In the Old Testament passage about Daniel’s friends getting thrown into a fiery furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel chapter 3, check it out in context), I’d like to point out an important detail that we can’t miss, because of how relevant it is to the brand of Christianity that’s popular here in comfortable Southern California. Nebuchadnezzar had set up an image of gold 90 feet tall for all of the officials and leaders to come worship, and he commanded that whoever didn’t worship his image would be immediately tossed into a burning fire. Daniel’s friends from Babylon–Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (renamed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego which erased from their original names the references to Israel’s true God)–were accused of refusing to serve the king’s gods and the image he set up. That’s the key–that they refused to serve and worship what they were expected to, though everyone else had gone along. These guys knew that it was not possible to simultaneously serve both their God and the current object of worship in their day and time. Notice that the king didn’t stop them from worshiping their own God. That wasn’t the reason they were looked down upon, that wasn’t the reason they stood out. No harm done to them if they merely paid tribute to what was expected of them by their culture…
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