The Year of Living Biblically IV

I just finished A.J. Jacobs book last night (which will also be a confession of how long it takes me to finish a 330+ page book).

There weren't any major surprises along the way. I guess at times I was surprised at how much a self-proclaimed agnostic got out of following the Law. I admired him for being able to see the benefit in following some of God's commands.

There wasn't a big religious conversion in the end, which I knew would be the case. But, Jacobs does call himself a "reverent agnostic." He says, "whether or not there's a God, I believe in the idea of sacredness--that rituals can be sacred, that the Sabbath can be sacred, and there's a great importance to that."

Jacobs, in my view, is missing out on the greatness of the relationship that God offers us. But he's on the right track. He wants to make it a point to continue in observing the Sabbath, praying, giving thanks. Even if he isn't addressing God, he's seeing that these rituals have something deeper to them than just their actions.

At points, I wish that most of us in the church could get some of the things that Jacob was getting. I think we miss out on a lot because we don't think about our rituals (or, even worse, we completely neglect those important things--like the Sabbath and prayer--that God gives as commands). Sometimes we in the church place to much emphasis on the moment of conversion, and we neglect the process of discipleship (including weighing out the commands Jesus and Jehovah give). Whether or not we believe every command in the Bible is meant to be followed (and the degree of literalness in folowing each one), to call ourselves "Christians" is supposed to mean that we are walking in Jesus' footsteps (not literally, of course, but in striving to be His disciple--learning everything He did, said and believed and putting that into action in our own context).