Tuesday: Religious Oppressors
During the better times of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the people would return to the temple and the worship of God, although even then, their worship was often mixed with inroads from idolatry and the religions of the surrounding nations. But according to the prophets, even their best attempts at religion were not enough to turn them from the evils perpetrated in the land in their daily lives.
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And no matter how hard they worked at being religious through their rituals of worship, the music of their hymns could not with drown out the cries of the poor and oppressed.
Amos described the people of his day as those who “trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land” (Amos 8:4, NIV). He saw their desire to get done with their rituals so they could reopen the market and get back to their dishonest trade, that of “buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals” (Amos 8:6, NIV).
Read Isaiah 1:10-17, Amos 5:21-24, and Micah 6:6-8. What was the Lord telling these religious people about their rituals?
Through His prophets, God uses strong language to ridicule religion and worship that is disconnected from and in contrast with the suffering and oppression of those around them. In Amos 5:21-24 (NIV), we read of God saying that He “hates”, “despises”, and is generally disgusted by their worship. Their gatherings are described as a “stench”, and their offerings and music are dismissed as less than worthless.
In Micah 6, we see a series of increasingly inflated, even mocking suggestions, as to how they can most appropriately worship God. The prophet mockingly offers the suggestion of burnt offerings, then increases the offering to “thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil” (Micah 6:7, NIV) before going to the horrific—but not unknown—extreme of suggesting sacrificing his firstborn child to gain God’s favor and forgiveness.
In the end, though, what the Lord truly wanted for them was to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8, NIV).
| Have you ever found yourself guilty of being more concerned about religious forms and rituals than about helping those in need right around you? What did you learn from that experience? |
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The recent royal commission into institutional handling of sexual abuse in Australia exposed an underlying theme of cover-up by the organisations being investigated. Church organisations were concerned when they were told of sexual abuse cases within their ranks that the information would be made public and it would sully the name of the church. They moved offending priests and ministers and threatened and cajoled victims into keeping quiet. And in doing so they missed the whole point of what Christianity is about. It is as though they have never noticed Micah's brief but commanding statement:
The Bible tells the story of man's relationship with God with all the ugliness and unevenness exposed. The story of David does not make for easy reading, but its telling does not gloss over his sins and repentance. How different the story of the churches and organisations investigated by the Royal Commision would have been if they had been open and been seen to act with justice and mercy; if victims had been listened to and helped rather than oppressed and silenced. The hypocrisy of cover-up to protect the name of the church has ultimately damaged the organisation irreparably.
Maurice, when in your post above you say “church”, are you referring to the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Or, to the Catholic Church?
The Roman Catholic church took the brunt of the findings and most of the negative publicity in the Royal Commission, but those of us who know the Seventh-day Adventist Church well, know that we have our own issues with coverup as well. We too have lessons to learn and have no room for complacency.
A few years ago, as a family, we were going into a deep crisis. The death of a close family member seemed to detonate a bunch of emotional barriers and we got stuck into a circle of non-sense journey. We went into therapy and it got to the point where 3 physicians were not enough to take care of our mess. Until my wife found this family, a girl at the age of our daughter and a single mom. Living in difficult conditions and at high social risk. We ended up adopting this family, which turned out to be formed of a mom, her daughter and 2 other boys that were living far away and being raised by her parents. This crtical family saved ours! Today, they are helped not only by me, my wife and my daughter, but by everyone of the surrounding relatives. Everybody does a little. The story is long, the problems are huge, but what I can say is that when we care for those in need that are around us we are the most blessed. This is our mission. And I thank God because He touched our hearts to help this "disrupted" family, at the end, for sure, mine was the one really helped!
The church organization often moves to protect itself. They don't think about the people being affected. A lot of dirt has been and still being swept under the rug, but in general everyone is going on as if every thing is perfect. This brings about in the church persons who are hurt and confuse about what we really believe. Because leaders are not dealing with church issues before the Lord, it seems as if we are developing a church with the form of Godliness, but not power is streaming down. Hence, we have so many problems that God's church should not have. God must be tired of us in the same manner as He was sick and tired of the vain worship the Israelites gave.
Religion oppression can take many forms.
Now my kids are grown up as a parent am I going to use my authority oppress them when they choose not to follow in my religious direction.
Even though I have given them the Adventist education if they choose an another religion how tolerant I will be in allowing them to exercise their new found religion.
I am appalled when a family member is killed because of conversion from Muslim to Christianity.
Will I be any different when my children exercise their choice?
“The best gift you can give a human being is an introduction to a God who loves them.”
— Bill Hybels
Accepting my children are independent in making the choice is true religious freedom.
Pray for me that I will be loving, patient and kind while my children find their religious identity.