Catherine Zeta Jones, one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars, is often seen wearing a cross of gold and diamonds. Jennifer Anniston, the darling of the television series Friends and estranged wife of Brad Pitt, wears a cross of platinum and diamonds. Fashion model Naomi Campbell is reported to have a collection of enormous, jewel-studded crosses. Italian fashion stylist Giuliana Cella has more than four hundred of them.

Sammy Sosa, the home run hitting outfielder, formerly of the Chicago Cubs and now with the Baltimore Orioles, typically hits his chest, throws a kiss heavenward and points to the sky after hitting a home run. Other athletes have been seen making the sign of the cross, kneeling in the posture of prayer or kissing their rosary necklace prior to or immediately after some strategic juncture in an athletic contest.

Candidates for public office have been known to invoke the name of the Lord in their campaign speeches or political rallies. While conservatives often accuse liberals of using religion to pander and liberals paint conservatives as closed-minded fanatics, both have typically claimed belief in a higher power.

What is the meaning of all these outward expressions of religion or faith? Surely, we would be remiss to categorically renounce those who give external evidences of religion and label all those who wear Christian jewelry, make pious gestures, and utter sanctimonious shibboleths as superficial.

But here is the question for the average, Bible-believing, Sunday-go-to-meeting Baptist: What evidences of your faith would you have left if you didn't go to church on Sunday?

Church going can be very superficial if there is no other evidence to substantiate one's faith. In fact, church attendance may be much like an accessory or an addendum tacked on to what one may consider life's more essential features.

Recent statistics reveal that the church in America is experiencing significant attrition; and it may be due to the fact that many church members are vainly attempting to give expression to a make-believe faith. The Apostle Paul declared that in the last days there would be those who would have only a "form of godliness, but deny the power thereof." Their faith is only a pretense, a charade. Many are guilty of an easy believism that is void of repentance and a genuinely transformed life.

Leonard Ravenhill, the evangelist and revivalist, said, "You may belittle experiences and speak of the dangers of emotion, but we are suffering from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse and as dead as old King Tut. We are suffering, not from a lack of correct heads, but from a lack of consumed hearts."

The church that was once a force for evangelism is now a field for evangelism. Hopefully, the wave revivals that are presently beginning to sweep across our state will not only bring brand new converts into the church, but cause church members to heed the admonition of Paul who said to the church at Corinth: "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (II Corinthians 13:5).

The incident that convinced me to write this editorial happened last week when I was going into a neighborhood restaurant. A twenty-something fellow came out of the restaurant shouting obscenities and taking the Lord's name in vain. On his t-shirt was a picture of two tablets of stone seemingly embossed with Roman numerals from I to X superimposed over an American flag. Above the picture were the words "Honor God's Word It's Carved in Stone" and under the picture were the words "Keep the Ten Commandments".

The poor man with the vile tongue seemed to be unaware that he was wearing the Ten Commandments on his shirt and violating one of them with his words. It is hypocritical to insist on the Ten Commandments being displayed in the public square and not have them inscribed in your heart. Maybe we have more in the show window than we have in the storeroom.