The workout center in our development, Stone Creek, has been closed due to the pandemic, and for exercise I have been riding my bike early in the cool of the morning.  There are surprisingly quite a few people out, most of whom are walking their dogs, and for some reason most are women.  One morning I realized that while I usually waved or said, “Hi.”, my eyes focused on the dogs.  What does this say about the women of Stone Creek?  What does this say about me? 

Nothing!  The women of Stone Creek are interesting, intelligent, and certainly attractive.  As for me, I’m not dead – yet!  What it says something about, are the dogs of Stone Creek.  They completely grab your attention as they regally prance along, and they look as though they rule the world (They probably do rule their world.)  Most are curly, little white dogs that are cute as buttons.  I have to be careful that they don’t cause me to crash.

            Different things can attract people in their religious lives, too, both for the good and the bad.  Mark 16:18 says that followers will “pick up snakes with their hands.”  A few groups have focused on this scripture to the point that they handle poisonous snakes during services, and some of them have died.  There are three problems with this: (1) the verse is not proscriptive – it does not tell people to handle snakes; (2) the practice violates Matthew 4:7 that tells us not to test God; and (3) Mark 16:18 may have been an interpolation, since it is not in the earliest extant copies of Mark.  Most Christians pay little attention to this verse.

            The promise of the second coming of Christ and the resurrection of he dead is a comfort to all Christians, and we are reminded of this whenever we recite the Nicene Creed.  This is a popular topic; for example, the “Left Behind” series of books has been read by millions.  In the extreme, however, this common part of our faith can distract us from living our faith in the here and now.  Mark 13:32 tells us that we will never know when that will be, but nevertheless throughout history there have been a number of groups who have concentrated on various predictions of the date.  A 2010 Pew poll found that 58% of white evangelical Christians believe Christ will come again before 2050. 

            What about Christianity gets the attention of non-Christians?  By far the most common scripture quoted in evangelistic sermons is John 3:16. Although not everyone understands the theological concept of original sin, everyone has felt guilt and can relate to this verse, especially when verse 17 is added.   The promise of God’s freely given grace is a strong one.  Matthew Stach was one of the first missionaries to Greenland, and he went for over a year (1733) without any hint of success.  He only attracted the natives to Christ after he started concentrating on the simple story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. 

             It is a good thing that there are many parts of Christianity that get the attention of us and others, and knowing them is a part of carrying out the Great Commission.  It is also important, however, that we don’t focus on a non-essential one to the point that it becomes a distraction. One of the best ones to remember is that God’s love for YOU and me is unconditional.

Jim