Stephen Barkley

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I came across some wisdom in a surprising place. At the end of the second volume of the Harvard Classics, George Long wrote an essay on the life of M. Aurelius Antoninus. After considering whether or not Antoninus took part in the pagan religious ceremonies of his day, he offers this:

A prudent governor will not roughly oppose even the superstitions of his people, and though he may wish that they were wiser, he will know that he cannot make them so by offending their prejudices.

Let’s be honest. There’s a lot of superstitious practices in the religious world. Sometimes I hear things that make me shake my head in disbelief! Long’s made me stop and consider the best way to handle these situations. There’s no value in roughly offending anyone’s prejudices.

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  1. Kimberly August 22, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Can you describe what you mean by religious superstitions of today? Just curious about what you are thinking.

  2. Stephen Barkley August 23, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Kimberly,

    Here are a few of the things I had in mind:

    • The idea that if you really want God to answer your prayer, you need to be prayed for by a pastor.
    • The idea that miscellaneous religious trinkets (i.e. water from the Jordan River, a chalice made from olive wood from the Garden of Gethsemane, a prayer cloth prayed over in bulk by some famous religious figure) will sway God’s mind on an issue.
    • The idea that a new house has to be prayed over and anointed with oil to purify it from evil before moving in.

    Those are a few of things that were on my mind. Dealing with those things pastorally is not as simple as logic would dictate!

    Thanks for reading.

  3. Robinson's October 30, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    Hey Steve!
    Had to check out what the craze has been! Donna forwarded me.
    Had a question: Your thought about a religious superstitions: The idea that a new house has to be prayed over and anointed with oil to purify it from evil before moving in.

    Do you feel there is more to it than that?How are you going to tackle your upcoming move??
    Thx.
    -Habitual House jumper

  4. Stephen Barkley October 31, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Hi Robinson’s,

    I’m glad you found the website. I’m pretty excited to be able to post my sermons here now that I’m preaching again.

    About anointing houses, I know that a lot of people disagree on this. I just can’t find any evidence from Scripture that suggests this is a worthwhile practice for believers.

    In the New Testament, believers are anointed (i.e. have the Holy Spirit), not things. In James, believers are anointed with oil again, as a symbolic reminder of that first anointing.

    I don’t believe that God’s guidance and protection over my life is tied to a ritual act that’s not found in the New Testament.

    So, while no harm would come from anointing a house, I’ll just trust God’s Spirit who’s already in me to protect me as I move into my new place.

    Feel free to disagree 🙂

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