Merry Christmas & Happy New Year | Eastern North Carolina Now

    As Christmas day draws near and we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us try to appreciate the role of religion in our lives.

    Allen James (Allen James' blog) wrote: "Ideally, making religion important in your life can lead to a life of love, joy, compassion, and service. True religion is not about the dogmas of the religion but is about the teachings and how they tell you to live your life. For example, just about every religion in the world, including many you have never heard of, have some form of the Golden Rule as central to their teachings."

    The Golden Rule states: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Put another way: "Treat others as you would like them to treat you."

    Charles Dickens wrote: "Remember, it is the Christian thing to do good always, even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity that tells us to love our neighbours as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them do to us. It is Christianity that teaches us to be gentle, merciful and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them or of our prayers or of our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace."

    If everyone who claimed to be religious followed the Golden Rule, can you imagine what a wonderful world it would be. All people would feel loved, accepted, embraced, looked after. Life would be sacred; there would be purpose and meaning to it, including to serve others and contribute to making the world a better, more loving place. We all know the difference it makes in a person's life to know he or she matters to another human being.

    If religion is truly important in peoples' lives, it should be evident in their behavior and not just in their words. If religion is truly important in a person's life, its fruits should be seen by all.

    MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR !