Do You Feel Lucky Today?
“Good luck, bad luck, no luck and even luck that can follow you—is this really what controls your future?
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Do You Feel Lucky Today?
Across the globe the seemingly harmless Irish tradition of having to wear green on March 17 so the luck of the Irish will be with you has saturated our society. What’s all the fuss over a man called St. Patrick that has resulted in widespread partying and celebration?
Even more widespread is the concept of luck, a seemingly supernatural force that swings the odds of circumstances in people’s favor or against them. Is this acceptable from a biblical perspective? Should we be wishing others “Good luck”?
As St. Patrick’s Day comes around, it’s a good time to take a hard look at luck.
Irish tradition
Throughout the past 1, 500 or so years, traditions have grown, folklore has spread, and “luck” has sprouted in our everyday language. The leprechaun and icons like the color green, the shamrock and the pot o’ gold have all come to be associated with the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
Legend states that St. Patrick used the shamrock or three-leaved clover to explain the Trinity. Its three leaves supposedly represented the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Eventually, the custom was adopted of wearing a shamrock on his feast day. (The Trinity doctrine, however, is unbiblical—for more information, request our free booklet Is God a Trinity?)
A shamrock is different from a four-leaf clover. According to Celtic tradition, when a four-leaf clover is found, it is said to represent God’s grace, with the four leaves standing for faith, hope, love and luck.
Ironically, the real Patrick would probably have frowned on the traditions associated with his feast day—as well as the holiday itself.
What’s with luck?
Of course, the concept of luck or fortune is not exclusive to Irish tradition. We find it throughout human history and throughout the world today.
We now hear phrases like “good luck with the job interview,” or “good luck on that test.” While many deem this merely an expression of hoping for the best outcome, not really believing in luck, others take the concept of luck more seriously.
Some things associated with luck seem harmless, like wishing on a star, shooting stars, wishing wells, lucky trinkets or fairies. But there are underlying issues here that need to be raised.
Over the years luck has become like a god in society. Luck seems to decide things like your fate, car accidents, test scores, the job hunt, pay raises or even the answer you’ll be given about that date you want to go on this Saturday night. People believe luck controls things and that it provides different opportunities for different people. Decisions are even based on it. Consider that many skyscrapers have no 13th floor—as 13 is considered unlucky.
No luck with the Bible
Looking to the Bible, we find that it gives no credibility to luck. In the first of the Ten Commandments, God states, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). The intent of His command here is that nothing is to take a higher priority in our lives than Him! This first command warns us to not accept a religion or philosophy that teaches that our life and well-being originate or depend on anything other than the one true God.
As He often does, God colorfully portrays the utter foolishness of making gods of wood and stone, but the biblical nations of ancient Israel and Judah manufactured as many fake deities as the number of cities in the land of Judah (Jeremiah 2:27-28). “See if they can save you in the time of your trouble!” God taunted them and modern mankind (compare verse 28). Today our peoples still trust in worthless and inanimate things to save us—such as weapons, money and even actual idols by seeing power in crosses, religious statues and good luck charms.
God even laments over His people rejecting Him “and offering food and wine to the gods you call ‘Good Luck’ and ‘Fate’ ” (Isaiah 65:11, Contemporary English Version). Any credit to luck is really a form of idolatry.
No luck at all
Maybe you’ve heard people say, “I know luck doesn’t exist, but good luck anyway!” Perhaps they’re conceding that there may be luck after all—or maybe they just don’t know how else to wish someone well. They could simply say, “Do well” or “All the best.” Or they could look to God, saying, “God be with you” or “God bless you” (yet only if He is truly sought).
After all, true power is with God, not with luck. As the Bible tells us: “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things … by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing … The Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary” (Isaiah 40:26-28).
Using luck in our vocabulary and lives may seem harmless. But God is jealous for His people. He truly loves you and desires the best for your future. It does not please Him when we turn to fables and smooth phrases that announce our dependence on anything but Him. Everything we are and have ultimately comes from God. The only reliable assurance that our future is secure lies in our relationship with our Creator, not some ominous luck, wishes, stars or leprechauns.
God beats luck any day
God wants us to understand that we must never direct our worship toward anything He has created, or regard it as the source of our life and blessings. Worship only the Creator—never the creation. He is the sole miracle-working God who provides blessings, hopes and a promised future of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Rainbows, waterfalls, clovers, stars and the rest of the creation were created for us to enjoy and use as a wonderful and beautiful environment to live in. We don’t bow down, pray or make requests to any aspect of the creation.
So where are you placing your trust, faith and hope? That’s a vital question for each of us.
God’s ultimate plan and desire for us is that we live forever in His eternal family and Kingdom: “Now we are children of God … we know that when He [Jesus Christ] is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
That is the purpose for which we have been created! Luck has nothing to do with it! Wishing wells, wishing on a star or making a wish when blowing out birthday candles simply skew and corrupt our relationship with our Creator.
There is one source of blessings. There is one way into the Kingdom of God. There is one sacrifice that removes the penalty of our personal sins. God alone is that true source—not luck!” From: https://www.ucg.org/vertical-thought/do-you-feel-lucky-today
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St. Patrick & St. Patrick's Day
“Who was this Patrick guy, anyway? Known as the patron saint of Ireland, he's an almost mythological figure in the Christian world, with tall tales of his legendary exploits known far and wide.
Theologian and historian James Moffatt said, “So much legend and fiction has been written about him that one is almost led to believe that there were two individuals—the real Patrick and the fictitious Patrick” (The Church in Scotland, 1882, p. 140).
There are few hard facts about Patrick’s life, but we can draw some reasonable conclusions from what we do know.
Patrick is credited with establishing the Roman Catholic Church throughout Ireland. But does history match tradition? Moffatt commented, “He should not be placed where certain historians seem determined to assign him … He was in no way connected with the type of Christianity which developed in Italy” (ibid).
As it turns out, Patrick probably wasn’t even Catholic! His belief system was evidently quite different than that of continental Europe.
It’s probable that Patrick even honored God’s seventh day Sabbath! “It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor” (ibid).
Other historical records and Patrick’s own writings reveal him to have been closer to biblical instruction than to traditional Christianity. Part of the Bible’s teaching includes rejecting the use of pagan practices in the worship of the true God. (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).
The real Patrick likely wouldn’t even have approved of observing his own namesake holiday! This holiday on March 17 was supposedly to commemorate his death, but that date was in fact the time of the Roman Bacchanalia—celebrating the god of wine and partying. It seems the pagan party goes on in another guise. Bear that in mind when March 17 comes around. Forget the leprechauns, and put God first!
See the related article “Do You Feel Lucky Today?” above.
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Who Was "Saint Patrick"? Should a Christian Observe Saint Patrick's Day?
“Saint Patrick's Day is a well-recognized holiday in the Western world. Celebrated in mid-March with no other Christian holidays around it, Saint Patrick's Day has taken on a very festive atmosphere. While many picture wearing green, three-leaf clovers, leprechauns, green beer and corned beef, do any of those things really have anything to do with Patrick himself?
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Saint Patrick's Day is not a biblical holiday or Holy Day. And, as it is currently celebrated, St. Patrick's Day actually has nothing to do with the historical man Patrick. Many "Christian" holidays are a mixture of truth and error.
Let’s start with what most people think they know. We have been told that Patrick was a Catholic monk who brought the Trinity doctrine to the people of Ireland. And along the way he drove all the snakes from the Emerald Isle. He became so renowned that the Catholic Church made him a “saint.” None of that is true!
Patrick was Scottish!
Patrick’s given name was actually Maewyn Succat (or Sucat). He took the name Patrick most likely because of the area he was from in Scotland. That’s right, Patrick was Scottish, not Irish! Here’s what Patrick said himself of his background: “ I, Patrick…had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter, who dwelt in the village of Banavan…I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age…and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men” (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches , p.127).
Patrick labored for six years as a slave until he managed to escape back to his native Scotland around A.D. 376. He believed he had a calling from God, however, to go back to Ireland to teach God’s Word to the people there. The Catholic Church, while having had an impact in England and later Scotland, did not have a significant foothold in Ireland until the 12th century. They didn’t even acknowledge Patrick for about 200 years after his death. Patrick was connected to what is known as the Celtic Church. It was very much opposed to what was taught in the Roman Catholic Church.
Patrick did not follow Roman Catholic doctrine
While we have little of Patrick’s history and teaching written by himself, what’s taught about Patrick now didn’t surface until about 500 years after his death. It was the Catholic priest Jocelyn, writing around A.D. 1130 who wrote most extensively about Patrick. He ignored much of what was known then about Patrick and inserted a Catholic background into Patrick’s story. Patrick never wrote about a connection to Rome or popes or that his authority came from there. So if Patrick wasn’t Roman Catholic, what did he teach?
In A.D. 596 Pope Gregory sent a group of monks to England to try and bring the Celtic Church under the authority of Rome. However, the Celts refused to acknowledge Gregory’s authority and rejected the teachings of the Roman Church. In Ireland the monks found that the Celtic Church permitted their priests to marry. They also practiced baptism by full immersion in water. The Celtic Church also rejected the doctrine of (papal) infallibility and veneration, transubstantiation, the confessional, the Mass, relic worship, image adoration and the primacy of Peter ( Truth Triumphant , by B.G.Wilkinson, pg. 108). The latter list is of specific Roman Catholic doctrines that the Celtic Church knew were not taught in the Scriptures.
Patrick observed the Saturday Sabbath, Passover and rejected the Trinity doctrine
Patrick also rejected the merging of church and state (a main teaching of Catholicism). He believed and taught the same as Jesus in John 18:36 that God’s Kingdom is not of this world. The Celtic Church had local ecclesiastical councils and kept Saturday as a day of rest , (A.C. Flick, The Rise of Medieval Church, pp. 236-327). In this matter of a Saturday (Sabbath) rest, Dr. James C. Moffatt wrote that, “They [the Celtic churches] obeyed the fourth commandment [the Sabbath commandment] literally upon the seventh day of the week” ( The Church in Scotland , pg. 140).
Patrick (and the Celtic Church) observed the other “festivals of the Eternal” (Leviticus 23), believed human beings were mortal (that is rejected the teaching of an immortal soul and the doctrine of going to heaven or hell), rejected the Trinity doctrine, followed the food laws of Leviticus 11, refused veneration of “saints” or worship of Mary, and believed that only Jesus Christ is our mediator (Leslie Hardinge, The Celtic Church in Britain; B.G.Wilkinson, Truth Triumphant ).
The Celtic Church had a long history before the Catholic Church pushed deeper into England, Scotland and Ireland. Celtic writings speak of individuals coming from Asia Minor who brought with them the doctrines they received from John, Paul, Philip and other apostles of Jesus. A Catholic “father,” Bede, (who lived in the mid 700s A.D.) who wrote about the Celtic Church: “They ignorantly refuse to observe our Easter [Pascha, or Passover] on which Christ was sacrificed, arguing that it should be observed with the Hebrew Passover on the fourteenth of the moon” (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica).
Is Saint Patrick’s Day in the Bible?
Saint Patrick’s Day is not a biblical holiday or Holy Day. And, as it is currently celebrated, St. Patrick’s Day actually has nothing to do with the historical man Patrick. Many “Christian” holidays are a mixture of truth and error. Because of this, most people don’t really know the history or purpose of the day. We encourage you to read what God said in the Bible to know which Holy Days He made and who He said are saints. The United Church of God traces its origins to the Church that Jesus founded in the early first century. We follow the same teachings, doctrines and practices established then, and believe our commission is to proclaim the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God to all the world as a witness and teach all nations to observe what Christ commanded.
It appears that Patrick believed these same teachings. We encourage you to read online Bible study aids, and to learn more about what individuals like Patrick taught and what we teach from Scripture. From our best historical understanding, the Patrick you didn’t know lived a life according to the Bible, rather than human traditions. You can too.” From: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/who-was-saint-patrick-should-a-christian-observe-saint
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Update.
Even with all this hullabaloo about the coronavirus going around, we still had both Bible studies and the congregation met on the Sabbath as usual. In fact there were at least twice as many there because one of the matriarchs of the church’s founding family came to celebrate his 96th birthday with many of his family who now live out of town. There were so many in our little dining hall that we had to have the potluck in three shifts.
I made a large batch of Chili Mac and Cheese with a big can of Hunt’s Crushed Tomatoes in it, and it went fast. This week’s theme was “Rejoice in The LORD always, I will say it again: Rejoice.” Phil. 4:4 The sermon was about “Just Break The Bottle”, about Mary giving all she had and using up all her rare oil on Jesus’ feet. Do we give our all?
Now that my little dog is gone, my neighbor, Joe who helps me sometimes, and I, got my rugs and carpet-steamer back out of storage, and we steam-cleaned two of them. We laid them on my outside chairs to dry in the sun, before I laid them back down again. They hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned the last time they were done, and had been getting dusty in storage so we wanted to rinse them until the water ran clear, but our arms got tired, so the other two rugs will have to be done on another nice day.
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