It's Complicated

I went for a run in the woods with the dogs today; as usual my mind began to wander. I was listening to a sermon on my iPod about charity. That’s when it hit me, so many churches have spent thousands of years complicating what at its core is such a simple concept. If I were to start my own church it would only meet once, it would have one sermon consisting of one word, love. That’s it, that’s the message people, it’s not about the Pope and birth control, it’s not about buildings; it is about people and how you treat them. This world like it or not is completely run on how we treat each other. For millennia people have fought wars, killed, stolen, beaten, and generally mistreated each other. This happens for different reasons, it’s not always about religion. The one constant is that it will happen again. People are complicated and generally they like their answers to be complicated as well. This gives us a sense of being better than others, if the message were simple than anyone could get it, which is exactly why it was so simple in the beginning. We tend to overcomplicate things, it’s just who we are. Remember the telephone game where you whisper a secret around the room and it sounds completely different at the end? Really anyone can muck this one up, but the word love or some variant IS used 697 times in the NIV and 442 in the KJV bible. Not sure why King James had less love but whatever, after literally thousands of years of playing telephone it’s gotten complicated. Instead of worrying about all the things other people are doing wrong in this world just concentrate on treating people with dignity, respect, and honor. One sermon, one word, LOVE. That’s it. Keep it simple.