Relevance as a Choice
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Let’s say someone wanted you to read a book about truth.
“Geez, you might say. That’s a broad, nebulous
subject. Could you give me a little more information?”
But even with more information, you may not be
interested in reading such a book. First, you may not like to read. Second, you
may think that “truth” is not a subject you’re interested in. In other words,
the book and its subject are not relevant.
A dictionary defines relevant as “bearing upon or connected with the matter
in hand; pertinent.” But when I think of relevant, I always think “relevant to me.” In other words, relevance is
subjective, denoting what interests me. What’s relevant to you may not be relevant
to me, or vice versa.
Basis of Relationships
Truth,
of course, is relevant to everyone, even though it may not be acknowledged. Among
other things, it’s the basis of meaningful human relationships. If someone
intentionally doesn’t tell us the truth, we would have trouble having a
relationship with that person.
I mentioned in a blog a couple of weeks ago that
I had read an article entitled, “7 Interesting Reasons Why People Don’t
Go to Church.” And among those reasons was one that didn’t
surprise me: “They Deem the Church Irrelevant.”
Relevance is at least partially
determined by what’s important to us. If you were to do a poll of the people
who say that church is irrelevant, 90 percent, I believe, would answer that
church/religion/God is “not very important” to them.
Many would say that social media,
sports, video games, celebrities, TV shows and the like are what’s relevant,
and they spend much of their time paying attention to all these interests (none
of which are bad). And they know enough about these subjects to decide whether
they’re important to them.
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“The United
States is one of the most religious countries on earth, but Americans know
nothing about religion – their own or the religions of others,” said Stephen
Prothero, a professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University at a 2007
forum.
Another Forum participant, Michael Cromartie, who made a career of educating journalists about religion, described
the reaction of some of his students in his classes about religion.
“When I
would say things like ‘in Matthew, blah, blah, blah,’ the students would get
that look like they sort of knew what I was talking about, but they really
didn’t. I realized they were thinking, “Matthew Perry? From “Friends.”? …So, I
gradually realized I have to explain this stuff: Matthew, which is one of the
four Gospels, which are books in the New Testament, which is a scripture in
Christianity, which is one of the world’s religions….”
But
religion is not just about what you know or don’t know. More importantly, it’s about
who you know and who you love, if you get my drift.
Not-To-Do List?
I recently
saw a video in which elderly married men were asked what marriage means to
them. One man answered, “It’s a to-do list.” And that, unfortunately, is like the
views of many people about church: It’s a to-do list, or better, a not-to-do
list.
If you take
love out of a marriage, that’s what you have. And if you take love out of
religion, those to-do and not-to-do lists are what you’re left with. But
despite the perception of many, love of God and neighbor are the heart of Judaism
and Christianity.
And despite
deep flaws and histories that never measure up, those religions, including the
Catholic faith to which I belong, epitomize those values to a degree not found
anywhere else in modern life.
Boiling it down,
relevance is a choice that is made by people sincerely searching for God.
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