What is the Purpose of Religion?

What is the Purpose of Religion?

          I had a small experience this past week that roused some questions in my mind about, what is the purpose of religion and in essence, what is the purpose of life.  It might come as a shock that these questions were brought about in response to someone broken down on the side of the road, but that’s how it happened.

          It should come as no big surprise to anyone who has read any of my previous blogs, that I am a Christian, and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon).  Well, this past Tuesday evening I was driving from my home into the town of Rexburg about 14 miles away for a church training meeting, when about a mile out of town I spotted a vehicle stopped at the side of the road, with the hood up.

          With the heavy flow or traffic for that time of evening, I passed the car and pulled over to the side of the road in front of them to see if I could help.  Leaving my own vehicle I walked back to the car with Montana license plates and found an upset African American lady, in a very nice dress, behind the wheel.

          “It looks like your night isn’t going according to your plans.” I offered to lighten the mood.  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

          She expressed her relief that I had stopped and stated, “Of all the cars that have passed me by over the past 20 or so minutes, only you and one other person have stopped and offered to help.”
          I asked her what she thought was wrong and she answered that she thought she had just run out of gas before being able to make it into town. She said the other man and his wife who had stopped by earlier had gone to get some for her, but she had been waiting for 15 minutes or so since they had left her.  I was the only other person to stop in that time.

          I asked what she had come down from Montana into Idaho for.  She stated that she had come down to speak at the Jehovah Witness’ Kingdom Hall that night.

          Just then the other middle aged man and his wife returned from town and pulled up behind her.  He was a Hispanic man and by the stickers on his truck I figured he was certainly a Catholic by religion.  He had driven into town, purchased a gas can, filled it at the station and returned to help.  We put the gas into her car, all the while as the Hispanic man refused her offers for any kind of reimbursement for his cost or efforts.

          We made sure her car got started and wished her well on her talk at her church.  The Hispanic man then thanked me for stopping to help (although I really hadn’t done anything) and then smiled and went on his way.

          As I got back into my own car and finished traveling to my own church meeting (now behind schedule and late), I couldn’t help but humbled and moved by the thoughts that came over me.  In those few moments a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness and a Catholic had intermingled on the side of a road, as a host of other people passed by on their own way.   And it made me wonder, what is the purpose of Religion, specifically Christianity but it could be any religion?

          Rexburg, Idaho is a predominantly, but not exclusively, Mormon community and in a way it saddened me that with all the people traveling by in the 30 minutes or more this woman had been broken down on the side of the road, that the only man who offered any real service or assistance was a Catholic.

          Now don’t get me wrong!  I am not saying anything against Catholics, Jehovah’s Witness’ or any other religion, or touting my own by what I am talking about here.  What I am talking about is that people of so many different religions, including my own, claim to be Christian, but probably fail to understand what that really means.

          We are all members of our various religious organizations and believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer… but the question is, what effect does that have on us and what is the meaning of it?

          Is our religion or church membership just a social organization to help us feel good about ourselves, or so that we can check our Sunday attendance off our “feel good” list each weekend, or does it actually affect some kind of change in us?

          One thing I know is that on that day, with everyone driving by (of what religious backgrounds I do not know) the one man who showed true Christian compassion, service and Christ-like behavior was a Catholic Hispanic man.

          Now that’s not to say that if we don’t stop to help everyone along our path that we are a bad person or not religious; in fact far from it.  Life demands us to make choices and we do have to work, provide for our own support and take care of personal needs and demands.  But what I talking about is the question of whether our religion actually changes us into something better than we are or were before?

          In my humble opinion, if a religion doesn’t inspire you to actually change your behavior on an ongoing basis into something more kind, loving, caring and willing to serve others… then either it isn’t much of a religion or you aren’t getting out of it what you should.

          The purpose of life is not to see “What’s in it for me?” or to see how many things we can acquire or how much wealth, fame or recognition we can receive.  Each and every one of us will have to leave all that behind when we die and pass on into the next realm beyond mortality.

          No, the purpose of life, which was created by God our loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, is to create an experience where we can learn (by our own practice and through our own agency) how to become like them.  And if our religion isn’t inspiring that kind of change and behavior in us, as individuals, then we may want to question what is the purpose of religion in our lives.

          As for me, as I thoughtfully proceeded to my church meeting that night, and over the several days since then, have been left to ponder the question and come to the realization, that everything good that has ever happened in my life and any measure of good I have achieved as a person I can directly relate to the gospel of Jesus Christ and my membership in my church.

          I am far from reaching the spiritual progress and goals for which I am striving, but thanks to Jesus Christ, there is a path before me and He has shown the way.  He is the way the truth and the life.  And I am grateful for a Jehovah’s Witness, a Catholic and everyone else from all walks of life who I meet each day for reminding me of it.

Being Prepared

BEING PREPARED

          As I saw people getting ready for camping trips and traveling for the Memorial Holiday weekend, I had a chilling flashback to an ill-fated scouting trip of my own, from yonder years of my youth.

          I was probably about 13 years old when this unfortunate escapade occurred.  First off, however, you should probably know that my family has quite a scouting reputation!  And by reputation, I don’t mean the “Eagle Scout” kind!

          No, in fact it all started with my Dad many years ago when he was a young whippersnapper.  I don’t know all of the "Dennis the Menace" moments that transpired from his younger scouting years, but the culminating event of his scouting experience occurred when he threw a can of pork and beans in a raging campfire one night, which resulted in a piece of exploding-hot-tin-can-shrapnel embedding itself in the scoutmasters dairy-aire as he lectured them by the fireside.  He wasn’t actually kicked out of scouts… just strongly encouraged not to ever come back again!

          So, the prestigious scouting legacy in my family began, which my brother’s and I carried on in all our genetic glory.  Don’t get me wrong – I loved the camp outs and most of the activities.  It was just all the uniforms, silly cheers, and leaders who treated it like a religion which rubbed me the wrong way.  I guess I didn’t like feeling like my worth as a person was based on whether I met a certain dress code or had a certain number of patches in my possession.  For many kids, scouting is a wonderful and very important part of their life and development, and I fully support anyone who wants to be involved.  But it just didn’t fit my mold.

          The particular camp-out I will reminisce about today was one of the most dreaded memories – A WINTER CAMPOUT!!!

          It began on a Friday afternoon, when I got home from school and my mom reminded me I had a scout trip that weekend.  I had totally forgotten, and in a mad rush to make it to the church on time before everybody left, I threw in a flimsy, thin, little, almost-see-through nylon sleeping bag, my little tin camp-cook kit, and an extra pair of socks.  It was only as I was walking out the door that I realized this was one of the outings where we were responsible for bringing out own food.

          In a rush I grabbed a kid’s favorite – a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese for dinner, along with some eggs wrapped up in a towel for breakfast the next morning and shoved them in my back-pack, and away I went.

          Only later, after a tiring and bone-chilling snowshoe hike for several miles through the mountains, did I realize that instant macaroni and cheese also required milk and butter to complete the recipe.

          Struggling to melt enough snow in my little pot to boil the noodles, as everyone else was preparing to go to bed, I suffered through choking down cold, crunchy, cheese-powder-caked noodles and then nearly freezing to death through the long winter night in my flimsy sleeping bag!  To top it all off, the eggs I had hastily wrapped in a dish towel were crushed in my back pack when I retrieved them the next morning.

          It’s not that the other scouts weren’t willing to share and help me in my plight; they most certainly were – for the right price.  $5 for a hot dog, $2 for a hot dog bun, and so on.  Of course I didn’t have any money way up there in the wild, so I suffered.  My scout leaders chuckled and extolled the lesson I was learning about “Being Prepared”.  I didn’t appreciate their advice and being the source of their object lesson at the time, but looking back now, I guess I should thank them for the lesson I learned – The Hard Way.

          Life is tough!  It has a way of throwing some pretty unexpected things at us without any warning at all.  Loss of a job, illness, financial collapse, natural disasters, accidents, warfare, and an endless list of possible calamities can befall us when we are least expecting them.  So what can we do to be better prepared for the uncertainty of the future ahead of us?

          Please humor me as I share a few thoughts on the subject… and do it with the help of some squirrels. (My wife thinks squirrels are cute, so I often send her text messages with pictures of dogs or squirrels to brighten her day.  That’s another lesson in treating your wife right guys, but for today, we’ll stick to preparedness).

1. Food and water supply.  If disaster strikes or your income stops, you won’t be able to just go to the store and get more supplies.  You may have to make do with what you have on hand. Having a few basic emergency provisions in your car or in a portable back pack is also a good idea, because you never know where you will be when an emergency happens.

2. Have an alternative cooking or heating source.  If there is no electricity or you run out of gas for your grill, what are you going to do?  There are a variety of portable cooking stoves or rocket stoves that will allow you to use twigs and branches to cook or heat a space, so that you can simply use things all around you as a fuel source.

3. Some form of shelter.  If you are away from your home or on the road, do you have a basic way of making an emergency shelter to stay out of the rain and elements?  Emergency blankets, tarps, blankets, etc.. are all possible ways to stay warm or make a temporary portable shelter in an emergency.

4. Have knowledge of basic first aid, CPR or other simple medical skills and supplies.  These skills might not only be important for your own personal injuries, but can help those around you in need.

5. Have a means of personal protection.  You hope you never have to use force to protect yourself, but being prepared will often keep you out of trouble if a situation went bad.

This may also include knowing some personal self-defense skills.

6. Stay in shape.  Even if it’s just walking or some other basic way of keeping your fitness levels up.  This will come in handy if you had to walk a longer distance to find loved ones, as well as the fact that improved fitness levels will help your body cope better with the stresses of an emergency situation.

7. If possible, have an alternative source of communication.  If the phones and cellular systems all shut down, do you have a plan or way to communicate with your family or loved ones, or at least have a designated meeting place in an emergency? 

Even just some paper and pencil could be vital if you had to leave a note for someone.

8. Group together with friends and family if possible.  Having a reliable support system and team effort would be crucial to any type of moderate to long term survival.  In a real emergency, it would be tough to make it on your own for an extended period of time. 

Also, having someone else to love and care about is a great support and motivation to make it through the tough times.

9. If possible, have some extra clothing in your emergency bag, or a way to dress in layers, so that you can adapt to changes in hot or cold temperatures.

10. Find a simple way to keep yourself entertained.  It might be a simple deck of cards, singing, or even a journal to help keep you mentally relaxed at times.

11. Stay calm!  Even though things might get crazy in an emergency, panic rarely does any good.  Being able to keep your wits about you can make all the difference in getting out of a situation or being able to help others.

12. Learn how to pace yourself.  There may be times when you will have to go for extended periods to keep safe, but learning how to be aware of when you need rest and recovery is also important to avoid overexertion, dehydration, etc…

13. Learn self-confidence!  When things get tough, it’s often hard to cope if you don’t have a belief in what you are capable of.  The truth is, all of us have hidden reservoirs of courage and capacity that we should learn to tap into.

14. Don’t count out the importance of religion.  I don’t care what your personal beliefs are, having a sense of what is morally right and wrong is what makes us human.  When things get crazy in an emergency or natural disaster, having a belief and understanding of the truth that there is a higher power we can draw on for support is invaluable!

15. Don’t hesitate to pray!  Sometimes desperate situations drive us to our knees and being able to reach out to a God who loves us, is a reservoir of power just waiting to be tapped into. 

But it is my personal belief that prayer and gratitude to God in times of peace and plenty is an important trait to develop, Not just when things get tough.  It would seem pretty selfish of us to only call upon God in our emergencies and expect Him to deliver, if we haven’t ever learned to thank and trust in Him when things are going good.

16. If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. 

Taking the time to make some basic plans and preparation now, can and will make all the difference later.  When things get tough, the time or preparation has already passed.  If everyone is expecting others around them to take care of them, then nobody will be prepared and we will all suffer.

          But if we all do our part to be prepared individually and as families, then we can weather the storms of life together all the easier!

          Take my word for it.  It's no fun freezing your keester off and eating crunchy macaroni noodles in dried cheese power! Learn a lesson from a former bad boy scout and  BE PREPARED!!!

Plugging into the Power Source

Plugging into the Power Source

         Several years ago I was preparing to leave work one evening after a long day at an In-patient rehab center.  As I was walking down the hall toward the exit, I waved to one of the residents who was lying in his bed and bid him a good evening.

          “Hey, can you help me for a second?” He called out as I passed.  I returned to his room to see what he needed. “I can’t get my remote to work so I can watch some TV this evening.”

          Knowing that he was quite disabled at the time and unable to get out of bed without a lot of help, I realized that the remote for the television was his only link to the outside world for the rest of the night.  Rather than leaving him stuck with only one channel or having to ring his call light and have the nurse come down every time he wanted to switch the station, I set down my bag and agreed to help.

          Of course, the first brilliant thing I did was to point the remote at the black screen and punch the buttons repeatedly, somehow thinking that my thumb might be more magic than his to activate the TV.  Nothing.

          Next I flipped open the back of the remote and spun the batteries around a bit in the holders and tried punching the buttons… again Nothing.

          So I left the remote and offered to go get some new batteries from the maintenance room on the other side of the building.  Finding the maintenance staff gone for the evening and the door locked, I then had to go on a search for the evening supervisory nurse who would have the key to the door to get the batteries.

          After several minutes, I finally located her and she handed me a ring of keys.  Returning to the maintenance room, I began to shuffle through the 15 or so keys, trying each one in the lock…. None of them fit.

          Searching again for the charge nurse, I explained the dilemma, to which she chuckled and handed me another set of keys, stating that she had handed me the wrong set of keys the first time.  Returning to the storage room, I again shuffled through a dozen keys before finding the correct one. After searching through several drawers, I finally found some new batteries, returned the keys to the nurse, and then made my way back to the patient’s room.

          It had taken so long, that I was sure the poor fellow had assumed I had left and ditched him for the night.  After laughing and explaining why I had had been delayed, I triumphantly placed the new batteries in the remote and punched the power button…. Nothing!

          Figuring the entire remote was faulty, I apologized and again left to track down the nurse with the keys, again returned to the maintenance room, and located another new remote control, returned the keys to the nurse and once again went back to the patient’s room, put the new batteries in the new remote and punched the programming button…. Again Nothing!!!

          Exasperated, I just about chucked the remote out the window!  At that moment, I happened to glance down by the garbage can and something caught my eye.

          The power cord for the television was unplugged!  At some point, when a housekeeper or nurse was changing the garbage, the cord must have been bumped and jarred loose from the socket.

          Humbled, and quite embarrassed, I reached down and plugged the set into the outlet.

The patient, who was holding the old original remote on his bed, pushed the button and the TV fired to life!

          We both shared and laugh and he thanked me and apologized for all the time and trouble he had caused.  But as I walked to my car, I couldn’t help but realize the profound lesson I had just been taught.

          In all my efforts, despite trying to be helpful and productive, I had wasted a lot of time and effort because I had failed to do the most obvious thing first – Plug into the source of power.

          How often do we all do this in life?  We go about our daily grind and struggle, thinking, planning, working and trying to accomplish things, but are we taking time to plug ourselves into the real source of power which provides light and insight and pure direction?

          Of course I’m talking NOT about books, or the internet, but instead I’m referring to the Ultimate source of all power, light, knowledge and direction, God.

          I have found that I can plug into that source of power better in my own life, by three prongs on my spiritual power cord:

Prayer -

Study of the Scriptures -

And Temple attendance and worship.

          These three prongs, if we use the force to apply them, truly allow a higher source of energy to flow into our lives.

          That doesn’t mean that we won’t have to do a little footwork (or sometimes a lot) to bring the needed pieces of our lives together, but taking the time to plug into the source of power in the first place, will often save us a lot of wasted time and heartache running down the wrong paths and trying the wrong keys to the doorways of life.


         "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." - John 8:12

          "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto mine own, and mine own received me not. I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." - D&C 6:21

          So, if you find yourself spinning your wheels and exhausting your efforts to no avail, take a closer look and make sure the trials of your life haven’t knocked the cord out of outlet.  Make sure you are firmly plugged into the Power Source!  Experience has taught me that going back to the basics is generally the best place to start!