Religion, Part 3

James 1:27

I watched a disturbing movie yesterday.  I don't recommend it at all: language, 3 fast-forward scenes, lots of heavy, heavy issues, justification of sin... just skip it. Yes, I should have turned it off... but I didn't.  And now I can't stop thinking about it.

The plot was that salespeople acted like a family (with the last name of Jones), moved into a neighborhood and spent their lives selling things.  Their goal was to win people to themselves and very nonchalantly make the neighbors want to buy everything the Jones's had.  The story really is of Dad Jones who sees the damage materialism and greed brings to a friend's life.

The crazy part was that the whole time during the movie, I was being sold to... love is based on physical attraction, coming-out-of-the-closet is the highest success of a gay man, beauty in hair and youth and size.

I told Dave about the movie and we talked about the solution: how do you stay non-effected by these pressures?  Is our only alternative to find a hermitage in the woods?  ...

James tells us that God says our religion is pure and faultless in our loving orphans and widows and in keeping ourselves from being polluted by the world.

So, what does that really look like?  Only Disney movies?  No Disney movies?  No movies at all?  No fiction at all?  No books at all?  Nothing but the Bible?

I don't know.  I have a lot of ideas.  I have a lot of theories.  I have a lot of self-examining to do.  And I have a lot of repenting that needs to take place.