Skip to main content

Makes Me Sad


  It’s a popular new credo in the world today, ‘I’m spiritual but not religious’. Whereas religion is seen as old fashion and conformist, spirituality is seen as individualistic and hip. A person defines their beliefs by themselves and not by what some group lays down. The motto comes from the idea that people don’t want to view themselves as vapid in terms of moral thinking and merely physically minded yet don’t want to be hindered by adopting a preset set of convictions.
 
  Yet it doesn't seem to be working out well for people. A study in The Journal of Nervous Disease by Jeffrey Vittengl found that those that define themselves this way may not be happy about it. The risk of depression was over a third greater than for those saw themselves as spiritual but not religious[i]. While religion has been shown over the years to have significant positive effects on people’s mental well-being, this study showed that just being spiritual didn’t have the same results.

  Yet before this terminology, James spoke about a similar phenomenon. In James 2:14 we read, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” James ‘faith without works’ is akin to ‘spirituality without religion’, an idea that one can have the trappings of faith without having to do much with it. Yet James is clear that kind of faith is no faith at all.

But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."  You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.  But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
James 2:18-20

  Faith that doesn’t act is dead. A spiritual mindset not practiced is meaningless. No wonder people are depressed! It sad however many man-made religions are moving to a mindset that seeks to follow the same path. As more groups divorce the intertwining of faith and behavior, making religion seem only about what one feels rather than what one does, it leads people to the same self-destructive destination.

 Years ago Solomon came to the same understanding: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). Listen to God when it comes to spiritual matters, listen and act.  Life is meaningless without God’s direction. You have to know the answer but also get the solution. It matters not just what we believe but it how we live it out!




[i] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychiatry-the-people/201804/spiritual-not-religious-is-associated-depression
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mysterious Ways

    William Cowper didn’t see any reason to live.   He decided that he’d jump off the bridge over the Thames. So, he called a cab to take him there.   But that night in 1763, a thick fog enveloped London. It was so thick the cab driver couldn’t find the bridge and couldn’t even find the way to take William home. In frustration, he ordered the driver to stop and get out to get his bearings. He walked up to the nearest house to read the number and it was William's house. Gone now were William’s thoughts of suicide and instead a new idea came into his head. So, he went in and wrote these words: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.  You fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds you so much dread Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.     I sometimes wish we could see all the ways God watches over us when need it. There are...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gift You Give Yourself

    I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me.   There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15).  I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven.  So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives.  When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Does A Lion Tamer Use a Chair?

  Ok, I know you have seen the image. A lion tamer enters in the cage of the beast and forces it to obey his commands using a whip, a gun and a chair. Now you can see how the whip and gun could come in handy but you might be wondering why a chair would intimidate an animal as powerful as a lion? Clyde Beatty taming a lion with a chair   It's not that the lion is afraid of the chair -- it's that the lion is confused by the chair. Cats are single-minded, and the points of the chair's four legs bobbing around confuse the lion enough that it loses its train of thought. Casually put, the chair distracts the lion from wanting to claw the lion tamer's face off. The powerful creature could destroy the chair in moment’s notice but instead it is distracted into submission.  It’s not too much different than how Satan controls us today. By the power of God we could overcome anything that he would use to subdue us. We can overcome the evil one (1 st John 2:13-14). ...
Post a Comment
Read more