Extremes and demands

I like James a lot. I feel like, for the most part, it’s such a reassuring little book. I like the way that James addresses those he’s talking to, it’s such a kind, humble way of talking. Even if he is talking about heavy things, he does it in such a way that seems very gentle to me somehow.

I feel like there are a lot of extremes in this book, however. For instance, in chapter one James is talking about not merely listening to the word and he says something to the extent of anyone who thinks he’s religious yet doesn’t keep a tight rein of his tongue is fooling himself and his religion is worthless. Or, how, when talking about the law, it says that if you break one part of the law you are guilty of breaking the whole of it. That’s rather discouraging. It shows just how corrupt we all are. But I suppose it also evens the playing field, which God likes to do.

I also noticed the times that James pointedly talks about how those who pray and believe are essentially guaranteed to get what they’re asking for. That really just doesn’t make sense to me and never has. Mostly just because I have ‘tested out’ this theory multiple times and have always been disappointed. I know that it says in the Bible that we shouldn’t test God, but what does that even mean? Wouldn’t assuming that you’re going to get exactly what you want if you ask God for it be kind of like testing God? These two ideas seem very contradictory to me.