Religious Smorgasbord

How do you choose a religion? David Plotz has some great incite about evangelism from the book of Ruth.

Naomi is heading back to Bethlehem, but before she leaves she gently tells her widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to return to their Moabite homes and remarry. Naomi isn't trying to ditch them for selfish reasons. On the contrary, Naomi knows that she herself is too old to remarry, and she doesn't want to be a burden to the young women. They insist on going with her anyway. Naomi orders them not to follow her. Orpah finally leaves, but Ruth sticks to her like glue and delivers one of the most moving speeches in the Bible: "For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried." This speech is incredible in many ways but perhaps most because of its insight into how people choose a religion. Ruth does not come to the Lord because He is the Lord. She comes because she loves Naomi. If Naomi worshipped Baal, Ruth probably would have become a Baalite. Sometimes the theologians forget that religion is not a calculation: Almost always we come to God or Allah or the Buddha not because we have carefully analyzed the relevant laws, texts, and miracles but because someone we love and admire leads us to them. Relationships, not theories, make religions grow.