I think I have sometimes pictured pre-Jesus Israel as this nation full of choir boys. They all knew their part. They all knew God's Law. They all knew, and practiced, right over wrong.
A simple glance around any church should have told me I was an idiot. Not that the church I am a part of is full of idol-totin', sailor-talkin', sin-saturated pagans. (Then again, I'm not saying we don't have our share...)
But to assume that the ancient world, with their lack of agenda-pushing media, was a world similar to any opening-number of a Disney movie, is just silly. Sin entered the world through Adam. It didn't wait until 1984 to get started corrupting people. Why 1984? That's when Kevin Bacon corrupted an entire town by telling them there was a time to dance. Perish the thought!
Listen, I've been educated about Bible matters, history and the like. But it's interesting the preconceived notions we carry, such as people now are more corrupt than in the old days. Not exactly true. What's different is that we have the internet to help spread our shared sin farther and faster.
I digress. Here's what I found to prove people were just as stupid back then. A guy by the name of Micah (not the prophet, also not a choir boy) makes himself some idols and pays a priest to ignore the Law of Moses and come be his well-paid, well-fed, personal priest. You can find this all in Judges 18, perhaps the only other time in history when reality TV would have thrived like today.
As happens with corruption, the priest got greedy when a better offer was made, helped steal Micah's idols and skipped town. Micah, however, wasn't one to take things sitting down. He rounded up his posse, chased the thieves down and asked if they wanted to rumble. The thieving party acted surprised and asked what the matter was.
Do you want to know why many people today are angry? Upset? Frustrated? They have made their own gods and found them wanting. They have built and established a life on their own terms and now wonder why it is lacking. If something is empty, one has to ask what it was filled with.
The empty promises of the world, which we continue to buy into, are stolen by a bigger dream. Our idols are found, once again, to be empty and without any real use in times of trouble. We find our friends and wonder together what has gone wrong.
I would suggest we look to a God whom we have not made. We could not have possibly made God. He made us. And someday the gods we have fashioned for ourselves will be taken away. They will be shown for what they really are.
We'll look awfully silly chasing after a god which could not protect itself in the first place.
A simple glance around any church should have told me I was an idiot. Not that the church I am a part of is full of idol-totin', sailor-talkin', sin-saturated pagans. (Then again, I'm not saying we don't have our share...)
But to assume that the ancient world, with their lack of agenda-pushing media, was a world similar to any opening-number of a Disney movie, is just silly. Sin entered the world through Adam. It didn't wait until 1984 to get started corrupting people. Why 1984? That's when Kevin Bacon corrupted an entire town by telling them there was a time to dance. Perish the thought!
Listen, I've been educated about Bible matters, history and the like. But it's interesting the preconceived notions we carry, such as people now are more corrupt than in the old days. Not exactly true. What's different is that we have the internet to help spread our shared sin farther and faster.
I digress. Here's what I found to prove people were just as stupid back then. A guy by the name of Micah (not the prophet, also not a choir boy) makes himself some idols and pays a priest to ignore the Law of Moses and come be his well-paid, well-fed, personal priest. You can find this all in Judges 18, perhaps the only other time in history when reality TV would have thrived like today.
As happens with corruption, the priest got greedy when a better offer was made, helped steal Micah's idols and skipped town. Micah, however, wasn't one to take things sitting down. He rounded up his posse, chased the thieves down and asked if they wanted to rumble. The thieving party acted surprised and asked what the matter was.
"You've taken away the gods I have made."
Do you want to know why many people today are angry? Upset? Frustrated? They have made their own gods and found them wanting. They have built and established a life on their own terms and now wonder why it is lacking. If something is empty, one has to ask what it was filled with.
The empty promises of the world, which we continue to buy into, are stolen by a bigger dream. Our idols are found, once again, to be empty and without any real use in times of trouble. We find our friends and wonder together what has gone wrong.
I would suggest we look to a God whom we have not made. We could not have possibly made God. He made us. And someday the gods we have fashioned for ourselves will be taken away. They will be shown for what they really are.
We'll look awfully silly chasing after a god which could not protect itself in the first place.
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