by Richard Blackford<\/p>\n
While many herald, “Give peace a chance,” they get the cart before the horse. Any attempt at peace that omits the Prince of Peace is doomed to fail. Someone said, “It’s not that Christianity was tried and found difficult. It’s that it was found difficult and not tried.” Some know about<\/em> Christianity, but do they know Christ?<\/p>\n A few days ago, I was talking with a businesswoman from Ukraine. When I invited her to church, she said, “I’m a believer in God, but religion? Not so much.”<\/p>\n Religion is a neutral word, neither good nor bad. More information is needed before one can fairly assess a particular religion. The book of James talks about two kinds of religion, one bad and one good, and gives examples of each. They are called vain<\/em> religion and pure<\/em> religion (James 1:26-27). Just because “religion” conjures up disdain in the minds of some, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and cast out pure religion. Find it and embrace it.<\/p>\n In his song, “Imagine,” John Lenon wanted us to imagine there’s no heaven, hell, or religion. Some atheist groups claimed it for their anthem. It certainly eliminates God, the Bible, and Christianity. The song suggests that by giving up heaven, hell, and religion, all the world would be living in peace, and the world would be as one. However, if there is no God, then anything goes. Eventually, everything will. If there is no God, then nobody has the right to tell you how to live because each person is left with manufacturing his own morals. It becomes a “free-for-all.” Nobody can give you an absolute reason why anything is wrong. The most powerful would determine any standard of right and wrong, which would constantly be subject to change. Prior to the great flood of Noah’s day, “every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually<\/em>” and “the earth was corrupt, and violence filled the earth<\/em>” (Genesis 6:5,11). What was going on there? They were living as though there was no heaven, hell, or religion! If you want to live in such a place today, you might try North Korea – except people are literally dying to get out instead of in. Estimates of the number of people murdered or starved under atheistic communism are from a low of 10-20 million to a high of 110 million [Valentino, Benjamin, 2005. Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801472732].<\/p>\n John Lenon was a mastermind as a musician, composer, and lyricist. I loved much of his music. Most of us change our views over time. It is uncertain what his religious views were before the end. Some quotations throughout his life indicate a change from humanism to being a believer. An interview on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation in 1969 was recently uncovered in which Lennon was very “pro” Christianity, but there are indications that he later became involved in some New Age religions.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Jesus “went about doing good<\/em>.”\u00a0He advocated that it was “more blessed to give than receive<\/em>” and that we should practice the golden rule, love our neighbor as ourselves, render good for evil, and die for all mankind so each could have the opportunity to be saved eternally.\u00a0These are some of the teachings of Christ that have been found difficult and not tried on any grand scale. Peace on earth and goodwill among men is a lofty concept but still a dream. Generally, men have been unwilling to give the Prince of Peace a chance.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Richard Blackford While many herald, “Give peace a chance,” they get the cart before the horse. Any attempt at peace that omits the Prince of Peace is doomed to fail. Someone said, “It’s not that Christianity was tried and found difficult. It’s that it was found difficult and not tried.” Some know about Christianity,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[37,454],"class_list":["post-83711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-apologetics","tag-peace"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59222,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/religion-and-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":0},"title":"Religion and War","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"If religion is so great, why are religions responsible for so much war?\" First, this type of statement assumes that all religions are essentially the same. They aren't. Some religions actively teach peace. Biblical Christianity (not the perverted forms) is one of them. Second, this assumes that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/war.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":67500,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":1},"title":"Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I keep hearing people talk about \"religion\" as a bad thing. I hear some say things like, \"I believe in God but not religion,\" or \"I accept Jesus but reject all religion.\" It's as if they have a concept of \"religion\" that is all negative, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-parents-reject-religion-how-can-i-become-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":2},"title":"My parents reject religion. How can I become a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My family wants to stay away from religion, but I want to go toward it. I want to embrace God's love. I would go to church, but I am too young to drive or walk there. I have asked my parents to go to church, but they said \"no.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36332,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-christianity-a-religion-or-a-way-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":3},"title":"Is Christianity a Religion or a Way of Life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Osamagbe Lesley Egharevba Unmasking Sophistry, vol. 1, no. 1, April-June 2021 Unmasking Sophistry, vol. 1, no. 2, July-September 2021 Many scoff at the idea that Christianity is a religion. It is very common to hear and read people speak about Christianity as not a religion but only a way\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62163,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/curing-a-headache\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":4},"title":"Curing a Headache","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: James 1:21-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you see a problem, how do you solve it? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you have a headache, how do you get rid of it? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I suppose one could get a guillotine. After all no head, no headache \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Instead, we find a reliever to lessen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-road-to-contentment\/","url_meta":{"origin":83711,"position":5},"title":"The Road to Contentment","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 4:10-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For those of you who have taken classes \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Have you noticed that a few classes are just great? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The time just flies by. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The homework isn\u2019t that bad. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But there are those other classes which are just miserable. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A hour is twice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}