sitting in the haze of incense smoke

I'll preface with my growing awareness of an ever-increasing cynicism of American Christianity. I shouldn't be, but I'm comfortably distant from my target and can call out criticisms without fear of retribution. it's a luxury of a lazy bloke with nothing present to fight.

I was talking to my coworker yesterday. he's led an interesting life, to be sure. he's a fairly opinionated feller and is willing to share with just about anyone who has a somewhat-functioning cochlear nerve. I forget why the discussion came up, be we were talking religion again. why I do this to myself, I'll never know; perhaps because I feel like I can get a word in edgewise given my familiarity with the subject. plus he knows my pastoral training. not that it ever inclines him to make inquiries on my behalf, but it's still something to talk about regardless. but I digress.

he made the comment that he'd spent a fair amount of time in the foster care system while growing up. he's spent a fair amount of time doing just about everything, so this didn't surprise me too much. he did say, though, that the best homes to live in were the Mormon homes and the worst homes to live in were the Catholic homes. I believe we must've been talking about Christians using one another, or something along those lines. regardless, it made me think for a sec.

my immediate thought had to do with Mormon culture. my coworker mentioned how much Mormons gave to the church, mentioning something along the lines of a 90% tithe rate at the particular church he went to with this foster care family. he's one for exaggeration, so I'm sure this is skewed a bit. anyway, what got me thinking was the difference between Mormonism or any other religion that usually sounds like its adherents are decent chaps, and Christianity and how its adherents are ridiculed for not following the golden rule.

so finally, the point of the post: my thought. I wonder if perhaps those Mormons behaved well, took care of their family and foster kids, and paid out a lot of tithes because they had to earn their spot in heaven. I'm not sure on the particulars, but given that following Christ is the only religion that doesn't involve earning salvation, it's a safe assumption that this is the case for Mormonism (and I've heard the stories about 3 heavens etc.) I wondered right after that if perhaps the reason the Christian homes were so bad to my coworker because those were the homes where salvation was "entitled" to the occupants. sounds fairly American to me, again with the whole cynicism thing.

whether these thoughts of mine are reality or a gross farce, it still makes me want to rant at what I'm supremely susceptible to becoming. in a nation where the most-honored are those who have earned everything for themselves and the most-hated are those who have been given everything, it is no wonder "free" salvation has become so mutilated. my coworker mentioned the heavy restrictions and policies imposed by his Catholic caretakers. free anything is an abhorrence to American thought, at least when it comes to position and status. if you're the receiver of this free position, you hungrily take all of it for granted. if you're watching, you hate the new position-grubber.

so free salvation can't be free. it has to have restrictions, rules, regulations with heavy punishments for deviation. the Christian and Catholic homes would be awful for a dude like my coworker. the Mormon homes, who are earning their salvation directly instead of fabricating ways indirectly to earn it, would be a safe and easy place for my coworker.

I would hope I'm not naive enough to think this is the case across the board. human nature is human nature and there are members from across the gamut in any religion. still, for some reason this makes sense in my head why I've become cynical of the religion I prescribe to. because I'm insulated, safe, hidden, and an easy accuser of wrongs to the face of my "club".

today's musings

I had a pondering today at work. I was on my way to Home Depot to grab some materials for the day in the company flatbed truck. I passed a car parked on the side of the road that had the contents of the trunk on the ground, the spare tire out, and a man on a cell phone. I blasted on past to pick up the material at Home Depot before continuing up to the job.

but I started wondering. I remember a study recently that showed most Christians won't stop and help someone if they are in some kind of rush to be somewhere. I'm guilty of that, given today's events, but still...I almost feel like the non-Samaritans in the Good Samaritan story.

I would've done a disservice to my boss if I had stopped though. would've cost him money. whether I think he should worry about money or not is not my place; what is my place is to perform for him the best I can, as if performing unto God Himself.

so really I was faced with two rather lame options. stop and help the guy, feel good about myself for helping someone in need, and get chewed up and down by the boss for wasting his time. OR, blast on past the guy, getting to the jobsite as quickly as possible to finish as quickly as possible, and save the boss money.

I was left figuring I had to choose the lesser of two evils, but I'm not sure I actually chose the lesser of two evils.