Dan's Marinations

This is the first in a series of blog entries aimed at poking fun at some of the sacred cows we Christians cling to.  These are primarily practices and beliefs that we cling to, yet which have precious little to do with what the Bible actually says.  I suppose that most folks reading this will find their toes being crunched a time or two.  That's okay, I'm aiming to promote reflection on how what we think we believe is related to scripture. The sacred cow on the slaughtering block today is the ubiquitous "sinner's prayer."  You've heard it a million times.  The preacher (often on TV) will encourage his listeners to do a repeat-after-me prayer that admits sin and professes faith in Christ.  Those who followed along are then ensured that their place in heaven is now secure forever.  The first great problem with this is that it truly amounts to "cheap grace."  When this is added to the doctrine of perserverance of the saints (once saved always sa...

The pants were getting a little tight.  A little more flab around the middle than I like.  I realized that I needed to either set a goal for myself or just toss the running shoes in the trash.  So the notion struck me earlier this week that it's not too late to find a good race to sign up for this fall.  Thought about Paris Mountain 20K, got really excited about maybe the Kiaway half marathon in early December.  Registration was closed.  So Elizabeth found the Thunder Road Marathon and Half-Marathon in Charlotte on Dec. 11.  She read a course description someone had written about the course.  It described the course as being moderately difficult with lots of rolling hills.  To that my beloved son said, "Daddy, I don't think you want to do that one, it would be too hard for you."  Yes, I'm 43 going on 986, am thinner on top than I'd like to be, and have let myself go a little since I had a good run at the Paris Mountain race last winter...

How often do we here someone ask or say that they want to know God's will for his/her life?  How many books, sermons, lectures, studies are aimed at enabling people to know what God has in store for them?  For everything from what church to attend, what career to pursue, who to marry, where to live, down to mundane matters- red car or blue, we want to know God's will.  Call it the curmudgeon in me, but I confess that I've become more and more skeptical of the enterprise we know of as discovering the Lord's will.  Okay preacher, but what about Jeremiah 29:11, about plans for wholeness and not to harm?  That was spoken to the weeping prophet as Jerusalem was being laid waste by the Babylonians and was a promise to restore the city and land, a promise that was indeed fulfilled beginning in 539 BC.  My own ruminations on this lead me to think that there is much less in scripture about this topic than what we think or wish.  More and more I find mysel...

In reviewing some proposed Sunday School material last week I came across an interesting phrase.  The publisher of one of the curricula I looked over had a statement of faith which proudly proclaimed that they followed "no creed but Christ."  As I reflected on that, I couldn't help but think that the writers probably meant one thing, but in effect were saying something quite different.  To the extent that they were saying that they followed one Lord, or one faith, I certainly agree wholeheartedly.  Unfortunately, they did not say that followed no lord but Christ.  A creed, at its simplest is a statement of faith, a doctrine that differentiates one group from another.  The very statement faith that they posted on their website was a contradiction of their proclamation that they had no creed.  To say that they follow no creed is to quite literally say that they have no beliefs about Christ.  All of the things that the Church has taught and believed ...