The Sacred Cow

I love to investigate the origins of some of the sayings that are deeply imbedded in our American language. For example; He couldn't hold a candle to him. I found the origin of this saying actually came from the medieval period. Kings lived in castles that were very dark inside especially during the night. The king had a special servant that would hold a candle to him at night so that he could find his way to the bathroom. If you were unworthy, then you couldn't hold a candle to the king. That makes a lot of sense and so now I understand what we mean when we use that saying.

We often use the word Sacred Cow to describe something that we hold close to our heart.

Here is the Wikipedia defintion of Sacred Cow

In Hinduism, the cow is often, but not universally, considered sacred and its protection is a recurrent theme in which the cow is symbolic of abundance, of the sanctity of all life and of the earth that gives much while asking nothing in return. Most Hindus respect the cow as a matriarchal figure for its gentle qualities and providing nurturing milk and its products for a largely vegetarian diet. It holds an honored place in society, and it is part of Hindu tradition to avoid the consumption of beef.

As noble as that definition sounds it really seems to be mis-applied. The cow's function in our world is selfless and nurturing to humanity but to make the cow sacred is really missing the point. The cow's creator had much more to do with the cow's function than the cow itself but what do we do? We worship the thing that was created, an all too familiar outcome.

I have observed and participated in the American Chuch culture for the last 35 years and I have seen what we hold dear to our heart. We have made a lot of things sacred in our churches that actually get in the way. Time honored sacred cows like Sunday morning church services, Sunday School, Bible Studies etc are deeply imbedded in our American church culture but do they play a larger role than necessary. None of these things are bad in themselves but I wonder what would happen to the average American's christianity if you took all these things away.

The real question that we need to ask ourselves is; What do we hold dear to our heart? If the culture that we have built is holding us together rather than our love for Jesus then we are just as deceived as the Hindu's are with their sacred cow. It really sounds sac-relgious to question the institutional church but the fruit of it's existence is becoming more and more evident to each new generation. We are losing ground with the young people. You won't notice the loss when you are plugged into the institution. It serves as a camaflouge to what's really happening in the world around it but most people are oblivious to this and are riding it out on the back of their sacred cow. There are many faithful to Jesus that still unselfishly give themselves to the institutional church in America. They are like missionaries and I am glad that they are there but God's desire is for us all to come into a unity of faith. We are just too scattered and divisive within the institutions. Take heart. The Lord is in control and our religious substitutes will all be gone someday and when they fall many will be devastated but the end result is that the church will become the bride that He wants and the one that He will eventually return for.