On true religion

[hopeinGod]

A very good verse came to my mind this morning, the one that defines true religion in James. True religion and undefiled is to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

True religion, then, is both an outward work and an inward change. There is nothing in that definition that tells us it is about the acquiring of anything but inward change.

What mountains are there within that definition to be moved? The only ones would seem to be those inside of the believer that keep him/her from knowing Him, which is at the heart of any relationship.

 

[Edial]

A very good verse came to my mind this morning, the one that defines true religion in James. True religion and undefiled is to visit the widows and fatherless in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

True religion, then, is both an outward work and an inward change. There is nothing in that definition that tells us it is about the acquiring of anything but inward change.

What mountains are there within that definition to be moved? The only ones would seem to be those inside of the believer that keep him/her from knowing Him, which is at the heart of any relationship.

Helping widows in need and orphans is really anyone with a kind heart can do.

To be unspotted by the world however ... that is hard not only because the mountain that needs to be moved is within us, but also the fact we might not really understand what being unspotted by the world means?

So what is it exactly am I to move inside of me?

Some removed their TV sets from home ... some moved to monasteries ...

Would it work?

Thanks,
In Christ,
Ed

 

[Timothi]

James 1:27 (NIV)
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I think the NIV puts it nicely here: "keep yourself from being polluted from the world."
We are new creatures in Christ and the world is mostly ruled by the evil one.
We should try our best to be witnesses of Christ in this world and not follow it. (egoism, enviousness, greed etc).
Not necessarily by going into a monastery, but in our every day lives.

Yours in Christ,
Timothy