In this class once we finish our papers there is a workshop day where the rest of the class critiques your paper. My hands were clammy and my heart was beating uncontrollably on the way to class. Knowing that there are so many people who don't believe in God in my class, I was afraid to hear their responses. The whole time leading up to the critique I read Matthew 5:11 over and over.
Matthew 5:11 (NLT) “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers."
The two responses I will always remember were these...
1. "It was powerful. I had goosebumps reading it."
2. "I learned stuff about God that I didn't know. I am not a very Biblical person, but I liked it."
I am not telling you this to brag. I am telling you this for you to see that LITTLE things can make a BIG impact. Of course I wanted it to impact them, but still most would think that you couldn't minister through a college research paper. I am here to tell you that it can be done!! Small things we do in our daily lives that shows that Christ lives in us can make a difference in people's lives. Remember that.
** Below is my paper for those wanting to read it :)
I
am a Christian and I despise religion as much as the atheist reading this paper
does, however, I love the relationship
I have with God. Throughout history,
many wars have been fought over religion. Religion is based on given rules. It
instills fears, and one little slip up and you are doomed to hell. Religion
says, “I am better than you.” But what if I told you that the church is not a
museum for the saints, but instead a hospital for the broken? Jesus can end a
war as quickly as it began. He instills confidence and love. We do not fear
failure because we know God’s mercy covers us when we sin. After all, Romans
3:23 (NLT) says, “For all have sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious
standard.” Instead of being held back by rules, we push forward knowing that we
make God overwhelmingly happy when we choose to do the right thing. Religion
destroys, while relationship restores. Author Joybell C says, “I was asked by a concerned church-goer: "Is your
relationship with God okay?" and I answered, "My relationship with
God is far better than yours. You have to be in a certain place, with a certain
group of people, pray at certain days of the week, read the Bible at certain
times of the day; all in order to have a relationship with God. But I am with
God from the moment I wake up, to the moment I fall asleep at night, I am with
God wherever on this earth that I wander to, and whosoever I may be with! I may
be sitting on the subway, and I am with God. I can assure you that I am closer
to God than you are.”
Nine
hundred-twenty years ago, a war that was fought over religion began known as
the Crusades. During the first Crusades, in the year 1095, an army of
Christians from the western part of Europe went to war against the Muslims.
Their goal was to capture Jerusalem as land of their own. It did not take the Christians many years to
achieve the goal they had hoped for. After reaching their goal some Crusaders
returned home while others stayed behind to preside over their newly gained
territory. Control had been in their hands until 1130. The Muslims had now begun there own war
against the Christians thus began the Second Crusade in 1147. The power
continued to shift back and forth between the Muslims for centuries, until
Fredrick began his reign:
On
11 February 1229 Frederick II and al-Kamil finally reached an agreement (the
Treaty of Jaffa) that al-Kamil would give Jerusalem to Frederick II, on several
conditions, however. They concluded a truce pact for ten years, five
months and forty days, starting on 24 February 1229. By this Treaty of
Jaffa, Jerusalem, together with Nazareth and Bethlehem, were put under the rule
of Frederick II, while the sacred area to Muslims inside the
city including the Dome of the Rock and the Mosque, remained in the
hands of Muslims; the agreement also stipulated that the Muslims could freely
come and go, while also keeping the right of worship there. Frederick II
promised not to attack al-Kamil on any condition, not to support Christians who
would attack al-Kamil, and to protect the lands under the control of al-Kamil.
(Takayama 175)
Religion has and most likely always
will play a tremendous part in history. This leads to the ongoing debate: If
religion is so great, then why do so many people fight over it? People were
stunned, and confused on how Fredrick II reached an agreement with the Muslims.
It was more than just signing a treaty. Both sides recognized each other had
different opinions, and instead of letting that drive them apart and send them
into another war, they accepted it. Because at the end of the day saying you
are a religious Christian, Muslim or Catholic will not get you to heaven. It is
about your relationship with God throughout your life, and how you treat and
accept others with different opinions. Religion is not something to be fought
over.
Lottie
Moon was one of the first woman missionaries that served in China. It was not
an easy job, and she faced more persecution than we could imagine.
Second, she disciplined herself to survive physically and
emotionally while living in primitive circumstances with the lower-class
Chinese people. She learned to endure scrutiny and commentary by curious people
who did not consider her human and gave her no privacy. She conquered fears of
people who continually reviled her as "Devil Woman," she stayed
courageous in the face of death threats, and she kept her poise in
confrontations with soldiers. She came to accept the "real drudgery"
of mission life. She ennobled her view of the harsh realities by remembering
that the Chinese peasants were living a simple existence with which the man
Jesus would have been personally familiar.
(Allen)
Lottie Moon is a prime
example of what it means to have a relationship with God, and not just a religion.
When I hear the word religion, I think of a strict lifestyle that one must abide to. Lottie traveled to China
knowing that she could be killed, or treated horribly for her beliefs but she
went anyways. Lottie Moon went because of her trust in our Creator.
“To
have Faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There
would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his
advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow
that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way.
Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save
you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but
inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of
Heaven is already inside you.” (C.S. Lewis)
C.S. Lewis does not say
that you must be perfect to follow Christ, or to have a relationship with Him.
If that were the case, nobody would be follower of Christ because nobody is or ever
will be perfect. I believe part of the debate today between the Christians and
atheists (besides religion versus science) comes from the fact that atheists
believe Christians are telling them the must be perfect to be a Christian.
Muslims believe you must pray five times a day. Buddhists
believe in having a prayer wheel. On the
prayer wheel is a mantra that they recite as they spin the wheel. Methodists
believe baptism is just sprinkling water instead of immersing. Catholics pray
to Mary, and confess to a priest instead of confessing to God directly. Mormons
even have more than one bible reference “so did Mormonism’s claim to possess
extra-biblical sources of doctrine and authority” (Peterson 178). They read out of the bible as well as The
Book of Mormons. Would you believe me if I told you none of these rituals must
be done for you to have a relationship with the Earth’s creator? “It’s not
about an organized religious system, it’s about a supernatural, intimate
relationship with the creator God of Christianity” (Barna).
As
stated before, religion is just a set of rules. Religion will not help you
reach the final destination known as heaven. Religion will continue to be
something that is fought over. Instead of being held back by these rules, I
will continue to live and devote my life to the relationship I have with God.
