Have You Been Saved?

By Michael L. Craner

It was one of those icy mornings where the cold seemed to burn and chill you through to the bone. No snow, ice, or rain, just bitter cold, as I headed into work, as usual stuck behind a school bus and the long chain of other parents falling in line behind as it stopped at each driveway along the rural route.

I could see someone up ahead standing on the little island where the stop sign was, separating the left hand turn from the right hand turn. She was smiling, waving and ducking down to make eye contact, at each car that came up to the stop-sign, waiting for that friendly wave to “get in". Most would not make eye contact, but I had seen her there before, once in a while, the routine was always the same. I waited until it was my turn, and since she was still there I invited her in with the “get in” wave.

She jumped in and the next 2-3 miles were filled with her non-stop chatter, with me nodding my head when it was appropriate to agree, frowning and shaking it when I should agree that “that’s terrible”, etc etc. She was one of the most enthusiastic and talkative sorts I’ve met, bubbly, almost certainly a bit of an air head. Having made the trip with her before, I knew where we were going, it seems she looks after some older person down the road. I forget if it’s a friend or relative, it hardly matters to me anyway.

On this occasion however, she asked me that all too common question that one hears from a fair percentage of the folk when you live in the Midwest and have known someone for 10 or 15 minutes. “Have you been saved and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?”

“Oh yes!” I replied, not wanting to get into a lengthy theological discussion. There was another comment, then a somewhat derogatory one about Jehovah’s Witnesses whose church we were coming up on, reminding me I needed to turn the opposite direction for another block or two to drop off my guest.

Our last ride together must have been around two years ago now, I haven’t seen her since, but the one thing she ever said that stuck with me was “the question”. I’m not the sort who gets deeply inspired to religion by the random words of someone, and this case is no different. Rather than reflecting deeply on her question and turning to the bible or a church somewhere, I instead reflected on the questioner herself, and what gave her the right to inquire on the salvation of my soul, especially with the follow-up remark putting down another religion.

For some reason, I am always finding myself looking more at the person, than what they say, and that tends to make me ever more cynical and sensitive to the hypocrisy of human nature. The first part of course is the obvious, how some will say, (preach), one thing, and do another, but the other part can be often overlooked, the part where they are sticking their nose into other people's business and lives.

What makes matters worse is that people are “brain-washed” into thinking they are doing people good by butting in. This is reinforced with great tales of how “someone changed my life when they showed me the word of God”. But it’s not just religion I’m talking about here, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Advertising commercials bombard us with their own doctrine, making us feel bad about ourselves, but promising their products will cure what ails us. I have never had a yeast infection or irregular menstrual cycle, but after watching television for a couple hours I’m beginning to think I might need to talk to my doctor about the benefits of Diflucan.

The news media tells us “all the news we need to know”, that is actually the slogan of a local AM station. Funny thing is, if I go to http://news.google.com and search for headlines from their listings of over 4500 news sources, I can see the same stories repeated all over the world, and often times I can find several versions or sides of the same story, particularly if it is a “world news event” and I check in on how other countries are spinning the tale. Then there is all those popular news websites that now require to you register and sign in before you can read their news. They always want to know all about you, where you live, what your interests are, etc “to better serve you”. Which basically means how they can better target their advertisements or who to sell your information to… so you can be further berated and promised the latest snake oil for what ails you.

Then there is politics. Wow, what a mess that is. At first glance, all the parties stand for different and opposite issues. Then looking closer you may find that really they all want the same thing, they just word it differently. If you look even closer, their stories and issues change depending on who they are talking to. So basically, you can disregard anything that any party backed politician might say, because it’s only an issue to THEM if it gets your vote, and even then they will change their minds, because money is more fun than votes.

In the end, no one will talk to you or give the slightest damn about you unless you have something they want, or they think they can change you to their way of thinking, putting you under their control.

So think about that the next time you get unsolicited email, that unexpected knock on the door, the next commercial break, campaign flyer, etc. Ask yourself, “What do THEY want?” Then even more carefully, ask yourself, “Is that what I really want?”

Have I been saved? Yep, you bet I have, and it’s none of your damned business.