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2.17.2006    |    On my honor...
I happened to think of the Boy Scout Oath, and of how many times I'd recited it without really delving into it. The oath was just one of those things you did in order to get to go on those neat camping trips. Which weren't really that neat, now that I've come to prefer air-conditioning and actual beds. But that's another story.

Consider the Boy Scout Oath:
On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.
Note the concepts that other parts of the world bandy about without reflection: honor; duty to God and country; to help others; to be physically and morally strong.

Yes, I know, it says "straight." No homosexuals in Scouting. Which is the way it should be, since being "straight" had the same sense, whether it's overall morality, or sexuality.

The Oath is just a set of words, unless there is the will to be faithful to them. In retrospect, I now see that it is faith in God that comes first, and is an essential part of being a successful Boy Scout. Or American. Or human being.

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About this site and the author

Welcome. My name is John Luke Rich, (very) struggling Christian. The focus here is Christianity in its many varieties, its fussing and feuding, how it impacts our lives and our society, with detours to consider it with other faiths (or lack thereof).

Call this blog my way of evangelizing on the internet.

Putting it differently, we're only here on this earth a short time. It's the rest of eternity that we should be most concerned about. Call it the care and feeding of our souls.

I was born Jewish, and born again in Christ Jesus over thirty years ago. First as a Roman Catholic; now a Calvinist by persuasion and a Baptist by denomination. But I'm hardly a poster boy for doctrinal rigidity.

I believe that Scripture is the rock on which all Christian churches must stand -- or sink if they are not so grounded. I believe that we are saved by faith, but hardly in a vacuum. That faith is a gift from God, through no agency on our part -- although we sometimes turn a deaf ear and choose to ignore God's knocking on the door.

To be Christian is to evangelize. Those who think it not their part to evangelize perhaps haven't truly understood what our Lord told us in Matthew 28. We must preach the Gospel as best we are able. Using words if necessary.

Though my faith waxes and wanes, it never seems to go away. Sometimes I wish it would, to give me some peace of mind. But then, Jesus never said that walking with Him was going to be easy...

Final note: I also blog as Jack Rich on cultural, political and other things over at Wrong Side of the Tracks

Thanks for stopping by.