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(And Other Idols)
Note: There is a poll at the very end of this sermon/article. Please provide your sincere response to help determine the course of these messages. Note that I do what I want anyway, but I sure value your input! The comments are always open, too. And, as always, please share when you feel like sharing.
—Gene, the JourneyMan
I am calling this series “Sunday School,” and this one may feel more like school than any of the others. I do not apologize for that.
“Holy cow!”
Let’s talk about that holy cow business. Where did it come from? Why do people say it? Whoever thought of putting “holy” and “cow” together in the first place?
We are told that “holy cow” is what etymologists call a “minced oath.” That is, two words are minced together that otherwise would not seem to belong. The term emerged in the late 19th century as an alternative to taking God’s name in vain.
If someone stubbed their toe or hit their thumb with a hammer, they may have shouted, “Holy God!” or “Holy Christ!” or they might merge “holy” with a most unholy word.
Such expressions offended the sensibilities of those wary of using the holy name as a cuss. So, substitutes emerged, including “Holy Cow.” In place of “Damn it!,” southern people might say “Dadgum it!” Things like that.
But the holy cow has history behind it.
The Hindu and the Sacred Cow
In America, we give plenty of thought to Eastern religions. Islam, of course, is always in the fore because of their aggressive behavior, treatment of women, and, for the more radical, their pure hatred of Christ and Christians. Even the less radical ones have no warm fuzzies for Israel or the Jews.
Moses and the sacred cow
It may not be beside the point to remember that Israel once literally placed a “holy cow” between themselves and God—and evoked the wrath of Moses, and God. We will get to them in a few minutes.
The Holy Hindu Cow
Hinduism doesn’t get a lot of play because it doesn’t represent a threat. Hindus are more peaceful, by and large.
But, boy, do they love their sacred cows. In Hindu countries, cows may roam free and unmolested. While Christians see Texas Roadhouse on hooves, Hindus see Grandma or Grandpa.
This respect for the peaceful, mostly harmless grass-eating, milk-giving cow rises from the two major tenets of Hinduism:
Samsara—or, reincarnation.
Ahimsa—a commitment to nonviolence.
These foundational Hindu principles elevate Elsie for three reasons:
The Evolution of the Soul—In Hindu theology, a soul (atman) is trapped in a continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The soul evolves as it moves through millions of different life forms (from plants to insects to animals) before finally achieving human form, which is the only state where one can achieve ultimate spiritual liberation (moksha). Being reincarnated as a cow is considered an incredibly high stage of this evolutionary journey—often seen as the final stepping stone before a soul is reborn as a human. So, if you eat a cow, you might be eating an ancestor who is just one stop short of becoming human again.
The Weight of Karma—Because of reincarnation, Hinduism teaches ahimsa, the principle of non-violence toward all living things, since every creature houses a reincarnating soul. Harming any animal brings negative karma. However, because the cow is considered such a spiritually advanced and purely benevolent creature, killing or harming one carries a catastrophic karmic penalty. Ancient texts suggest that the negative karma of killing a cow could result in the perpetrator being reincarnated into the lowest, most agonizing life forms for countless lifetimes.
The Universal Mother—The cow is revered as Gau Mata (Mother Cow) because of her selfless nature. She eats simple grass but produces milk that sustains human life, long after a human mother has stopped nursing. In the karmic cycle, harming the cow is equated to the horrific spiritual sin of harming one’s own mother.
Since Hinduism goes as far back as 3,000 BC, this thinking has endured a long, long time—and without a famous founder to point to.
Thinking about whether it has impacted Western thought, and particularly American thought, you can be sure it has.
The Beatles famously traveled to India to learn the practice of Transcendental Meditation. George Harrison released My Sweet Lord in 1970.
Star Wars and “The Force”—”May The Force be with you”—is just an Americanized rendering of Brahman, the sum total of energy that can be summoned and used for good or evil.
American authors Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson dipped their prose and poetry respectively into the peaceful waters of Hindu thought—and significantly impacted American thought in the late 19th Century and the 20th Century. They are still influencing us. PBS recently released a documentary series studying and praising Thoreau.
If all that seems too far back and foreign, or is you are, like me, from Texas or some other hotbed of Country music, consider the famous Highwayman—Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, each an icon in his own right—singing about reincarnation in their most famous song, I Was a Highwayman. They imagine having been a highwayman, a sailor, and a dam builder. The last verse goes like this:
I’ll fly a star ship across the universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I’ll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I’ll be back again and again and again
And again and again and again
And you are thinking, OK! What the heck does that have to do with me??? And just like that, I caught you Baptist cussing!
The Jewish and Christian Sacred Cows
Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and became the undisputed spiritual and political leader of a people that had not self-governed for 400 years. Establishing laws to govern a people, and a form of government is always a delicate and dicey thing, so Jehovah called Moses into Mt. Sinai to be alone with him and to give the people a simple but comprehensive outline for how they should conduct themselves—in other words, God was laying down The Law.
Moses would return with tablets containing The Ten Commandments, which would become the sacred cornerstone of the laws for the Jews, and for every Christian-influenced government in the world to this day.
But it was not all smooth. In fact, it was not at all smooth.
Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
So Aaron told them, “Take off the gold earrings that are on your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me.”
Then all the people took off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and proclaimed: “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”
So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians declare, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce anger and relent from doing harm to Your people. Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”
So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.
Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 32:1-15
Here was a crossroads for Israel: trust a God you cannot see or a golden calf that represents the work of your own hands. Trust God or a more immediate-feeling, man-made substitute for Him. Trust God or themselves. That is a crossroad every believer from then to now has faced, is facing, or will face—God or your Golden Calf.
What are the modern Golden Calves?
Financial Security:
The most immediate substitute for God’s providence. It is the temptation to trust in a bank balance or a retirement fund to provide the “peace” that only the Prince of Peace can sustain.
Political Ideology:
Turning a party, a platform, or a specific leader into a savior. It is the belief that the “kingdom” will be brought or saved through legislative power rather than through the transformation of the human heart by the Spirit.
Professional Platform:
This is a subtle idol for those in leadership. It is trusting in one’s own influence, credentials, and reputation to maintain a “kingdom” of one’s own making, rather than laboring purely for the glory of God.
Technological Control:
Trusting in “the algorithm,” scientific advancement, or digital systems to eliminate suffering and provide a sense of omniscience and safety. It is the modern “digital panopticon” turned into a source of hope. I believe this may be the vehicle of Antichrist, if not his habitat.
Moral Performance:
Trusting in a “clean” record, correct doctrine, or religious activity as the basis for security. It makes “self-justification” the god and renders the finished work of Christ secondary.
Family & Legacy:
Elevating the success, happiness, or approval of children and grandchildren to an ultimate position. It turns a “good gift” into an “ultimate thing” that dictates the believer’s fundamental identity.
Personal Comfort:
The “immediate-feeling” substitute. It is the idol of the “path of least resistance,” where any demand God makes is weighed against how much it will cost in terms of convenience or ease.
“I’ll do anything for you, Lord, as long as it is nearby, at a good time for me, doesn’t cost too much, and is not too hard. Also, the Cowboys play at 3 this Sunday. But anyway…Anything! I mean it, Jesus. Anything at all!”
Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
He answers him from His holy heaven
with the saving power of His right hand.
Some trust in chariots and others in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They collapse and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
O LORD, save the king.
Answer us on the day we call.
Psalm 20:6–9
So, if you ever wondered where the Brits got their “God save the King (or Queen)” from, there you have it. Only, this was the king writing the verse. This was the King’s prayer.
Why did he pray that in the third person? Did pride seep into his soul as he wrote? Was he reminding God that he was a king? No! I do not believe that. I believe he was acknowledging that his role was wholly of God’s doing, and therefore, he desired God’s guidance and protection.
Whatever your role is, however much you sacrificed to get into it, it is still all God. Without Him, you are nothing. Literally. Nothing. Nowhere. No one.
So, smash to pieces your Golden Calves. Repent of your self-reliance. Tear down that wall between you and Holy God.
Once more, let’s give the Apostle Paul a final word in this Sunday School sermon:
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:1–5
The way he closes that! Greed, which is idolatry. God vs the Golden Calf. God vs Greed.
My name is Gene. Some call me “Preacher.” This is Sunday School.
