The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1957-03-07

before GOd and the Father is
this: to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and
to keep oneself unspotted from
the world" :" james 1:27
If one is not careful he comes
to believe that he has the ''pure
religion" because he belongs to
particular church or denomina-
ton. He is right, all others are
wrong. He will go to heaven, all
others are lost. AS long as he has
an intellectual understanding of
the doctrines that his particular
group stresses and processes to
accept them, he things he is
alright with God.
Doctrine is important. One
purpose of the Scriptures is to
ground the Christian in doctrine
(II Timothy 3:16, 10. Sound
doctrine should be taught in
every church group. Without
doctrine Christians cannot ap-
preciate the Person and Work
of God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit. But
the best evidence of ones under
standing of doctrine and his ap-
probation of the Person and
Work of the each member of the
Godhead is his private and social
conduct and his attitudes toward
God and men (Titus 2:1-l5).
The same thought is expressed
in our text: pure genuine, free
from hypocrisy, not mixed with
selfish motives) religion is
demonstrated in a concern for
others-particularly the unfort-
unate, the helpless, those who
cannot pay US back"-and in
living clean moral life. A real
concern for others is proven by
action (James 2:14-20; | John
3:16-18; Ephesians 4:28). The
majority of Christians have been
materially blessed by God. If we
would be honest in our religion
| and be obedient to Gods will,
Communism, which is a philos-
ophy of force and hate, would
be powerless; it would not have
the influence that it was today.
This concern for others is not a
ministry by proxy, or by mere
gifts of money. Pure and unde-
filed religion demands personal
contact with the worlds sorrow;
to visit the afflicted, and to visit
them in their affiction."
Pure religion is undefiled in
the presence Cor sight) of God
the Father. Service should be
an act of worship of God, and
the beauty of our worship must
not be marred or debased by
selfish motives. 1t is to be a
true expression of our love for
the living God Who created us
and made salvation possible for
us.
| Genuine religion is also shown
by our personal conduct. We are
! to keep ourselves "unspotted
from the world" That is, we are
to give careful attention to be
| free from worldly habits, those
| practices which turn one from
God immortality, materialism
selfish ambitions. The man who
| pleaSes God walk not in the
counsel Of the ungodly, nor
stands in the way of sinners, nor
sits in the seat Of the scornful''
| psalm I'D. We are to be good
neighbors, we are not to hold
ourselves aloof. We are to do all
! that is possible to show the
ungodly that we love them and
are concerned for them. But
separation" means that we are
not to participate with them in
their ungodly habits.
| Let us practice true religion
Let us shun the hypocrisy to
which we are all prone. Let us
take a personal interest in those
who are in distress and do what
we can to help them. At the
| same time we are responsible to
keep ourselves morally pure and
free from ulterior motives. We
must not deceive ourselves that
God will overlook our moral
laxity because of our good
works. A right relation to Jesus
Christ enables us to practice g
genuine religion.