Cargo cult

She was quite a pretty young girl. There she was standing on the corner handing out a small pamphlet called "You Gotta Be A Baby." The pamphlet was like a miniature comic; a gospel tract of sorts. The message was to the point: Salvation is simple! All you have to do is receive Jesus, God's son, as your savior by asking him into your heart. You can do it right now, if you want God's answer to all of your problems and his love and happiness to fill your heart and life with joy unspeakable, full of glory and purpose! He'll meet all your needs and solve all your problems! He's just that wonderful, so why not try him?

That's quite an amazing message, and in substance it is the Christian message. To reach out to Jesus is to find peace, reality, truth, life..... eternity. Yet, I don't know about the idea that once we come to know Jesus all our problems will fade away. Have I missed out on something?

So often we see religion as a magical good-luck charm. Sadly most World religions are into the business channeling God's power for the good of the devotees. Happiness comes by keeping the gods happy and the evil spirits at bay. In reality, Christianity is often caught up in this same Cargo Cult mentality. Believe in Jesus and all your troubles will fly away; health, wealth, long life and happiness are ours if we put your trust in Jesus. I actually think the opposite is so.

I can pretend that everything will be rosy because Jesus loves me, but the only problem is that Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." The surging forces of nature will have their way. In the face of the mighty storm, some trees stand and some fall, and in the end, all decay and return to dust. We have a momentary grip on life, and in this moment we have the opportunity to search after the living God. Having found him, we have a little space in the expanse of time to prepare for our reign with him in eternity. Christianity is no Cargo Cult, that's for sure. So, trouble is part of the deal, but "praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles."

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