Stormy weather

Signs that the end is near:

The village of Cridersville, Ohio, describes itself as "small town America at its very best." On Aug. 21, the town will honor the frontman for the 1980s heavy metal band Twisted Sister by changing its name to Snidersville.

We life in a society today that has changed so much since the 50s that what is America at its very best no longer exists.

We've bled the country of its goodness, taken God out of schools but allowing Allah to be worshipped near the site of Islam's worst tragedy, the World Trade Center.

We've changed the way we all view the local church, making it something that one attends (perhaps) on Sunday morning and forgets the rest of the week.

We've allowed Godlessness to become the law of the land instead of Godliness.

We've simply changed. Anyone who would argue that either is too young to remember or is part of the Godlessness.

Blue laws anyone?

The question is, however, whether this is a better land for you and me or not? Is the fact we've loosened the way we worship better or worse?

Depends.

In Paul's letter to the chuch in Galatia, he rails against letting the law be added to the formula he has laid out: Faith in Jesus allows grace to be administered as a salvation tool by God.

In other words, Jesus plus the law equals salvation. Paul says in no uncertain terms, no, no and furthermore, no. Faith in Jesus alone. Jesus plus nothing.

So adding blue laws, mandatory prayer to start the school day, allowing prayer before school events, church being the focal point of the community, and you name it will not get you one step closer to heaven.

This I say is true.

It's Jesus plus nada. We are not held hostage by the law of Moses, because we can't do it all we shouldn't add one iota to the formula for salvation.

So where have we gone wrong, if we have?

The answer is we can't work with our own freedom. Paul says it this way: For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only DO NOT USE YOUR FREEDOM AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SELF-INDULGENCE.

He goes on to add but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandments: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. If, however, you bite and devour one another; take care that you are not consumed by one another.

There is the rub. We've been given freedom, freedom of religion but also freedom FROM religion. We've taken the from and run with it. We've decided we're so free we have no ethical nor moral fence to keep us out of the self-indulgent pasture on the other side of the hill.

We simply couldn't police ourselves, so we fell or are in the process of falling.

We're free, yes, free indeed. But free to do what?

The sad answer in America today is free to do whatever we want. So free we no longer even notice our neighbor. So free we've devoured everything we come in contact with.

Were the 50s so much better with their blatant racism and sexism? Only in this regard: We understood that we needed help in loving Jesus. We put up shelters from the storms, such as blue laws and mandatory prayer. Once we took those shelters down because we decided we no longer needed them, the storms overtook us.

They still are.