Most of the time when I think of idols — which is what this text is about — I think of ideology, and those poor classes of people who have been drafted as out victims whom must be protected (and must never lose their victim status). But that is not the only type of issue we have.
When I lived in Auckland, there was a Presbyterian church a block or so away: quite modest, with a ministry to Somalian refugees. Then the Hindus built a five story temple next door, carted in their idols. and the streets in our quiet suburb became crowded every festival. I ended up knowing more about festivals than I would like.
The Buddhists had their temple near where my parents live. There were statues which were and are overtly religions being sold in the local furniture stores.
We are told traditional morality is artificially fixed whilst being informed that the new morality is permanent/authentic/immutable.
— Byzantine Ambassador (@byzantinepower) May 26, 2015
We were becoming multicultural, and letting idolatry in.
“When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
@GodfreyElfwick @DrKeithRedmond . @pukeko60 ! WTF? You are so insensitive! Bait indeed, yo need re educating!
— Valiant Thor (@ValiantThor82) May 26, 2015
There are two parts to this. The first is that the Jews were clearly commanded not to be multicultural, or to tolerate the practices of the neighbouring peoples. With good reason. The tribes that surrounded them had institutionalized prostitution as part of the worship of Aphrodite (or her earlier version, Asherah) and infant sacrifice (Topeth). This they should have nothing to do with. They were told not to incorporate this into their lives, and this is the reason that Solomon lost ten tribes to the Davidic line — for he let his wives set up their idols and worshipped them.
There may be no Jew or Greek in Christ, but there is no room for other Gods.
There is a second part. That is, even when society turns away, those who seek God will be found by him, and will be restored. It matters not how we have fallen. It is the fact we have all fallen, and that God does not want us to perish, but also does not want our worship without our consent to worship.
Now, in this time, we are told we cannot judge. All cultures are the same. That is not true. There are murderous ideologies out there: ones that repel any person of goodwill. There are false ways that do not lead to salvation.
So we need to let the multiculturalists call us haters. But there is only one way to atone your sins, and that is one beyond your doing. It requires someone perfect stands in your place. And that was the work of Christ, not those who diminish and demean him for the sake of their ideology.
“the Jews were clearly commanded not to be multicultural, or to tolerate the practices of the neighbouring peoples.”
Exactly. Outsiders could eventually come into the assembly of the people if they gave up their ways (e.g. Egyptians, Edomites), but the idols were left behind. I’ve always found it interesting that Rahab (a prostitute) and Ruth (a Moabitess and technically excluded from the assembly by the Law) were among the human ancestry of Jesus Christ. No Jew or Greek in Christ, but all are new creations: the old has gone, the new has come!
The Old Testament people to whom you are referring are Israelites, not “Jews.”
“It would be a mistake to assume that our roots are of the Israelites of the Old Testament, but, rather, our roots are in Pharisaism.” – 1905 Encylopedia Judaica
A. Judaist – A person who practices Judaism
b. Judean/Jew – An individual(s) who lived in Judea during the period shortly preceding, during, and somewhat after Christ regardless of their religious or ethnic belief (Greek, Roman, Edomite, Idumean, Babylonia, Egyptian, Roman, Israelite, etc).
c. Judahite – A member of the tribe of Judah.
(Note that Ruth was indeed from Moab, but it would be best to determine who was in control of Moab when she was a so-called “Moabite.” Israel, ergo, was she a “Moabite” or was she was an Israelite from Moab. The latter. God is not mocked. Check Halley’s Bible Handbook and Smith’s Bible Dictionary.)
“I came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” – Jesus
Christ said that the Pharisees sat on the seat of Moses, and Paul called himself a Jew. I am aware of the Askenazim: but the use of Jew as a synonym for Isrealite has a fairly long track record.