What is a sacred cow? | GotQuestions.org

In today's video I'll answer your question, what is a sacred cow?

Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the.

End.

A sacred cow, as a figure of speech, refers to an idea, tradition, or long

-established institution that is above challenge, criticism, or change.

Sacred cows are given excessive and unwarranted respect to the point of idolization.

They are usually hard to recognize and even harder to deal with because sacred cows are

considered untouchable.

In Christian circles, opinions about the church building, appropriate attire, and church politics

often become sacred cows.

The term sacred cow is associated with Hinduism and that religion's belief in the

sanctity of the cow.

Hindus revere cows, particularly the brahmin species, as sacred animals.

Many Hindu families own a cow for the sole purpose of worshipping it.

The biblical symbolism of the sacred cow traces back to ancient Egypt, where many gods and

goddesses were portrayed as livestock.

The early Egyptians especially revered the bull as a fertility figure.

Pagan groups throughout Egypt dedicated themselves to the bull.

Likewise, the queen goddess Isis and other Egyptian goddesses, such as Hathor, were typically illustrated

wearing cow horns on their heads.

Like present -day Hindu people, the Egyptians of the Old Testament adored their sacred cows.

It's no wonder that when the Israelites rebelled against God at Sinai, they fashioned a golden calf to worship

in Exodus 32.

Later, King Jeroboam I celebrated the birth of the Northern Kingdom by setting up two golden calves.

The prophet Hosea denounced these idols as religious syncretism, the merging of pagan worship with

the worship of the one true God, a practice the Lord forbids.

It is possible to spot sacred cows grazing in Christian churches still today.

When methods, objects, and even people are elevated to an untouchable place of importance, so much

so that they cannot be re -evaluated, varied, exchanged, or removed, a sacred cow is

likely in the sheepfold.

These are just a few examples of sacred cows in modern church life.

The idea that there is only one suitable Bible translation, the belief that a formal

offering with the obligatory passing of the plate must be observed in every church service, the

insistence that Sunday school cannot be tampered with, the notion that a church must have

an altar and the altar must have a cross at its center, talking about taboo subjects like

sex in a The way communion and baptism services are held and what songs,

instruments, or music styles are allowed during worship all have the potential to become

sacred cows.

These exalted ideas and traditions have no biblical basis and no bearing on the essentials

of the Christian faith, but people treat them as if they do.

Sacred cows in the church are human traditions that can nullify the Word of God if we aren't

careful.

Mark 7, verse 13.

Ancient Israel had their ancient golden calf, and we have our current -day idols.

Throughout history, idolatry has been an ongoing temptation for God's people, a practice that leads to

further sinful conduct.

As Christians, we need to search our hearts, examine our lives as the Bible encourages, and keep

away from anything that might take God's place in our hearts.

1 John 5, verse 21.

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