The Role of Religion after September 11th
The Role of Religion after September 11th
Fellow world kings, presidents, and leaders:
In a time of despair and emptiness, the world we knew has changed forever. Perhaps in this day and age, it is difficult to fathom why anyone would mastermind the attacks of September 11th. In the time that has followed that fateful day, news organizations have ingrained into our brains images of planes crashing into buildings, people jumping from windows many stories up, abandoned shoes among the rubble, and -- of course --images of the victims and their families. As madness and insanity engulfed our nation, some of us blame God for the things that have happened and for not helping us out when we really need his help. You cannot blame God for our own problems, as he is not the one who is responsible for our sins and miseries. In these times of hopelessness, we need to live in a Kingdom of Heaven. In order to live in this Kingdom of Heaven we are reminded that blessed are those that are hungry, blessed are those that are poor, blessed are those that are weeping, to make peace with our brothers and then come back, and to turn the other cheek. If we are reminded of these things we can only merely begin to live in harmony with the world.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) Jesus does not mean physical hunger and thirst, which may foster either goodness or despair and greed. A hungry person has a gnawing sense of emptiness in his stomach. He knows "I need food." But a person who is well fed isn't looking for anything to eat. So Jesus is talking about spiritual hunger, the hunger of a heart that senses a need for spiritual food. That is why we come to church to be fed, and we read the Bible to feed on the Bread of Life. But people who are satisfied with what the world has to offer never feel hungry for God. Let us not forget all the starving children who live in war everyday, because they are the ones who (according to Jesus’ teachings) will overcome us in the Kingdom of Heaven. God represents righteousness and the kingdom of the heavens is the realm of righteousness. At the most, only a few can attain righteousness. Consequently those who...