40 days of Reading the Bible by a Clueless, Wandering, Wannabe Christian

 4 March, Day 19: John 2: 13-25 One of the things I hate most about religion, second to fundamentalism, is its commercialization or people making money off God or religion. I've had a personal experience of this at a church in Kerala, India where you could pay a priest to pray for you. People stood in long queues to buy his prayers, right outside the church, within its grounds. There are other examples of world-famous preachers and so-called religious leaders (across religions) who amass a huge following doing the same, pushing "religion" onto a mass of believers, performing miracles and healings and selling a brand name - providing opium to the people. One such religious "leader" in India, now had a multi-million FMCG consumer brand. I've always found this repulsive and disgusting, yet people lap it up - for their good or not- I don't know! On one hand you can argue, if people are taking something good away from it to apply to their lives, than...

23 February, Day 10 : Mathew 5: 20-26 The morning sessions are going well, despite me waking up at different times in the morning (I blame toddler for some of this).  However, I must start waking at the same time everyday even if a little later than planned. A week into Lent, I decided to give up my much-loved morning cup of coffee. And coffee throughout the day too. I had started to depend on it especially since I started to wake up earlier ("I'll be awake soon, I just need some coffee!").  Now I dream like an addict of the smell of the coffee and that first sip which spreads warmth and awareness through me.  Are you allowed to talk about the said sacrificed thing in such a manner once you've given it up? I've weirdly coming to crave it less, although I think about it every morning! Back to the reading of the day, which is from Mathew 5: 20-26 . Here's the bit that stands out for me: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there ...