# How do you tell a straw in the wind from a shibboleth?



## JennyG (Jun 5, 2011)

If a church has "reiki" classes going on in its church hall, and in the church magazine the minister quotes the beatitudes "in the Douai version" (no reason given) is that basis enough for a snap judgment on that minister's orthodoxy?

I had to google Reiki - it's a kind of Buddhist-based healing practice from Japan.
For all i know it's not any more pagan than yoga, and for all I know the minister has nothing personally to do with it.


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## Reformed Thomist (Jun 5, 2011)

RUN! 

Seriously, yes, this would raise my suspicions regarding the minister's orthodoxy. I wouldn't want to make a _judgment_ without further evidence; nevertheless, if I was 'shopping' for a church to attend and encountered this information I would no doubt move on swiftly. The Reiki classes going on in the church hall alone is pretty suspect.


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## jambo (Jun 5, 2011)

If any minister allowed Reiki classes to take place in the church hall then it would probably suggest he has a very liberal view of things. 

People have their own preferences for bible translations but I would find it very odd for a minister to use the Douai version today. I had a copy of the Douai version whilst living in the Irish Republic intending to use it when dealing with Priests or conservative RCs. However I never came across anyone who ever used it. Apart from an odd opening of it to see how it translated certain verses or to peruse the apocrypha I never used it and then dumped it. Most RCs used either the Catholic RSV or Jerusalem bible with younger RCs using the Good News version. The Douai's translation of Gen 3.15 is appalling ('_she_ shall bruise you head, you shall bruise _her_ heel'). I would find it very odd for someone to quote the Douai version of the beatitudes unless he was highlighting something that translation brought out.

In short your snap judgment will probably be right.


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## JennyG (Jun 5, 2011)

thanks, both. i thought so too. The gratuitous Douai version raised my personal hackles even more than the reiki, but I wondered if it was just me.


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## Rich Koster (Jun 5, 2011)

I don't know if it is more of an orthodoxy issue or a discernment issue, but it sets my radar off.


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## Edward (Jun 5, 2011)

Reformed Thomist said:


> RUN!


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