12/27/10 Matthew 2:3-6 Politicians and Religion

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

(Herod the Great- wikimedia)

Thoughts: Herod the Great liked to have the appearance of being religious without really being faithful to God.  Herod was Arab on both sides but practiced Judaism to hold onto his power.  He sought to appease the religious people of his day.  One of the great things he did was re-build the second Temple- a huge religious undertaking for a very religious people.  Yet Herod tried very hard to secularize (they called it "Hellenize" back then) the people.  He introduced hippodromes, games, and shopping malls to the people, as well as seeking to educate people in Greek.  He sought to wow the people with the technology of Rome (especially roads, waterworks, and military).  Yet Herod's main goal was to hold onto power.  He killed his wife and son, as well as many rabbis, and the innocent children of Bethlehem.  He lived a decadent lifestyle that was condemned by many.  Machiavelli (the basic western policitcal scientist) said that religion was politcally usefel and rulers should appear pious even if they ignore the teaching of their faith.  Most politicians take that advice.  Three years ago the SC Legislature tried to put a monument to the Ten Commandments even while they introduced legislation to elminate the laws regarding keeping a Sabbath.  At a county council meeting a few days ago (12/23) in my area, council members said "Merry Christmas" a dozen times, while at the same time passing legislation to make the county more secular.  Christians should be very careful in cloaking politicians with endorsements without vetting them- less we endorse a Herod the Great who built the Temple but tried to kill the King of Kings!

Prayer: Help me to be a person of integrity, O Lord.  May those who rule over me seek and follow your will- not artificially, but with their whole heart. 

John Calvin abridged:  Herod was well acquainted with the predictions that a Jewish King would come.  Yet he is troubled because he did not put stock in the promises of God.  The people could have been roused with gladness at the thought of a new king, but likely were troubled becuase they had faced so many calamities that one more change would be hard for them. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyPMDD8fGeA&feature=related (Sarah McLaughlin- "O Little Town of Bethlehem")

10/3/10 John 8:2-11 Stopping Stoning

2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Thoughts: Here Jesus gives justification to stop capital punishment for spiritual sins.  Christians do not stone without forgetting their own Savior's example.  While there have been historically gross and horrible exceptions, Christians today do not crucify or burn others for spiritual sins.  After all, Jesus, the Christian leader and Lord, was killed for a spiritual sin he did not commit (Yes, he really was God in the flesh Mark 11:62-65). 
Last week the Pastafarian group at the University of South Carolina was trying to raise money for Amnesty International and call attention (semi-tongue-in-cheek) for "the need for secularization" by holding a "Stoning a Heathen" event.  I believe they were asking for $1 per water balloon.  But the solution to senseless human killing is not secularization.  I don't know why people ignore the horrible atrocities done in the name of secularization and the common good in the Soviet Union's gulags (23 million) or by the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodia killing fields (1.7 million) or the millions killed by Mao (60 million) or even the 1.6 million killed by Kim Il Jung  (http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/dictat.html). If anything, religion brings meaning and value to life, so that humans are not just computer generated numbers or "senseless acts of careless evolution."  Each person is valuable- made in the image of God.  Sexual immorality is condemned as one of the highest human wrongs because it treats a person (and the making of persons) too lightly.  Jesus recognizes the sin of sexual immorality when he says to go and sin no more.  But he does not condemn her by stoning.

Prayer: Lord, help me to value others- even those who differ from me, because you made them.  Give me grace to be as gracious and holy as you.

John Calvin abridged: The Pharisess brought him a woman to try to trap him.  By doing nothing but writing on the sand, Christ was showing how unworthy they were of being heard.  ("He who is without sin")- Here Christ is not saying that a judge has to be perfect in order to send a criminal to prison; rather he is rebuking those who hypocritically condemn others easily, and overlook their own faults. ("Go and sin no more")- When forgiveness is offered to us, we ought to respond with repentance.