Let me first say that one will not fully comprehend the Holy Scriptures by reading it through once. Of course, that task is impossible if it is not even read at all. In fact, my experience is such that after numerous times reading it, there are still issues, stories, and nuances that capture my attention and even my imagination to varying degrees. This time is no different. Our church began reading "The Bible in 90 Days" again at the beginning of the month, and like in past times, there are new things that stand out in the readings.
What has really stood out in my mind thus far, from the very beginning account of creation and fall, up through the Patriarchs, the constant flirtation with false gods made of stone, clay, and wood, the constant turning away from God toward these idols through the Exodus, the conquest, the judges, and even into the first kings - Saul and David - is the question "what was so appealing about these false gods that people would turn away from God and toward them in the first place?" Honestly, with the promises of God, it seems that rejecting those promises is just plain silly. And yet the Bible's history is replete with example after example of just that: the rejection of God for the pursuit of anything and everything that is NOT God in the peoples' lives. Come to think of it, the situation today is no different.
The answer to my question has come to me in a couple of different ways. The first is seen in the last line of Judges, where it states "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." It was not about a collective good, or a common good, or appealing to a higher purpose. It was only about doing what each person thought was right in their own eyes. It was only about satisfying their own whims and desires. Or there is Proverbs 14:12 - "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." The "choice" in life is either to follow our own ambitions, (narcissistic self absorption) or to follow a higher purpose that comes from somewhere else - namely from God. the false gods of the Old Testament (and even those we have today) do nothing more than fulfill our own selfish ambitions and desires. They truly are gods created in our image, rather than us being created in the one true God's image. That is the choice: to follow our own ways or to follow the ways of God. Oddly enough, the founders of America recognized this great truism in the appeal that all rights and liberties are granted by God. The church, too, is at its' most prosperous when it also recognizes that it serves, worships, and follows a higher purpose established by God and fulfilled in Christ. When church or society rejects that, it amounts to nothing more than turning to false gods of wood, stone, or clay. And like history, which is replete with examples of the troubles and disasters that come from such narcissistic behavior, we face the same troubles and disasters ahead should we persist in doing here as each person sees fit in their own eyes.
Today is one of the more obscure commemorations for the protestant church: the Martyrdom of the early church father Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna. On this day in the year 165 AD, he was burned alive as an old man for refusing to recant his belief in the triune God. In an age that abounded in everyone doing as they saw fit in their own eyes, he was one who stood against that. In today's age where the same conditions exist - everyone follows what they think is right in their own eyes - we need more Polycarps: Those who are willing to die themselves because of what they believe rather than telling others they must die for their beliefs. We need more people who appeal to a universal right and wrong, rather than a self-defined version of what right and wrong might be to them.
Now you may be one who doesn't buy into any such notion of a higher power or being. You may reject the idea of God outright. You may very well believe in yourself alone. Yet look at history, and how well that has worked when everyone else does the same. There has got to be some common good that is NOT defined by the selfish desires of humanity. That collective good must come from somewhere else, and the founding fathers nailed it when they identified that at least our lives, our freedoms, and our happiness ultimately come from God. Which god, you may ask? How about the only god who recognizes the inherent ability of humanity to do it's own thing only. How about that same God who knows we cannot save ourselves because of our selfishness, and therefore provides salvation for us not based on anything we can do, but on what He has done for us. Of course I'm talking about the Christian faith. It is the ONLY faith in which God saves us in spite of ourselves, because in the end, we cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment