can get away with. Our global economy is falling to pieces all around us. Yet there are those who have and many who have not. The chasm between the two is just getting wider. How often do you turn away when you see someone in need? How often have you thought, "but I am saving that money of mine for... (lavish vacation, dream house...fancy car, boat, pickup truck...fill in the blank)

To be considered  a member in good standing with the church of Christ...and I am not referring to a building, a cathedral with stained glass windows or a fancy house, but the CHURCH of Jesus...one must "give up all they have and come follow Him." "Give away your treasures, store up instead treasures in heaven, rather than on earth where rust and moth corrode." The more you give away, the more it comes back to you! Case in point: when you leave a tip at a restaurant, do you calculate to the nearest penny the 20% that is expected?
I hope not. Just give a generous amount. Those servers work hard to make a decent living. Would it hurt you to help them?

I posted last time a story about a family who, though very poor, didn't know it. They received a gift of money and, when they heard about a need in their parish, gave that money towards the cause. They could have used that money themselves. I have thought much about this! To them, it must have seemed like a million dollars. And yet, they didn't feel they were "poor enough" to keep it and so, gave it away to another that was even more poor than they were.

I grew up poor and didn't know it until it was pointed out to me in school. Then I felt shame, humiliated...until I realized that with Christ, I have been given everything that I need.
Do you feel this way?
Don't live in judgment of another. Don't allow hate to take over common sense. Give all that you have to another in need. Give of your time, your talent, your treasure. Reach out and be an example of Christ's love on earth.

Show others that He did not die in vain. Pray. Pray very much for the courage to be a peaceful, giving person....and then, do it!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
     where there is hatred, let me sow love;
     when there is injury, pardon;
     where there is doubt, faith;
     where there is despair, hope;
     where there is darkness, light;
     and where there is sadness, joy.
    Grant that I may not so much seek
     to be consoled as to console;
     to be understood, as to understand,
     to be loved as to love;
     for it is in giving that we receive,
     it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
     and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.