Cost/Benefit Analysis

Have you stopped and asked yourself why you are a religious person? A Christian? What difference does it make in your life that you can't get from some other source? Certainly, one can find community in different places, and service opportunities. There are happy and morally decent irreligious and atheist individuals.

Perhaps you want to latch on to the afterlife as your reason. Assuming I'm wrong about Universalism (and I may very well be), this looks like a solid response. But consider this: The Book of Matthew suggests that those who become Christians only to receive Heaven can have no place in it (see: chapter 25). It is one of the central themes of that Gospel. Besides, Universalism and Predestination are just as likely as any other afterlife 'theory', so why worry?

In the end, I think, the only reason to become a Christian is because nothing in this world really satisfied, really delivers. We want new experiences, and a genuine relationship with God. There is a totally different way of life out there and we want to be a part of it. C S Lewis spoke about the desires of his heart including desires he can't satisfy in this world. It is the great vision of Ezekiel, the profundity of Paul's thought, the radically different way of life David experiences, these are the goals that make sense of the religious life. An exploration of new worlds and new ways of being...nothing else really delivers. I, for one, find nothing else in the religious life that is both worthy and unique.

But these kinds of benefits don't come cheap. One cannot "do" religion once a week and reap them. They require a re-orientation of life and self, adopting practices of ongoing prayer, study, and meditation. It costs time and therefore other opportunities in life, it is a costly grace. It took me years of contemplative practices to reach a point where the costs exceeded the benefits. It is a life-long commitments. Today, though, it has brought me to and adventure that finally makes life a life that really 'delivers'.

Another Gospel, Luke, talks a lot about the cost of discipleship. And asks people to consider these costs before seeking to become one of His followers. Know what you are getting into and be sure the costs are worth the possible benefits. There are no guarantees, no certainties, and there is no safety here. There are forms of life both surer and yet satisfying out there. But the Christian life can be an adventure like no other. "It's wondrous out here, with delights to satiate desires both subtle and gross...but it's not for the timid." (Q, from STAR TREK: TNG)