{"id":722,"date":"2013-09-12T13:12:25","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T13:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2014-10-28T17:33:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T17:33:01","slug":"annointing-oil-an-idol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/annointing-oil-an-idol\/","title":{"rendered":"Annointing Oil – an Idol?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A talisman is an object that is believed to hold magical or mystical powers.\u00a0 We all subscribe to various talismans – I think.<\/p>\n

It can be something very simple, such as wearing the same shirt on a special day.\u00a0 Tiger Woods is one who always wears red on the Sundays of each golf tournament, believing it brings good luck or positive karma.\u00a0 We hear of athletes who go through a routine each time up to bat or before going onto the field.\u00a0 They kiss a helmet, slap a sign coming out of a locker room or rub the head of a mascot.\u00a0 All can be considered emblems or objects that presumably help us accomplish our desires.<\/p>\n

David Morgan in The Sacred Gaze<\/em> speaks of this investment we have with objects and how we garner spiritual meaning, protection or miraculous power through our personal associations ascribed to these images.\u00a0 The word covenant<\/em> is used to describe the \u201cgaze that joins viewer and image in a social relation.\u201d They are built upon trust or truth and although the viewer knows that these are symbols, they are really much, much more.<\/p>\n

In the author\u2019s lists of conditions upon which this trust is built, he initially lists the fact that an image is accepted as true and real because it encases the will of the viewer.\u00a0 Secondly, it is viewed as true based upon the authority of someone, or, that it passes a sort of \u201clitmus test\u201d that we\u2019ve been taught. Finally, we believe, simply, because the outcome is the desired state in which we would like to find ourselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I believe this formula can be treacherous to the Christian Church if not handled properly.\u00a0 We sometimes, as evangelicals, deride other more traditional and older denominations because of their icons, statues and symbolism or illustrative architecture.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard people cautioned when appropriating these elements because of a tendency to use them as idols.\u00a0 But I see this happening to evangelicals as well \u2013 when the list of covenant definitions that Morgan proposes are applied to some of our practices.<\/p>\n

I will use anointing oil as an example.\u00a0 My evangelical church teaches us to stay away from idols and yet, once every two months, a healing service with anointing oil is scheduled.\u00a0 We are instructed as pastors to carefully outline the cross on the petitioner\u2019s forehead with the oil.<\/p>\n

We understand this action as a symbol of God\u2019s healing power, and the oil not as magical, but as symbolic.\u00a0 Although we quote the James passage as our directive, we know God heals with or without oil outlined as a cross on the forehead.\u00a0 But to many, this has become a talisman or a sacred visual covenant.<\/p>\n

Using Morgan\u2019s conditions for trust, the anointing of oil is \u201cmagical\u201d to the believer because; 1) It bears the will of our community \u2013 it aligns with who we are, a church that believes in transformation.\u00a0 2) The one in authority (Pastor) reads the authoritative scripture, where it speaks of healing.\u00a0 3)\u00a0 It satisfies previous experiences \u2013 we\u2019ve heard testimonies of healings, and last, 4) It represents the desirable state of experience \u2013 we want to believe that God heals all of our hurts and ailments and makes everything OK.<\/p>\n

While true somewhat, when the object, through the Sacred Gaze, becomes more than it should and becomes a covenant or talisman, I believe we are in danger of doing a disservice to God and to his church.<\/p>\n

But as Morgan states, \u201cbelief, in other words, does not exist in an abstract.\u00a0 Belief happens in and through things and what people do with them.\u201d\u00a0 If the act of seeing is caught up in the element rather than the object, the person or the idea the element is pointing to, therein lays the problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A talisman is an object that is believed to hold magical or mystical powers.\u00a0 We all subscribe to various talismans – I think. It can be something very simple, such as wearing the same shirt on a special day.\u00a0 Tiger Woods is one who always wears red on the Sundays of each golf tournament, believing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[286,144,2,284,287,288],"class_list":["post-722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annointing","tag-christianity","tag-dminlgp","tag-morgan","tag-oils","tag-sacred","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2916,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/2916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}