SPEAKING WORDS OF CENSURE: THE CASE OF ISRAEL

A Messianic Jewish minister had written:

• Antisemitism has one cause – Satan.

I responded that antisemitism is not simply Satanic:

“Understandably, you do not want to blame the victim. Nor do we want to give additional ammo to the anti-Semite. Besides, we do not want to give needless offense to the Jewish community and to further alienate them from the Gospel by suggesting that they have played a role in bringing misfortune upon themselves.

However, we cannot deny the reality of Israel’s rebellion either and betray the Word of God in the process. Moses had attributed anti-Semitism to Israel’s unfaithfulness:

• Deut. 28:58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law… 28:64-65 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations… Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.    
• Deut. 28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

The Prophets of Israel also attributed anti-Semitism and the resulting misfortunes to Israel’s unfaithfulness. We must do likewise and warn Israel for their own good:

• Ezekiel 2:3-5 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Sometimes, we misunderstand the nature of biblical love, thinking that it requires us to only speak comforting words. However, God sending the Prophets with His accusing words was also a reflection of His love for Israel.

Peter, writing to the Jews living in the Diaspora, even went a step further, accusing his people of rejecting their promised Messiah:

• 1 Peter 2:7-8  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” [Quoting Psalm 118:22] and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” [Quoting Isaiah 8:14]. They stumble because they disobey the word.

Peter didn’t make such accusations because of any disdain for his own people. Instead, he evidently knew that Israel needed to hear these words of censure, perhaps to shake them loose from their rebellion.

There are also other verses that my people should have considered about our rejection of our Messiah:

·           Isaiah 53:3-6 He [the Messiah] was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

·           Isaiah 49:6-7 he says: "It is too small a thing for you [the Messiah] to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what the Lord says--the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel--to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation [of Israel], to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

These might sound like harsh words, but they are also words of love from God, who is trying to call Israel to repentance. However, God will do more than call. He will also open Israel’s eyes to the One whom they have pierced:

·           Zech. 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they [Israel] have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

As He has promised, He will also save His chosen in the end:

·           Hosea 1:9-11 Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited...

·           Isaiah 49:14-17 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

·           Romans 11:25-29 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so ALL Israel [even rebellious Israel] will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they [Israel] are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Nevertheless, if we love, we will not withhold the necessary words of censure, even if our people has suffered so much already.

How the Addition of One Idea can Create a Worldview Tsunami

Our thought-life is all-powerful. If I think that my mailman intends to shoot me, this will profoundly affect the way that I feel towards him and behave. It will affect my words and my future plans, and perhaps even exert a long-lasting effect upon the direction of my life.

As such, our thoughts and beliefs are not merely the boat’s rudder; they are also its engine and sails. This principle also pertains to our worldview – our philosophy or theology of life – and we all have one, or several.

The atheistic poet turned Christian, W.H. Auden, wrote about the inevitable implications of secular-liberal thought in 1940:

• The whole trend of liberal thought has been to undermine faith in the absolute…It has tried to make reason the judge…But since life is a changing process…the attempt to find a humanistic basis for keeping a promise, works logically with the conclusion, “I can break it whenever I feel it inconvenient.” (Humphrey Carpenter, A Biography)

Without transcendent moral absolutes, convenience, not reason, reigns. Without these truths to feast upon, reason is a naked beggar living in a vacuum. It’s like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without its pieces. In the absence of absolute moral truth, the persuasive appeal of convenience becomes irresistible.

Even the modification of just one theological truth can create a paradigm shift redefining all other truths, like adding “not” to a sentence – “God is not holy and righteous.” This simple addition changes the entire meaning of the statement.

There are many examples of this. For instance, there is a great resistance, even in the church, to distinguish between “us and them,” “saved and unsaved.” Removing such distinctions is very appealing and even convenient in our professional and multi-cultural world. Where people hope to create bridges of common cause among all peoples, such distinctions have become politically unacceptable, even repugnant. Emergent Church pastor, Doug Pagitt, puts it like this:

• We are connected to each other as well. Christians like to talk about community, yet the dualistic [us-them] assumptions surrounding our theology make it almost impossible for us to experience true community. As long as we hold on to “us” and “them” categories of seeing the world, we live behind a barricade that prevents us from joining in with God and others in real and meaningful ways. And it doesn’t really matter who we decide “them” is – the non-Christians, the sinners, the liberals, the conservatives, the Jews, the Catholics, that weird church on the other side of town. Division is division, no matter how righteous we want to make it sound. (A Christianity Worth Believing, 91-92)

However, Pagitt is merely creating another division – this time between Emergents and Evangelicals. The Emergents have become the “we” and the Evangelicals are the “them.” More importantly, this one modification – removing Biblical distinctions – has the power to reformulate the entire Christian faith.

If there are no “us – them” distinctions, then many Biblical teachings must be either reinterpreted, ignored or simply rejected. However, these distinctions are an integral part of the Gospel – God’s purposes, our own identity and understanding of the world in which we live.

For example, Jesus taught that the “we” are set apart from the rest of the world. We are the “children of God” (Mat. 5:9; John 1:12) and the “light of the world” (Mat. 5:14).

Even as I write this, I do so with tinge of embarrassment, knowing that this represents pure arrogance in the eyes of the Emergent Church – “How can you think that you are more favored than others. It’s these kinds of distinctions that create prejudice and warfare!”

However, these are the very distinctions that the Bible has always made. The Israelites had been the people of God (and from the perspective of God’s future plans for Israel, they still are).  Indeed, arrogance was a danger, and therefore, God guarded against this danger by warning that Israel was no better than other peoples. If anything, they were least (Deut. 7, 9). If they performed better, it was only because God had enabled them to do so (Deut. 8:17-19). However, to whom more was given, more was also expected. Therefore, Israel was judged with the stricter judgment.

We find these distinctions throughout the Bible. Although God’s people were chosen from among the dregs of society (1 Cor. 1:26-29), He would raise them up. However, He would never allow them to forget their humble and broken beginnings.

“Us – them” distinctions were always a part of Jesus’ preaching. Those who reject Him “will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Mat. 25:46, 41; 13:42, 50).

“Us – them” distinctions – those who are with God and those against - are part of the fabric of the entire Bible, and we are required to heed these distinctions. Paul warned that God’s people mustn’t forget about this distinction:

• Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (2 Cor. 6:14-15)

When we forget this distinction, we place ourselves at great peril. Therefore, a believer was warned against marrying an unbeliever (1 Cor. 7:39). Likewise, church discipline was applied to those who professed Christ and not those on the outside (1 Cor. 5:13).

While the “us – them” distinction has separated, it has also joined together. It has been the awareness of the lost-ness of the great masses of humanity along with of the blessedness of Christ, that has impelled Christian missions, and missions has done much to improve the world. The late theologian B.B. Warfield wrote:

• Hospitals and asylums and refuges for the sick, the miserable and the afflicted grow like heaven-bedewed blossoms in its path. Woman, whose equality with man Plato considered a sure mark of social disorganization, has been elevated; slavery has been driven from civilized ground; literacy has been given by Christian missionaries, under the influence of the Bible. (The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield)

Outreach requires an “us – them” distinction. However, this is the main point – if we want to eliminate the “us – them” distinction, we must also eliminate many other essential distinctions, and, ultimately, jettison the entire Gospel.

If we have to throw away the “saved – unsaved” distinction, then the eternal “punishment – reward” distinction must also be eliminated. Consequently, we would then be compelled to adopt universalism – the salvation of everyone!

However, this worldview tsunami doesn’t stop there. If we reject the “heaven – hell” distinction, then we have to reformulate the very nature of God. Hence, He can no longer be righteous and punitive. Instead, God must simply be indiscriminate-love, and salvation then becomes an entitlement program. We become entitled to salvation without any consideration of our response.

Well, if God is just love, and His righteous nature doesn’t require punishment for sin, what then do we make of the Biblical judgments, like the worldwide flood? A God who is just “love” would have no reason to bring such a horrific judgment!

Besides, if God is just “love” and His righteous nature need not be propitiated by the atoning work of Jesus, then the Cross was unnecessary, and therefore, it represents the worst case of cosmic child abuse, as the atheist claims.

Of course, it could be argued that after the Cross, God no longer required any form of retribution, and therefore, all are saved and going to heaven. However, this will bring about other, equally deadly, worldview tsunamis. If God is our role-model, and He has washed His hands of any form of judgment, then we too must do likewise. We have to give every student an “A” and every criminal his liberty – an absurdity.

Besides, such a tsunami contradicts Scripture, which requires faith-repentance as the condition of salvation and punishment for those who refuse.

Is this revelation offensive to humanity. Admittedly so! However, the more important question is this: “Is it true?”

When we begin to button our shirt with the wrong button, every subsequent button will be out-of-place. It is also this way with our theological starting points. One wrong idea can throw all the others out-of-kilter and birth many unintended consequences.

What are the consequences? It’s hard to tell. However, there have been many failed utopian schemes. What starts out looking so loving and accepting can turn into a house of horrors, as the various communist experiments have so amply demonstrated.

If the Emergent Church or others who believe that removing essential distinctions can build better communities and nations, could demonstrate but one such enduring community or nation, we might have reason to regard their formulation with some credulity. However, we are still waiting.