Six Sacred Cows

I like the above image because it shows someone daring to tip over a sacred cow. He must be brave because sacred cow tipping is not welcomed in most circles.

One place that does not generally welcome even the questioning of sacred cows is the church. But what are "sacred cows" anyway? They are traditions that many people love, and therefore do not want challenged in any way, shape, or form.

I've been thinking about specific sacred cows in the American church today. Six of them stand out to me. If you question the biblical basis for these traditions, don't expect your questions to be welcomed. The responses you receive, even from Christians, are likely to be more negative than you imagine.

Here are six sacred cows of the church:

1. The Building

Just take a drive anywhere in this country and you will see multiple, million dollar structures that most people refer to as "churches." These buildings dominate much of the functioning and resources of the churches that gather inside them. If you dare ask what the biblical basis is for the church building, do not expect to be welcomed. You will receive a response something like this, "The early church met in the temple, so we meet in our building." This logic says that churches should build structures because O.T. Israel had a temple. This is faulty at best. Additionally, we don't see any N.T. churches outside of Jerusalem building temples in which to meet.

Many church buildings are beloved. People remember weddings, baptisms, children's musicals, etc. that have taken place there. Therefore, if you question the biblical basis for a church building, watch out. Most people don't even want to think about it.

2. The Worship Service

It used to be that Sunday School was a sacred cow, but many churches are now moving away from it. However, the worship service (or whatever it is called) remains basically unquestioned. I'm referring to a scripted ceremony with a set order. A few people (the "worship leader" and the pastor) do most of the talking from a platform of some sort. The majority of the people sit quietly in pews or rows except when they sing. The order usually goes something like this: welcome and announcements, singing, offering, prayer, sermon, singing, prayer.

The problem is that when we look in the bible we don't see anything like this. Instead, we see a free flowing, informal gathering of the early church where everyone is involved. There is no ceremony or "order of worship." All are invited to participate.

If you question why there is an order of worship, you will get blank stares and/or scowls. The bulletin, after all, needs an order.

3. The Weekly Offering

Each week, as part of the above-mentioned worship service, churches take up offerings (often referred to as "tithes and offerings"). This may be done in varying ways, but the end result is the people contributing money toward the operation of the church. As is clear by a look at any traditional church budget, the vast majority of the offerings go directly to pay for the building and staff salaries.

Again, this is not something we see in the bible. The church gave toward the needs of others. They gave freely, not out of compulsion. The idea of taking up an offering is a foreign concept to the N.T. church.

If you challenge the weekly offering, the response will focus on the need for it in order to pay for the ministries of the church. Of course, most of the ministry is, then, the building and staff salaries.

4. Salaried Pastors

The weekly offering becomes a necessity if a church pays salaries to pastors. This amounts to pragmatics.

Again, the problem is that we don't see this in scripture. Love offerings may have occurred, but full-time salaries did not. If you question this, the response you'll receive will focus on the church wanting to "free up" men for ministry. But, if this is necessary, then why didn't the early church do it?

If you do question pastoral salaries, be ready for a quick response from, you guessed it, the pastors receiving the salaries.

5. The Sermon

Each week as churches across this country gather, one man will stand up in front of the assembly and "bring a message from God." Wow. That sounds impressive. The problem is that, as we have seen before, this is not a N.T. church practice. Simply put, one-direction preaching didn't happen in early church gatherings.

This is a massive sacred cow. If you challenge it, be ready for a not so friendly response.

When the early church gathered, we see many people sharing teachings from scripture. This may have been pastors, but maybe not. Many people taught; nobody preached - especially not a sermon like we see today.

6. Christmas and Easter

WARNING: Watch out! If you challenge these celebrations, get ready for a none-too-happy response.

We know that Christmas has pagan roots. We also know that there is absolutely no biblical basis for celebrating it.

Easter is another man-constructed idea. It is basically a pagan-fertility festival.

The early church got together to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ each time the gathered. In Acts, as Paul proclaimed the gospel in new locations, he preached (to lost people) about the death and resurrection. These were his twin themes.

The N.T. model is to celebrate what Christ accomplished each time we gather. We don't need a special day for it. We certainly don't need to celebrate his birth.

If Christmas and Easter were important, wouldn't they at least be mentioned as the N.T. church gathered?

If you question these celebrations, get ready for push back in a big way.

So these are six of the church's sacred cows. Can you think of any more?

If we dare, we should also ask, "What sacred cows do I still have in my own life?" Ouch.