There's something I hear people say all the time, and of course it always sets me thinking. By now, it's obvious that just about everything I ever hear I consider for a bulletin! This in particular you have also heard a time or two, I bet every single person here has. "It tastes like chicken!'

I've heard this as a punch line: I like cats, really! Taste like chicken!

I've heard this as a little white lie: (kid) I don't wanna eat the yucky liver! (parent) Oh, go on. It tastes like chicken, and you like chicken!

What I have noticed in my life is that unless you can't taste anything at all (thus everything tastes the same) there is only one thing that tastes like chicken. That would be, uh, chicken. Not long ago we sat down to a turkey dinner here at the house and, as Dave the carnivore teenager proceeded to wolf down large portions of it, he said "Mom, this chicken tastes funny."

Next time you have guests over for dinner, serve beef, serve goose, serve turkey, serve rattlesnake, serve squirrel, serve pork, serve lamb, and don't tell your guests what it is. I have a feeling they will know it ain't chicken! I have eaten all of these in my life, and many more animals, and been told they taste like chicken. But they don't!

In a manner, they all do taste the same though. Meat, to me, is usually pretty bland unless seasoned to enhance (or hide) the taste. That's fine, for meat. They may taste like chicken, similar in that all meat tends to be fairly bland on its own, but not in the "I would almost confuse this for chicken if you didn't tell me better" way we often use the phrase.

Other religions are a whole lot the same way. There is one truth, one church, one body of Christ. Oh, many are like the true church, they are very similar in "texture" and "content." You can spice them up and bring out parts you like (God loves us all and doesn't want anyone to be lost, the idea of heaven, the liberty we are granted) or hide the things that are a bit "hard to swallow" (You must obey the commandments of God, the fact hell exists, and that liberty comes with responsibility).

The thing is, some folks simply don't like chicken. Just like some don't want the true worship of God. They prefer beef, or squirrel, or pork. They want something that is sort of the truth, but flavored with their own wants and desires. They believe religion is only for them, and worship themselves more than they worship God, if they do at all. They want this so much, and practice this so much, they DO confuse it for the truth, and get angry when you try to tell them any better. That's OK for serving dinner, yet when you "serve" your life to God, don't you think he's going to know it for what it is, no matter how you enhance the flavor? Think about it.

Randy