Dogmatic for the People

Weird fact. I learned the word dogma in the 3rd grade. I remember when it happened. My sister was talking about how in her Sunday School class, they talked about how John 3:16 had become dogma. I think here I should insert that my sister is 9 years older than me, so it wasn't like this was the discussion in 5th grade Sunday School. My sister argued vehemently against this, but in this she had to explain to me what dogma was.

Simply put, she said it was when something had become useless just because people asserted it all the time. Her argument was that assertions based on truth could never be dogmatic. I agree with her totally, but it's true that we let truth become trite to us.

I experienced this first hand when I was really young. I was chosen to pick a bible verse for our VBS group to study in about the 4th grade. I searched and searched. Then, I found it. 1 Corinthians 13. It was all about love. How could I go wrong? I remember sharing it with my group, and my teacher looking at me and saying, "You've never read that before?" She said it with such disdain, too. In that moment, I stopped thinking about that chapter with any sense of wonder. It was dogma, and everyone else had already been there.

I read back through 1 Corinthian 13 the other day. It is beautiful and wise, and it is TRUTH. I had ignored it for so long because I thought, "Oh, how cliche. Love! Everyone reads about that." But love is the thing on which we've built our entire foundation. It is God in His very essence. So, this is post one about the chapter of love. There will be more soon to come because I'm taking back truth from the realm of the trite. And I'm not going to let anyone make me feel bad for finding meaning in the simple. Not that any of you would. It's the others I'm worried about.

Added bonus!If you can guess the album title I spoofed for my title, you get a special prize. No, really you do, so start guessing.