THE OPEN MIND COLLECTION

The Secularist-Believer

     It was when a woman had explained how she threw away her beautiful talent in painting because her religious leader had told her that art was associated with ungodliness, that the religionist realised how much religionism buried talents like the biblical, wicked, lazy servant.

"I wish I'd known this a little sooner..." the old Religionist thought to himself, "this whole concept of secularism in religionism."

Many a word are said to separate secularism and religion. "Modern poetry is too explicit."

"But how best do we explain concepts more clearly...?"

"Secular music has nothing to do with glorifying our Creator."

"But the love between two people is symbolical of that love between Christ and the Church..., sacred and pure. So who best to write a love song than the one who knows God's love...?"

"Playing sports is a waste of the time you should be discipling nations."

"But one may disciple nations through sport."

"Your career in engineering is for your own good and does not have anything to do with God unless you tithe..."

"But the result of work is not the tithe. The result of work is the process that produces the result. The result of work is work itself. As a result, 'Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.' This ensures that practicing your faith may not end on Saturday or Sunday but carries on throughout the schooldays and workdays as a lifestyle and not as a gathering attended once every week", states the Secularist-believer (or the Monday Christian).

The church has set boundaries that were not meant to exist. It has set boundaries between what a true believer should do and not do. "A true believer should not be an actor, activist, bartender, boxer, dancer, expressive artist, footballer, model, politician, secular musician and the like because it's worldly and unspiritual."

With this, a true believer cannot be anything more than a priest of Sunday work who only believes that a calling is that one service one offers to do in the House of the Lord. This is not true though many believers are believers of this blatant lie. The potential of many of them has died as potential, because of this.

What is, therefore, the House of the Lord? It is all the children of God. Hence, your work must be ministry enough to convert the non-believer or at least make him or her appreciate the goodness and light in you or else work loses purpose and you'll use unscrupulous means to earn more money in it. Your work should not make you and your brother stumble.

What then should we say in conclusion? Christians should live radical lives. Again I say, 'Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God' and then you'll be as much a Christian on Monday as you are...on Sunday; a Christian with a purpose.