Numbers 31
A holy war... God directs the Israelites to execute His judgement against the Midianites. Trying to place myself in that mind set is a little difficult this morning. It is difficult, as a Christian who lives in a country where freedom of religion is allowed (more or less), to understand how God could be so angry with the Midianites that he would command the Israelites to go and and destroy them. But, nevertheless that is what we read this morning. God is a jealous God and He will have His children worshipping no other god. He does not want them mixing with the Midianites - to be slowly indoctrinated into the worship of other gods.
Moses, as God's emissary on earth, is concerned about not allowing the pagan nation to lead the children of Israel astray, to worship other gods. God doesn't want His children mixing with other people to learn their ways. He wants them following Him faithfully. There is only one God and the penalty is high for not following Him. It seems harsh that God would call for the extermination of one people to preserve the faithfulness of another. It is, afterall, not anyone's fault but our own if we go straying after other gods. Is it not?
But, children will be children and they need to be taught in the way that God would have them go. I give as an example of this the church of the world today. How much of what our children know (have been taught by us) has to do with following in the path of Jesus and how much of the secular world has infiltrated what we teach? How much of our own idolotrous ways have we taught the young people, who will add their own misperceptions of who God is to ours and teach them to their children? It seems to me, we are all lost sheep who have gone astray. We have allowed worship of false gods by not speaking up and not speaking the truth, but allowing worship of other things into our churches, into our homes, our lives. In addition to the worship of material things and personalities, idolotry has sneaked into the church under the guise of justice, peace, love. All of these things taught as the world understands them, not as the whole of scripture teaches. Justice today means everyone gets off easy. Justice today is really cheap grace. Peace means no conflict so don't say anything about Jesus that might offend anyone. Peace means no confrontation - ignore real justice - so that there is no blood shed at our hands and we can pretend that we are good people. And love really means acceptance of everything that is done under the sun. That is what we have taught our children. That is what many of us were taught and in the end there is no justice, no peace, no love. We ignore the real needs of people all around the world because of our inability to understand what real justice, peace, and love are. Sometimes conflict, sometimes confrontation needs to happen if an innocent person is to know justice. Sometimes real peace can only be realized in and through times of conflict. Sometimes love calls for real confrontation in order that someone we care about can get on the path they need to follow in order to know peace. Personally, I think we ignore God's justice, peace and love because we're afraid that we might be confronted ourselves and then we'd have to acknowledge that we too are lost sheep and have strayed.
Oops... Rambling again. But, one more thing. Take a look at your Sunday School curriculum. Does it teach about God the Father Almighty, Creator of all that is? Does it really tell the story of Jesus or just select stories and only in part? Does it speak of the power of the Holy Spirit? Or as I suspect in many cases, does it teach your young people how to be "good people" and get along with everyone? Is Jesus held up only as a good teacher or are you teaching your children that He is Salvation? He is the way, the truth, and the life? Has salvation by works sneaked into the curriculum? Should we all just get along to get along? Or is there something more at stake?
There is only one God. You shall have no other gods. We shall fear, love and trust Him above all things.
P.S. If you're getting the idea from my blogs that not everyone appreciates everything I teach - you would be correct :) The injustice of the justice in this world - the lack of love in a world that puts on a happy face pretending to love others when they are only looking out for themselves - and ignoring injustice to maintain peace are some really sore points with me. As I've aged, I have learned that keeping quiet about these things are only perpetuating the worship of false gods.
A holy war... God directs the Israelites to execute His judgement against the Midianites. Trying to place myself in that mind set is a little difficult this morning. It is difficult, as a Christian who lives in a country where freedom of religion is allowed (more or less), to understand how God could be so angry with the Midianites that he would command the Israelites to go and and destroy them. But, nevertheless that is what we read this morning. God is a jealous God and He will have His children worshipping no other god. He does not want them mixing with the Midianites - to be slowly indoctrinated into the worship of other gods.
Moses, as God's emissary on earth, is concerned about not allowing the pagan nation to lead the children of Israel astray, to worship other gods. God doesn't want His children mixing with other people to learn their ways. He wants them following Him faithfully. There is only one God and the penalty is high for not following Him. It seems harsh that God would call for the extermination of one people to preserve the faithfulness of another. It is, afterall, not anyone's fault but our own if we go straying after other gods. Is it not?
But, children will be children and they need to be taught in the way that God would have them go. I give as an example of this the church of the world today. How much of what our children know (have been taught by us) has to do with following in the path of Jesus and how much of the secular world has infiltrated what we teach? How much of our own idolotrous ways have we taught the young people, who will add their own misperceptions of who God is to ours and teach them to their children? It seems to me, we are all lost sheep who have gone astray. We have allowed worship of false gods by not speaking up and not speaking the truth, but allowing worship of other things into our churches, into our homes, our lives. In addition to the worship of material things and personalities, idolotry has sneaked into the church under the guise of justice, peace, love. All of these things taught as the world understands them, not as the whole of scripture teaches. Justice today means everyone gets off easy. Justice today is really cheap grace. Peace means no conflict so don't say anything about Jesus that might offend anyone. Peace means no confrontation - ignore real justice - so that there is no blood shed at our hands and we can pretend that we are good people. And love really means acceptance of everything that is done under the sun. That is what we have taught our children. That is what many of us were taught and in the end there is no justice, no peace, no love. We ignore the real needs of people all around the world because of our inability to understand what real justice, peace, and love are. Sometimes conflict, sometimes confrontation needs to happen if an innocent person is to know justice. Sometimes real peace can only be realized in and through times of conflict. Sometimes love calls for real confrontation in order that someone we care about can get on the path they need to follow in order to know peace. Personally, I think we ignore God's justice, peace and love because we're afraid that we might be confronted ourselves and then we'd have to acknowledge that we too are lost sheep and have strayed.
Oops... Rambling again. But, one more thing. Take a look at your Sunday School curriculum. Does it teach about God the Father Almighty, Creator of all that is? Does it really tell the story of Jesus or just select stories and only in part? Does it speak of the power of the Holy Spirit? Or as I suspect in many cases, does it teach your young people how to be "good people" and get along with everyone? Is Jesus held up only as a good teacher or are you teaching your children that He is Salvation? He is the way, the truth, and the life? Has salvation by works sneaked into the curriculum? Should we all just get along to get along? Or is there something more at stake?
There is only one God. You shall have no other gods. We shall fear, love and trust Him above all things.
P.S. If you're getting the idea from my blogs that not everyone appreciates everything I teach - you would be correct :) The injustice of the justice in this world - the lack of love in a world that puts on a happy face pretending to love others when they are only looking out for themselves - and ignoring injustice to maintain peace are some really sore points with me. As I've aged, I have learned that keeping quiet about these things are only perpetuating the worship of false gods.
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