If it looks like a duck.......

Ever have a life changing moment? Most of us have at some time or another had a moment that changed us and we will never forget it.

I can still remember clearly the day I realized what I had been taught about faith and God was wrong. Well, maybe not completely wrong, but definitely not right according to the Bible.

It was summer, July to be exact.  The newspaper ran an article about one of the most popular festivals held during the summer months. The Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival. Up till that day, for me the festival was nothing more than riding rides, eating real Italian food and buying pints of blueberries at low prices. But right there on the front page of the local section was a picture of the statue of St. Carmel being carried down the street while crowds of people clamored to get close enough to stick cash onto the statue. I’m still not sure what they hoped to accomplish by sticking money on this statue as it went passed them, but when I looked at that picture I thought “What’s the difference between that, and what Moses saw when he came down from the mountain? It looks like a golden calf to me.”

Side note: The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston was and is one of my favorite old holiday movies. I watch every year faithfully. If you've watched it, then you know the scene I'm talking about. If you've never seen it, then I would highly recommend it.

Seeing that picture and making the connection between the statue of St. Carmel and the golden calf the Hebrews made and worshiped while waiting for Moses, was a life changing moment for me. That day I began questioning everything I had been taught sitting in the little catholic church with the wooden pews and stained glass windows. As much as I had loved going to church as a child, right then I knew it was not where I belonged.

That day began my journey toward the truth of the Bible

Just because something looks religious, or has something religious in the name, doesn’t necessarily make it Biblical.  The old saying “if it looks like and duck, and sounds like a duck, then it probably is a duck”, doesn’t’ ring true when you are dealing with issues of faith. 

Thinking something is safe because it looks religious can be very dangerous.

The Bible warns us that many will come in My name……and will mislead many.(Matthew 24:5)

It also warns about worshiping anything or anyone other than God.

If the disciples knew this, even after being given the power to heal, how could these men who stood there in their formal robes and claimed to be closer to God than any of us, how could they not know and understand that the statues they were lighting candles under and praying too were not gods. The Ten Commandments were the main focus of just about every CCD class I attended. One of the first ones we had to learn and memorize was “You shall worship no other Gods besides me.”

How could they not know it was going against the very thing they were teaching us?

This one point, was enough to send me searching. And although it would be many years before I finally accepted the truth and lived it out, it was a beginning.

An ordinary yet life changing, amazing beginning.

What about you? Was there one single life changing moment that sent you searching for the truth? If not, was there any other time in your life that you would consider a life changing moment?