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Is Being Good Enough?

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Is Being Good Enough?

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Is Being Good Enough?

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Japan is host to two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism, and Buddhism is known for it's call to think and do good to others. It is supported by the philosophy of self-enlightenment, meaning the individual can discover the good in him or herself. This sermon features some details about Shinto and Buddhist practices with the probing question continually in mind, "Is being good enough?"

Transcript

A number of years ago when I first came to Arkansas, I met Mr. Good and he said he had always been "Good", but his wife wasn't "Good" until she married him, but his boys have always been "Good", but his girls were "Good" until they got married. We'll take a little bit of a different tack with this message about being good.

 About nine years ago my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Japan to visit a daughter who lived there. We flew to Japan and we toured for nine days. At that time Chrystal worked for the biggest video game producer in the world and she had three different gaming stations in her office, and whatever magazines she wanted. She was required to play video games daily, to develop and translate them. At school I asked different classrooms of students if they'd ever played the video games,"Final Fantasy" or "Kingdom of Hearts" and they would raise their hands. Sometimes two or three had but it never failed that at least one student per classroom had played these games. Sometimes as many as nine or ten would be very familiar with them. At that time she had 15,000 monthly subscribers who paid a fee to play these games that she managed from Tokyo. She knew she had to play to keep up on her job; she said it was rough, but somebody had to do it.

My wife and I had a wonderful time on this remarkable trip. I had been there twenty years earlier so I was able to see the changes that had taken place over time, and that triggered many memories. Before I do the presentation of the slides of our trip I want to turn to Exodus:20:1 - This is where the first three of the Ten Commandments are listed. (The Ten Commandments are also listed in Deuteronomy Chapter 5). I want us to consider particularly the first three of the Ten Commandments today in this message.This message is intended to help us prepare for Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. I hope to 'connect the dots' in relation to some of the things we are going to see on these slides.

In Exodus 20 looking at the list of the Ten Commandments, we see the first one in verse three: "You shall have no other gods before Me. "Verse 4: "You shall not make unto you any graven image..." and verse 7 "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain". As we take a look and keep those Commandments in mind, I want to point out the predominate religions that are in Japan; Shinto and Buddhist. It is a bit of a challenge for people in the West to understand Eastern religions because most of us have a Catholic or Protestant background. Not many of us are animists from Africa nor do many of us have a Muslim background or backgrounds in other world religions; so it is a challenge for us to step out of our mindset to look at what these Eastern religions do.

Buddhism is founded on a man named Buddha whose real name was Siddhartha Gautama. His name means, "one who has achieved his aim". He was born in about 583 B.C. in what is now Nepal, between India and Tibet, in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. His father was the king of the clan and he was raised as a Hindu. It was assumed that Siddharta would be a wealthy leader, following in his father's footsteps. But that isn't the path he chose because at the age of thirty-five he was sitting under a tree and started experiencing some major breakthroughs which he called 'enlightenment', and he ultimately called it 'Nirvana'. Nirvana is said to be the state where you understand everything and you subsume into the future. He assumed the title' Lord Buddha', one who has attained enlightenment by himself. It is an ultimate state that anyone is said to be able to reach by oneself, a state of enlightenment that you reach by being 'good'. He lived until he was in his seventies and during those years he traveled in an area that is 150 miles long by 250 miles wide; that was as far as he went his whole life. Of course travel was by foot then, it isn't like it is now when you can travel by trains, planes and automobiles.

Buddhism isn't a single monolithic religion, there are many different sects or types. At its core is a philosophical system and so you can have additions sort of like a buffet. If you like something you can add it on and it will still fit into the Buddhist religion. There are three major types of Buddhism: "Southern", which has around 100 million followers and it's located in Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and some of Vietnam). There are about 310 to 340 million people in the United States so that gives some perspective of how big this religion is. The second kind of Buddhism is: "Northern" which is primarily in China, Japan, Korea, and most of Vietnam. The third type of Buddhism is called "Tantric" with followers in China, Russia, Tibet and Mongolia. Each of these is a different 'flavor' of Buddhism although they do have a common core of beliefs, and they all have their ceremonies and their rituals. The Buddhists in the West tend to pick and choose and add their own flavor to Buddhism. Zen Buddhism was started in Japan. Do you remember the TV sitcom "Dobie Gillis"? Maynard G. Krebs was a beatnik on the show who had an interest in Eastern philosophies. There was already an interest then in Buddhism and other Eastern religions in the Western world and it became even more pronounced as immigrants came to America and as some people became disillusioned with Christianity and started seeking out some other answers to life. Buddhism is now about the fourth largest religion in the world. In the United States there are about the same number of Buddhists as there are Muslims, which is over one million.

I spent many years working in an industry where I did business with a Japanese company, Mitutoyo, which develops high tech measuring equipment from very small to very large devices. I did not know at the time that they were as a company dedicated to the spread of Buddhism. I found this out when I visited their national headquarters in Los Angeles. They had a huge warehouse and offices and then a separate section( I assume you can go see it today) where they had a place for the Buddhist priests , shrines set up, and a wall full of their literature. The company existed to promote Buddhism. It was an interesting visit.

Buddhism has three trainings, or practices that relate to being "good"... how to be a decent person. The first one means good conduct, virtue or morality. This practice says that if everything is equal, it is somehow good. {Of course this isn't a Western concept. In the West it's believed if you can achieve more, you should, but that's up to you and you benefit from what you work for.} The second training in Buddhism is concentration, meditation, or mental development. We see this in the people who practice yoga because they believe meditation and developing your mind will give you wisdom. The third training or practice is discernment, insight, wisdom or enlightenment and this is the heart of Buddhism because it is believed wisdom will come to you if your mind is pure and clean, and then you can be good. It is beleved that ultimately you can reach the state of Nirvana, total enlightenment.

The next thing they teach is called, "The four noble truths" that explore human suffering, because you have to have an answer for that somehow. We have a booklet," Why Does God Allow Suffering?", and they have their answer, also. They don't tell the causes or solutions, however. But they acknowledge there are truths; we could agree with that. One of the four noble truths is that suffering is real and almost universal and has many causes. The second noble truth is there is a cause for suffering, it can be because of your own cravings or other reasons. The third noble truth is that there is an end to the suffering in that once you let go of the desire or craving, you won't suffer anymore. The fourth noble truth is that to end the suffering you must follow the eight-fold path.

Before we get to the eight-fold path, I'll cover their five rules to live by. See if you recognize any of these rules.( Since your Bible is already opened look at Exodus 20.) Number one rule is "do not kill". Second rule: "do not steal". Third rule: "do not lie". Fourth rule: "do not misuse sex". Fifth rule: "do not consume intoxicants". They say do not consume alcohol or any drug or any intoxicant that can cloud your mind. They take this to mean whatever can cloud your mind such as TV or movies or internet or anything that could. Do you see anything wrong with these rules? For the most part, they look like the last five of the Ten Commandments. It can't be wrong to be good can it?

Now for the eight-fold path: 1. Samma-Ditthi, discernment and wisdom 2. Samma-Sankappa, right thinking 3. Samma-Vaca, right speech 4. Samma-Kammanta, right conduct 5.Samma-Ajivam right livlihood 6.Samma-Vayama, supporting yourself without hurting others 7.Samma-Sati, right mindfulness 8.Samma-Samadhi, concentration, meditation or one-pointedness of mind. So you have there the essence of Buddhism as best as can be quickly understood by a Western mind who hasn't practiced in that philosophy or mind-set.

Now, I'm going to take you on a quick trip with some slides. Japan is about the same latitude as Arkansas, so whatever weather we're having, they're probably having something similar. This first one is a view from the forty-second floor of City Hall in Tokyo. Looking out it's forty miles in every direction. There are 140 million people in a space the size of California.. about 40 percent of the population of the whole United States in this one small area. So, people have a different lifestyle and a different expectation of what is private. Almost all the population of Japan is Japanese. About 84 percent of the people are Shinto, about 71 percent are Buddhist, about 2 percent Christian, and about 10 percent other than Shinto and Buddhist. There's an overlap between Buddhism and Shintoism because most people who practice Buddhism go to a Shinto temple because it's a philosophy, or way of life.

Some technology was in Japan before it was here, and they have some we still don't have. My wife learned from experience not to push a button until you know what it will do. People take their shoes off before they go into someone's home, it is a cultural expectation. Their dining tables are very short, it is expected that you sit on the floor to eat.

Five or six streets intersect in many places. Many of the cars are made in the USA, but they have different insignias on them than the ones we're accustomed to. There's a "dollar" menu, but it's 140 yen. Restaurants have plastic food that looks edible so you can look at as you go by and if you like what you see, you can go in to eat. Every single food is served on a separate dish. This slide is of a bakery and grocery store, it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread so I only got to smell and see all the baked goods. Japan has very modern grocery stores just as we have. The streets are very narrow. You'll see gambling parlors and 'Seven Elevens' everywhere. If you can't read Japanese you can't tell the difference between shoe polish, turpentine or a beverage. This picture is of me in a 'Seven Eleven'. Shopping centers are in the train and bus stations and vending machines are on the streets. Parks are really valued. This slide has a sign saying 'No Bicycle Parking' but as you can see not everyone follows the rules.

This is where we begin to understand that cultural difference which translates to a different way of life. This is a Shinto temple where the priests reside. Before you enter the temple you take a dipper cup with a very long handle, and ritually wash your hands. When people go to the temple they buy a prayer slip and write their prayer out , fold the paper and wrap it around the wire and tie it. At some point these papers are gathered and burned and the prayers are supposed to please the gods. They also have wood carvings they can buy for burning on wooden plaques that they can purchase to put their hopes, dreams, and wishes on. When the rack gets full, the priests burn them and the smoke goes up. This is believed to please the gods and make their hopes, dreams, and wishes come true. Every temple will have the paper prayer slips and almost every one will have the wooden plaques.

You take a train pretty much anywhere you go. They serve box lunches on trains. The typical Eastern hotel is in this picture. The beds are very low to the floor and the pillow is a hard bean bag pillow. You see shrines all over the place. The first thing built into many buildings is a Buddhist shrine. There are emblems in each shrine and statuettes and in front of the statuettes are beverages and cups for rice, rice wine or water presumably there for the statues dining comfort. The Buddhist symbol you see in this picture was taken and reversed by the Nazis to make their swastika. In many buildings you see these insets as their cornerstone. Christ said He is the cornerstone; the Buddhists have a different cornerstone. Our lives are not based on the Buddhist kind of a cornerstone.

Kyoto has a city block with a ditch dug around it that now has trees growing beside it. The ditch is lined with stones and filled with water as a defense mechanism so that the emperor would be safe from attack. If someone wanted to attack, they'd have to get across the moat and climb the stones and then you'd have a 'welcoming committee' waiting for you on the other side to discourage you. There are people in a political demonstration in this picture, but that's not why I'm showing this picture..notice the top of the building. It happened to be the first day of May, see what is on top of the building..trees and shrubs because there's an ordinance that one-third of the land has to be green; it's called a 'Green Law'. So they put the building in and put the green on top of the building by hauling the dirt up and planting the trees and grass. They have to go up there to mow the grass and trim the trees. In this picture there's an island in the middle of a pond and on the island is the "Golden Temple" in Kyoto. It was a bit misty the day we were there, so you may not be able to see it, but there's a path that goes around it that the priests use to get to the temple. The temple has gold leaf on it so they don't let people get too close to it. The only ones who can go to it are the priests that work there. There are statues around and you can see the reflection of the coins that are thrown into them. That's one of the means of support for the priests. You can see that someone is throwing coins right while I was taking this picture.

This is another temple high upon a mountainside that is up on stilts; it is huge..the biggest one we saw while we were in Japan. In this picture you can see that we are looking down on skyscrapers in the city. It is practically a pilgrimage to climb up this mountain. Before you go in the temple you must again be ritually clean. Water is coming out of the mouth of the dragon. You can't use your hands to get the water to wash, you have to use their extended cups. At first I thought this looked like a barbecue set, but it is in fact an offering box. People drop their offerings in, but it's made in such a way that you can't put your hand in it or else you can't get it back out (not that anyone would do that I'm sure). It makes a sound if you drop coins in so people draw attention to themselves when they give an offering. In Matthew:6:2 we're told to not give in such a way that it draws attention to us, and in 1 Corinthians:13:1 "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. "You can see here also the wooden plaques and the paper slips for prayers. There is a bronze Buddha by the temple that used to be all one color but it has been rubbed and touched by so many that it no longer is. I was worried that people might be offended by my picture-taking, but they didn't seem to notice because they were all jostling to get into position to touch the Buddha. There was a large bronze cauldron they would kneel on the mat beside and take what looked like a one-handled rolling pin that had cloth wrapped around it, then they would nod for about ten seconds as if they were saying a prayer. Then they would take the "rolling pin" and hit the cauldron. It would sound like a gong and it would reverberate. Each person got to hit the bowl just one time apparently because the line was so long. We saw one man with a young son, maybe seven years old who acted as if he couldn't wait to hit the cauldron with the gong; he was participating in a part of their inculturation.

Here there were little candles in little holes in what looked like a china cabinet, people come here to burn a candle they bought from the priests, for someone they know who has died. This is a gold-leaf dragon; dragons are everywhere. We can read in Revelation:12:9 about who the great dragon is. Dragons are a much celebrated part of that culture. You'll notice that the statues around this path have clothing on that people have made for them..white and pink aprons and even a little knitted cap someone found a way to put on one statue. When I asked what the cap was for, the guide said it was to keep its head from getting cold. This slide is of the place they call the birthplace of Buddhism. There's pea gravel on the ground and seventeen stones (or it could be fifteen) and every day the priests will come out and they will rake this very carefully in straight lines. There are bleachers on one side and you can sit there and meditate because one of the principles of Buddhism is to meditate. This has meaning to the people who practice Buddhism. This is the Ginza Plaza, cars are not allowed there except for certain times during the day. A few blocks away we came upon a May Day parade. Take a look at this shrine and the extraordinary detail. Every neighborhood has a shrine that encapsulates or signifies that neighborhood or the strength of that neighborhood. They all want to show off their shrine, so they get old antique native wear for this celebration and they hold up the very ornate shrines as they walk in the parade. I don't know if they give awards for the best shrine, but it was certainly something to see.

I've never seen so much food I couldn't identify. Our daughter has to go onto the UCG website to see which fish is clean to eat. There's a marvelous selection of fish everyday since they are right on the ocean.

This picture is the entrance to another huge temple that has the biggest paper lantern in the world. The people's lives revolve around the temple and the expectations of what they're supposed to do at the temples. It is understood that you will make pilgrimages to the temples, especially on holidays ; it is just the way of life there. You can see the little shops all down the street and at the end is the temple in the background. Here they are burning incense that you buy from the priests, it's another way they make a living. People will stick their heads over the incense and then wave their hand over their head. The guide said this is to increase your I.Q. This picture is a partial shot of this temple, it is very grandiose . I got behind the main place where they get their offerings so I could take a picture going out. If you look, you can see all the little shops and see it's a long trek to the temple. It was a very enjoyable place to visit. The priests off to one side were selling 'fortune sticks' that have numbers on them. It's based on numerology. You pull out a number of sticks from a little box and they'll tell you your fortune based on the sticks you pulled out.(I didn't buy any sticks.) Of course you see everywhere the ubiquitous plaques and prayer papers. I was thinking wouldn't our prayers be obvious to everyone if we put them on little pieces of paper and hung them on a wire? Could we fill up a row or two or three and if so; how often would we replace that row? People were conscientious in doing this, but it is hard to understand whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy or a cultural way of life. This is a little restaurant I threw in because I found 'Morton' salt there; sometimes you find odd things. This is the water bus you catch to travel around the canals. These are monorail trains and these are bicycle taxis.

This is right near downtown Tokyo; they made it very clear to not take pictures inside this temple so I can't show you what it was like but it was intriguing because it showed priests and business men in the middle of the day doing their humming, their mantras and their repetitions while the place was wafting with incense. It was intriguing for us but sobering for them because this was a very honored circumstance to them. Off to one side there were vases, each one was for a miscarried or aborted baby. If we had one for each baby in America, we would have thousands per year. They treated that subject very delicately and I was told not to take any pictures.

This tower is very similar to the Eiffel Tower; ask my wife how she likes it sometime. This is a view from up in the tower. That's the last slide. I just wanted to give you some insight into another religion and another culture because these are people who are working to be good. You can't say that a number of the things they do and believe are a problem. So, IS IT ENOUGH TO BE GOOD? Is that what it's all about? If we're good people and we just do good things is that all we need? Let's look at Exodus 20.. we looked at the first three Commandments: Have no other gods before Me. Don't make any graven images to worship. Don't take God's name in vain.

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt what was Egypt involved in? Egypt had many gods and that's what the plagues were all about, they showed God's power against their supposed gods. Their gods were many life forms as well as statues. We'll probably hear about these during the Days of Unleavened Bread. All of this Eastern religion is not a new thing. When Israel was in the wilderness and Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the engraving of the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel built a golden calf. What did God say? Let's look at Leviticus:19:1--" And the Lord spoke to Moses saying 'Speak to the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, 'you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy'" ( holy means set apart for a special purpose). And now verse 3 "Everyone of you shall revere his mother and father and keep my Sabbaths, I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols nor make for yourselves molten gods, for I am the Lord your God. "So as we look here we see that God wants to make it clear who He is and what his expectations are of us. You can see that He is referring to the Ten Commandments. God is our spiritual Father and He expects us to honor him by doing well for ourselves and that includes keeping the commandments and the Sabbath. God has to make this really clear because the temptation is there for people to turn to idols.

We saw in this video/ slide presentation that there are many graven images and many statues used in Buddhism. Let's go on down to Leviticus:26:1-2 (This is God giving instructions.) "You shall not make idols for yourselves either a carved image nor a sacred pillar you shall rear up for yourselves. Nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land to bow down to it for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary, I am the Eternal. "So God is reinforcing this, you don't make a molten idol or carve one out of stone or out of things, but recognize who is the true God. And of course we saw that some of these statues are made of stone, so let's turn to 1 Corinthians:10:14 "Therefore, my beloved brethren flee from idolatry. "Since we have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to atone for our sins to give us hope, we don't need to put hope in brass or stone or a carving or whatever an idol may be made of. The Corinthians had to deal with idol worship and the worship of many different kinds of gods, an atmosphere very like the Eastern religions now. So the Corinthians wondered about whether to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians:8:4-6 "Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol iin the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us, there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. "So this is recognizing there is only one true God, so anything that's done to these other so-called gods isn't real, it's only in the minds of people. If clean meat is sacrificed to an idol, it's not a problem to eat it unless it is against your conscience or you would offend other people.

Sometimes there are people who are gifted at carving statues; the gold- leafed dragon we saw was outstanding artistry. The neighborhood shrines were outstanding imagery and very expensive, but they are all nothing. Let's look at 1 Corinthians:12:1-2 "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you do be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. "We were all led astray at some point by something other than the truth. We all had some semblance of idols, whether knowingly or unknowingly we followed in times past. The apostle Paul is writing to them to tell them that. Let's follow this up now with 2 Corinthians:6:16 "Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as He said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE."

We're coming upon the time of the Spring Holy Days when we're going to have to watch how we treat our temple, our bodies, the temple God has placed his spirit in. God gives us the hope and opportunity that He will live within us. On the video we also show on some clips that people made clothes for some of their idols. God has righteousness to clothe us with. We saw where some people had given food and beverages to idols as if they were living beings. Christ is our true bread which came down from heaven. We saw where people have to pay for prayers. We don't have to pay a priest for prayers. After Christ was sacrificed for us, the Holy of Holies was opened up for us and we no longer have to go to God through a priest. We can go directly to God the Father with our pleadings. We can approach God directly with our hopes and dreams, we don't need wooden plaques. We saw incense being sold and burned as people wafted the smoke over their heads. Our prayers a sweet incense to God, we don't need incense to approach Him. We saw fortune telling, we don't have to rely on fortune tellers or astrologers or that kind of a system. God has given us the Bible with the prophesies He wants us to have and we can know He holds us in the palm of his hand and nothing can separate us from him. Some of the people who would waft the incense over their heads would also clap in order to ward off the evil spirits. People sometimes in our culture will say, 'bless you' when someone sneezes which is a similar expression people use to ward off evil spirits. It's an old pattern or habit that God doesn't enjoy or expect from us. We saw money collection boxes at the front of most shrines, I've never been to a Church of God where some sort of money collecting device was installed. In one clip we saw monks chanting for long periods of time and they repeated a mantra in a monotone. You may have seen this on TV or a movie. We can read Matthew:6:6-7 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you . And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."

We saw people clanging a bronze bowl with a gong and then repeat a prayer. God can hear our prayers without that. We have access to God, we don't need to perform some sort of ritual. We saw the images of the dragons that were used in their religious system. We can read about the great dragon in Revelation:12:9 "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. "We read about this in Revelation the last book of the Bible, but this really took place at a much earlier time. Let's go to Revelation:9:20 which is at the time of the angel sounding the sixth trumpet, a time of plagues just prior to the return of Christ.  Revelation:9:20 "And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;" Those people are going to have a hard go of it, unless they choose to worship the true God.

We usually read Isaiah in the fall Holy Days, during the Feast of Tabernacles, but I want to insert Isaiah:2:2 because it is what follows after what we read in Revelation 9.

 Isaiah:2:2

 "Now it will come about
 that
 In the last days,
 The mountain of the
 house of the Lord
 Will be established as the chief
 of the mountains,
 And it will be raised above
 the hills;
 And all the nations will
 stream to it."

This is talking about the latter days, the time right before and after the return of Christ to earth. Let's look at verses 17-18 because it tells much of what's going on in this chapter.

 Isaiah:2:17-18

  "And the pride of man will be
  humbled,
  and the loftiness of men
  will be abased,
  And the Lord alone will be
  exalted in that day."
  "But the idols will completely
  vanish."

The idols will completely go away. People won't see any reason or need for them anymore because they'll have access to the true God. Let's look at Ephesians:5:1-7 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ has also loved us and given himself for us an offering of sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness or foolish talking or coarse jesting, which are not fitting; but rather giving of thanks. For this you know that no fornicator or unclean person or covetous man WHO IS AN IDOLATER has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them." (This is also equating covetousness with idolatry.)

We can all say to ourselves, 'I don't worship idols, I don't bow down and serve them, I don't have any gold or bronze or brass or wooden or stone idols. I don't participate in pagan celebrations to strange deities and I don't put forth idol worship before the Almighty living God. "So, we can all consider ourselves to be relatively 'good', but is it enough to be 'good'? As we approach the Spring Holy Days (Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread) we must ask ourselves if there's anything that stands between us and our Creator. While we may not have physical idols made of molten brass or carved in wood or chiseled in stone, we must ask ourselves if there is hiding in the closets of our lives invisible idols that keep us from honoring God and his commandments. Let's go to Acts 2 (This is taking place on the day of Pentecost. The apostles were preaching; this is part of Peter's sermon to many different peoples gathered from around the world. Peter has spelled out what is important for them to know and basically has condemned them for wrong lifestyles.) Acts:2:37-38 "And when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'men and brethren, what shall we do?' "And Peter said to them, 'repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off as many as the Lord our God will call. ( Notice, it wasn't enough to just be 'good'.)
 
These coming weeks is our time of preparation when we examine ourselves as we lead up to the Passover and the week of unleavened bread. Today we saw pictures of people involved in the fourth biggest religion on earth, and some of them are good people. But is it enough to be good? God offers hope and opportunity for eternal life to those who love him and keep his commandments. Some day all people will have the opportunity to know the laws of God and that they are for their own good. Then they too will learn that they can live and love the plan of God. Let's cheer the soon coming Spring Holy Days.