That's not what it means to me...

One of the most often repeated phrases that I hear from people brave enough to ask me about my faith journey - assuming they stick around long enough to actually listen to what I share - is the reply, "But that's not what it means to me..." when I explain my spiritual evolution of learning how pagan traditions have crept into the Christian church and the subsequent muddling of practices that have no scriptural basis, but have somehow come to replace the guidelines that God has actually laid down for His followers in the very scriptures we claim to believe are true.*

Believe me - I hear you. Those are the exact same words I said myself at one point (at many points, to be honest.)

My testimony is a long read, so I can't blame anyone for not slogging through it. In reality, I did not write it for anyone to read, but to lay out my thought process so I could see for myself how my journey has progressed. But, the Reader's Digest version is that:

• I had my interest piqued through a presentation by Jews for Jesus on "Christ in the Passover", in which the realization of the relevancy of the whole Bible became very clear to me.

• I read two books: The first was Revolution in the Church which is a call to live as Jesus lives. The second was Pagan Christianity which explores the roots of common church practices.

• I watched a teaching video by Jim Staley called Truth or Tradition which, while perhaps not 100% verifiable on all historical points, certainly provides food for thought on a lot of traditions and practices that I had given little to no thought to over the course of my Christian life.

In fact, much of what I was learning challenged my assumption that it didn't really matter what the origins of a practice or tradition are, because "that's not what they mean to me."

The truth is: it really doesn't matter so much what something means to me. The question we should really concern ourselves with is: What does this mean to God?

I think that question is more than adequately answered if we understand just what happened with the Israelites when they left Egypt and had the incident with the golden calf in the wilderness. Growing up, I always assumed that God was punishing them for worshiping a false god. Boy, did I ever find out how wrong I was. The Israelites were actually attempting to worship their own God (YHVH), but they made the fatal error of thinking that they could worship Him using the practices they picked up on their 400 year sojourn in Egypt. I have to tell you, that realization put a whole new spin on my excuse, "That's not what it means to me."

I'm hoping that as you chew on that for a bit, a seed of doubt will be planted in your mind and you will re-think what you are saying. So what if it doesn't mean Baal worship to you. What does it mean to YHVH?

*If you're still wondering why does this even matter... consider what God Himself says in His instructions to His followers:
Deuteronomy 12: 29“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, 30take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.