It Tasted Good To Me

To Europeans, American chocolate tastes like vomit. And they are not wrong. Now don’t misunderstand, I like American chocolate but maybe it is because I don’t know better.

. In 1893, successful confection Milton Hershey made a trip to the Chicago World's Fair. There he discovered the rich, elegant taste of German chocolate and realized he needed to add it to his offerings. So, the next year he introduced what we know call the Hershey bar and it became more popular than all his other products. With European chocolate still unknown to the American masses, the Hershey bar became the iconic definition of what a chocolate bar should taste like throughout the United States.

His method for making the chocolate was different than the Europeans however. His process created creates something called butyric acid, also found in Parmesan cheese and the spit-up of babies. It helped to increase the shelf life of the candy but it also gave the candy a tangy taste. Since most Americans at the time had never tasted chocolate without butyric acid, they didn't know that chocolate didn't have to taste that way. As a result, they came to expect chocolate bars to taste the way Hershey bars tasted, baby puke and all. American chocolatiers all copied Hershey and now we expect the distinctive aftertaste, even if it kind of tastes like vomit.

There is something similar in modern worship. Most folks think musical instruments in worship is correct theology because they have always known it. The truth is however they have only been added recently. The phrase acappella, which we use to describe singing without musical accompaniment, is Italian for "in the manner of the church. For thousands of years, the practice was unknown. When musical instruments were added at various times religious figures like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesly, Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clark and Augustine all condemned their use. What many think is normal is really the aberration.

Yet this addition may be doing more than leaving a bad taste in one’s mouth. When we add to or change a command of God we are going beyond his will. Going beyond is going without God (2^nd John 1:9) Paul wanted the Corinthians to “..learn not to exceed what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6).

Just because we have gotten used to something doesn’t mean it is right. In all things, a Christians should make sure his worship doesn’t have anything added that might make it impure.

Comments

I Know All Those Words, But That Sentence Makes No Sense To Me

Let’s say you travel back in time six hundred years or so. Luckily, you happen across a fellow that speaks English. Upon hearing your tale, he describes you as nice, smart, and handsome. Wouldn’t you feel good? You shouldn’t. As Sol Steinmetz in his book, Semantics Antics , explains; Nice originally meant someone who was foolish, ignorant, senseless, or absurd (middle English 1300). Smart for the first 300 years of its use meant causing pain, sharp, cutting, or severe, a sense that survives in the idiom "smart as a whip.” Handsome wasn’t complimentary. When coined around 1425, it just meant easily handled; it didn’t have its current positive connotation until 1590. You might think he said you were a kind, intelligent, good looking bloke, when in reality he said you were a foolish pain easily dealt with. Words have an annoying habit of changing meaning over time in the same language and it becomes even more compli...

Master Your Self

In a contest for the toughest president of the United States, it would be hard to go against Theodore Roosevelt. He was known for his “manly” pursuits hunting big game, climbing the Matterhorn, participating in boxing match while president. (These weren’t play fights, he lost the vision on one eye because of them!) Once before he was about to give a speech an assassin shot him in the chest. Roosevelt refused to go to a hospital and insisted on giving his speech, still wearing his blood-soaked shirt! Teddy might have become tough but he wasn’t born that way. He was a sickly child that suffered from severe asthma that almost proved fatal. As was a young boy, doctors discovered that he had a weak heart, and advised him to get a desk job and not strain himself. He was homeschooled because of his many illnesses and spent most of his time indoors. But then as a teen his father, whom Teddy Roosevelt revered, told his son, “ ...

Until Midnight

In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...

Ecclesiastes 12:10

Search This Blog