An Observation on Religion

I've been meaning to make this journal entry for sometime now. I've been merely an observer of religion down here in Mexico. I haven't joined a church or anything, part of it because I miss my church back home and it "wouldn't be the same", but part of it is just to step away from the church for a short time to merely observe it.

My friend asked me a while back "How is God moving down in Mexico?". The answer to that I'm not really sure, and that upsets me. Most of the people here are Catholic. Catholics and Evangelicals have an interesting history, and so its hard to filter through all of that, since I consider myself an Evangelical. Our first instinct is to say, "oh look at all those idols to Mary and Jesus on the Cross instead of an empty cross". Granted, there are a lot of "statues" to various saints, but before you get to quick to judge, Evangelicals have their downfall too. We have "idols" in our Christian T-shirts, expensive cross necklaces, Christian music CD collection, and bumperstickers. To say that a Christian T-shirt or cross necklace is being a "witness" to others is to forgo the fundamental nature of the gospel--a good news spread by the people for the people (not to be confused with democracy), or in other words a Christian T-shirt isn't going help the poor down the street. We have just "sacrificed" a bunch of money to this "object" and wear it "ritualistically" that is neither God's power or salvation; sounds like an idol to me.

So I say that to say that we cannot come and judge merely by outward appearance because we have our idols too, I can't say wether the Catholic transitions and rituals are good or not. But I do say that if I were born in Mexico, my beliefs might be a lot different than they are now, and that is interesting to me. Hear me out that this does not nullify what is true and the truth of Christianity; arguments on disproving God based on cultural differences ignores fundamentally what it means to be human. Nevertheless, If I were raised in Mexico I still might know the power and salvation of the Lord God, but I might cross myself every time enter a church, or I might have my rosary, or I might go through all the ceremonies of first communion, baptism, confirmation, and whatever else they have. But I have heard of plenty of saints who have done that and still been a powerful soldier for the Lord. It all depends on the Lord's power and grace.

I can't say all is well here. I have a feeling much of the church is sleeping, merely going to church to check it off the list, and having a choir of dead souls filling the beautiful sanctuary of joyless music, but I don't know, I shouldn't go too far. I have seen a great respect for the Lord and His Holiness, however I have seen and read about what a church looks like when it is alive and I don't know if I see that here in a majority, or in a majority of America for that matter.

Nevertheless, it is so important to realize that God is moving everywhere and even in Mexico. He hasn't forgot about them or the US. He's moving quietly in the older generation, perhaps even in the newer generation, in a small quiet revolution, changing hearts just like He has been doing since the beginning of time, and we are always a part of that.